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Insights. A few examples from clients who have solved big problems to achieve success.
Duane Donaway, Director of Technology at Hendrick Health is interviewed by Parlance Account Executive Annmarie Block. Duane discusses the benefits of Parlance, including:
Parlance is a Covid-19 response tool:
As Director of Population Health and Care Navigation, Kelly Hubka is always pushing to improve patient access to healthcare. For her, it was clear that operating nine primary care clinics with separate phone and scheduling systems was a major barrier to patients accessing the care they needed. And because call volume data across the clinics was nonexistent, planning a transition to centralized scheduling was a daunting, if not impossible task.
“Scheduling appointments was a big issue for patients. And getting through on the phones was the first issue…
it’s the first point of contact for patient access, so we had to take a serious look at how difficult it was for our patients to navigate our siloed, antiquated phone system.” – Kelly Hubka, Director of Population Health and Care Navigation
Creating continuity across clinics – and a unified patient experience
Kelly saw that that patients needed streamlined voice access – the ability to navigate themselves to the services they need by simply speaking. And by documenting incoming call volume, she knew AdventHealth would be in a much better position to staff effectively as they moved to unify all call agents on a single platform with full visibility across the network of physician offices.
“How do we make healthcare easy for our patients? How do we keep them safe? – These were our guiding questions as we explored solutions.”
A strategic partnership
Today, staff and patient response to the new centralized scheduling has been overwhelmingly positive. With unprecedented visibility and brand continuity across AdventHealth primary care providers, plus an efficient, pleasant caller experience, Parlance is supporting the organization’s goal of providing patients with a unified care experience.
“This was a significant change, encompassing technology, process, and culture. Now, with greater access to all our clinics, we are greater as a whole. We can serve patients on a new level.”
In 2017, Daniel Anderson, Emergency Management Program Manager at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, along with department director, Charles Murray, led an organizational shift that was as much cultural as it was logistical – consolidating siloed Operators and Security departments into one business unit, with the goal of closing a serious communication gap between these two essential teams. Facing a daunting logistical and cultural shake-up, AHSM needed a technology partner capable of supporting this transition.
Reducing call volume – and empowering employees
“We were very concerned about call volume coming into the Operation Center. To be honest, we were scared…
– how could we unify these two teams if call volume was so unmanageable?
The system we had at the time was archaic, so staff was hungry for change. I needed a solution that would mitigate call volume today and carry us more strategically into the future.” – Daniel Anderson, Emergency Management Program Manager
A strategic partnership
With the support of Parlance advisors, Daniel’s team implemented a new protocol for routing the nearly 110,000 calls per month to the call center, automating simple calls and freeing up staff to manage more complex calls that require personalized support.
“Now, these two teams are working together seamlessly, sharing information in-the-moment. Parlance is reducing the number of calls coming into the room, which keeps staff engaged and unified, focused on sharing information instead of scrambling for it.”
Today, the 30 percent of incoming calls that reach the consolidated Operator and Security team receive the attention they need, with Parlance routing the remainder exactly where they belong – a success that boosts staff morale and efficiency and improves patient care.
When Jake Dorst joined Tahoe Forest Health System as CIO, his new colleagues told him plainly: they were frustrated with their current call system. Every day, countless patients were getting lost in the void of endless, often inaccurate phone trees, and executive assistants were fielding calls that erroneously landed on their lines. The offsite Operator Services team seemed frazzled – overworked and underpaid – with high turnover preventing them from providing reliable service. And above all else, Jake was worried that the complete absence of call volume data was creating a serious blind spot.
“The offsite Operator Services folks would say, ‘Oh, we connected that call.’ Well, if they connected it to…
– the wrong place, that doesn’t help anyone! I needed accuracy and data that they simply couldn’t provide.”– Jake Dorst, Tahoe Forest Health System CIO
Harnessing the power of voice – and data
Seeing that Tahoe Forest was hungry for change, Jake recommended Parlance voice-enabled call routing. He had had success with Parlance at other organizations and knew that the implementation would be seamless and the results invaluable. No more confusing IVR menus and no more lengthy hold times. Moreover, with plans on the horizon to build a centralized Access Center to support clinics, registration, scheduling, bill pay, and care navigation, Jake knew they needed a strategic partner that could streamline the patient experience and provide actionable data to inform their planning.
“Having Parlance as a reliable solution was invaluable as we built out the Access Center. We simply wouldn’t have been able to build it with the offsite staff. It’s really been a huge win for us.”
Inspiring patient confidence
With the Parlance-supported Access Center providing a centralized access point for patients to get the information they need simply by speaking, patients now have seamless access to the care they need.
And with voice-enabled self-service relieving the burden of routine and erroneous transfers, front desk staff and agents have time to provide better service to patients who need complex, empathetic support.
The result? Staff and patient satisfaction are soaring at Tahoe Forest – in no small part thanks to Jake advocating for change.
“It was great to have a win like this early on in my tenure at Tahoe Forest. A lot of people welcomed the change to Parlance, and to see it work so well has been really rewarding. When you’re a hospital or healthcare system, patients judge your competence at every level. And if you can’t get your phone right, they’re wondering if you’re going to get their hip replacement right. Parlance has helped maintain patient’s confidence in the care they receive with us.”
With nearly three decades’ experience as telecommunications manager at The Valley Health System, Jayne Chase knows her call center inside out. And with a staff of 13 fielding up to 3,500 calls per day for six Las Vegas hospitals, the overwhelming volume was causing considerable stress among her team members. Resignations were a concern, especially working in a hospitality town that offered other telecommunication opportunities.
“It was really hard. With the hotels and casinos as our competition, it was tough getting good people to stay…
We had resorted to temp workers, but training new people every month was very expensive and time-consuming.” – Jayne Chase, Valley Health System Telecommunications Manager
Making a business case for automation
Jayne knew that patient experience was going to continue to decline unless something changed. She approached her CFO with Parlance, pitching the solution as a way to reduce the number of calls requiring operator assistance by 50%, make more efficient utilization of the current staff, eliminate caller hold times, and get call center staff back on track to providing effective, pleasing, personalized customer service.
“The Valley Health System is all about customer service. It’s our goal. But we’re also invested in our employees’ experience. We care about them greatly, too, and Parlance is a big part of that.”
Realizing labor cost savings
Now, with Parlance-provided data, the business case speaks for itself – and, as Jayne puts it, “the solution has lived up to what we expected, answering up to 50% of our incoming calls.” In fact, The Valley Health System recently opened a new hospital without having to hire more operators, representing a significant ROI. Operators today are less rushed and better able to provide thoughtful, compassionate service for complex issues – a personal touch that is essential to providing personalized patient care.
“Now, in the event of only one person staffing the phones, Parlance can handle nonemergency calls – seamlessly and accurately – which frees up staff to answer critical code calls.”
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