Proven Successes
Proven Successes
Proven Successes
We take immense pride in our client work.
Explore some of our accomplishments in providing tangible and impactful results.
Case Study
Transitioning to a Centralized Patient Call Center
Background
A large heath system had nine (9) primary care locations with each site independently responsible for its patient telephone calls. As patient phone calls increased over time, many sites struggled to adequately staff its telephone line.
Process Used
Phone call data was analyzed at the system and site level. Call volume, average call length and call abandonment rate were used as key performance indicators. These were reviewed per FTE and time of day to identify trends. Data was shared with clinic leadership so each could see where they stood among all the sites and vs. MGMA benchmarks. The potential impact of moving toward a centralized call center was then discussed in detail.
Issues Addressed
- 1
High average call length led to an extraordinarily high call abandonment rate.
- 2
Staff at many sites felt call volume was impacted by patients repeatedly calling back.
- 3
Nurse triage functions were not consistent and in some sites not being handled by appropriate personnel.
- 4
Staff training on telephone calls was insufficient for the variety and complexity of calls.
- 5
Patient satisfaction scores were suffering throughout.
The Solution
A centralized patient call center was implemented to encompass patient calls for all nine sites. Appropriately staffed, well-trained team members maintained the central call center, including a nurse triage team. Enhanced reporting was developed and monitored the impact on patient satisfaction. Finally, a “secret shopper” program was designed as part of ongoing staff training and testing.
Case Study
Creating an Urgent Care Service Line Business Plan
Background
A large nonprofit healthcare system had been challenged for many years with creating an overall plan for its acute, non-emergent services. It now faces increasing for-profit system competition for these services in addition to more frequent Emergency Department overcrowding. Marketing was noticeably more for the for-profit competition throughout the area.
Process Used
Toured all of the client’s “quick care” and “urgent care” clinics. Created a clinic profile for capturing a clinic’s overall operating elements such as services offered, staffing, and payor mix as well as some of the key demographic information for its primary market. Researched and mapped competition and created similar profiles for comparison. Developed pro forma income statements for each site based on new recommended services.
Issues Addressed
To remain competitive, this system needed to create and implement a focused operational plan for its urgent care services. This would need to include a branding decision, a retail partnership decision, operating capital investment in its existing sites, and strategic growth in at least two other geographic markets.
The Solution
Recommended action steps for this client included:
Case Study
Creating a Hospitalist Program in an Academic Medical Center
Background
An academic health system with a highly regarded Department of Medicine managed its inpatient population without hospitalists. The Department of
Medicine believed this was a tremendous advantage in residency program recruitment. However, this also required more faculty time and effort. Administration believed an investment in a hospitalist program would result in a lower inpatient length of stay and Medicine faculty would then have the ability to enhance new patient access via additional clinic sessions.
Process Used
Interviews of Medicine clinical and administrative leaders as well as resident physicians were done. Inpatient discharge, daily census and length of stay were reviewed as were ambulatory new and total visit volumes. Also collected national and local benchmark data. Market research was done to determine “best practice” hospitalist program principles. Created a SWOT summary analysis with all of this information.
Issues Addressed
Introducing a hospitalist program, despite evidence that competing systems had done so substantially and successfully, was going to be a substantial change for the Department of Medicine faculty and residents. It would impact several workstreams and need to be well supported by clinical leaders and well-coordinated by administration. It would also be essential to have Chair and other leadership buy-in for this to succeed.
The Solution
Create a two-year hospitalist pilot for a subset of Orthopedic patients only, those with knee or hip replacements. Existing inpatient services would remain intact. However this new service would be staffed by a dedicated faculty and a nurse practitioner. In addition, a process improvement project, focused on discharge planning and communicating SDOH factors was highly recommended beyond the pilot.
