Discovering PerfectServe Unite

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PerfectServe Unite

Improve patient care, enhance provider satisfaction, and give time back to clinicians with a unified communication and scheduling platform.

Technology has modernized healthcare in ways that were unimaginable a few decades ago. But somewhere along the way, one of the most crucial aspects of quality care got lost in the shuffle: good communication.

Even though some clinical workflows are complex, time-consuming, and prone to error, most medical communication occurs without issue. But there is still substantial room for error, and a recent report notes that 44% of malpractice claims with communication as a root cause result in a clinical outcome of serious harm or death.

• Patient safety decreases when clinicians can’t communicate quickly and clearly with each other.
• The overall quality of patient care is also diminished, which can lead to medical errors, readmissions, and financial risks.
• Lengths of stay are often extended when challenging communication processes result in poor care team collaboration.
• Nurses often waste an inordinate amount of time tracking down physicians to share or retrieve information.
• Patient care is often delayed due to extended communication cycle times between providers.
• Understanding that the care continuum extends beyond the walls of the hospital or doctor’s office, communication breakdowns also create a dangerous disconnect between disparate locations, such as when patients at home are trying to communicate with their caregivers.

It All Starts With Scheduling

The average hospital department loses about 312 hours per year to the struggle of building schedules that balance the needs of providers, patients, and business objectives.

How many hours do nurses spend tracking down the right on-call physician? When critical lab results come in, how long before the attending physician knows they’re ready? If a surgeon is in the OR all morning, how much time will they spend returning messages that evening?

Problems like these destroy good communication and create undue stress and toil within the care team. While resolving these issues is easier said than done, it’s possible with the right systems in place.

The first step is to build a complete schedule: balanced, transparent, and easily accessible. The second step is to make sure the schedule can be dynamically referenced by your communication system, which eliminates the need for staff to repeatedly look to verify they’re working with up-to-date information.

Building an equitable schedule that accommodates workflow and coverage needs across all of your locations can be an arduous and time-consuming task. But it’s crucial to get it right for the sake of your providers, whose time is being scheduled, and for the sake of your patients, whose care is on the line.

And this importance doesn’t end at the hospital door. Proper scheduling must account for overlapping workflows across all of your provider groups, including off-site locations like private clinics, ambulatory care centers, and acute care facilities.

With hundreds—if not thousands—of provider schedules to organize and manage, schedules must be fast, transparent, and adjustable. And all providers should have easy, real-time access to their schedules.

This is the foundation upon which PerfectServe Unite is built. Here’s how it all comes together.

Provider Scheduling

Unlike some other communication platforms, PerfectServe Unite’s Clinical Collaboration solution comes with native on-call scheduling capability right from the start. It’s a critical feature that improves speed to care by helping staff quickly locate the correct on-call provider at any time.

But for some organizations, scheduling needs go beyond the standard on-call functionality baked into our platform, and that’s where Lightning Bolt—our dedicated provider and staff scheduling solution—comes into play.

Instead of requiring administrators to spend countless hours building schedules, Lightning Bolt uses a process called combinatorial optimization to automatically generate complete, equitable, and accurate schedules while accounting for all rules, provider preferences, and time-off requests.

The results are powerful:

• Optimized schedules
• Providers can swap shifts or request time off from any device
• Real-time changes shown on all desktop and mobile applications to ensure everyone sees the most up-to-date information
• Align provider supply with patient demand with detailed reporting and analytics

Since this is all handled on one platform, administrators don’t have to shuffle between different programs to keep track of the unique scheduling requirements for various departments and clinics. Lightning Bolt is the single source of truth and helps you balance organizational needs, clinician wellness, and growing patient demand.

We have a platform that allows for all sorts of variables to be thrown into a tool that then calculates the optimal schedule that it should create. This is artificial intelligence at its best.

– Guillaume Castel
Chief Executive Officer | PerfectServe

Communication Powered by Dynamic Intelligent Routing

With real-time, optimized schedules as a foundation, PerfectServe Unite uses Dynamic Intelligent Routing®— the industry’s most capable rules engine—to instantly and accurately deliver all calls, texts, alerts, alarms, and other notifications based on variables like time, day, urgency, service line, contact preferences, and more.

To put it in the simplest terms, Dynamic Intelligent Routing is what allows PerfectServe Unite to solve workflows that trip other solutions up.

Dynamic Intelligent Routing uses guided workflows to properly direct all messages regardless of circumstance. No matter who’s on call, who might be available at a given time, the urgency of the request, or how the schedule may have changed, all messages reach the appropriate person who can respond and take action.

For example, if a surgeon is prepping for a procedure, she doesn’t have to ask a colleague to cover for her because Dynamic Intelligent Routing can already account for this coverage scenario.

In this case, the surgeon’s PA might be the first escalation point for urgent calls. The second escalation point could be the PA’s colleague, and all other non- urgent communication would be held until the surgeon is out of the OR.

There is no risk or uncertainty, and providers can reclaim the time spent determining coverage on the fly by having these workflows established in PerfectServe right from go-live.

I think in hospitals today, efficiency is the answer everyone’s looking for. And through the use of Dynamic Intelligent Routing, we can promptly, efficiently connect caregivers and providers together.

– Kelly Conklin
Chief Customer Officer & Chief Clinical Officer | PerfectServe

Other advanced clinical use cases further demonstrate the power of Dynamic Intelligent Routing:

• With integration into the laboratory information system (LIS), critical lab results can be instantly delivered to the nurse and the covering provider.
• When a consult request is sent to a physician who’s unavailable, the message is automatically sent to the attending, who can then provide an immediate consult.
• PerfectServe is also capable of delivering actionable radiology findings directly to the ordering provider, with bidirectional integration that allows provider acknowledgment of results to automatically be pushed to (and recorded by) the system used by the radiologist and radiology department.

By interweaving scheduling and intelligent routing capabilities, PerfectServe Unite instantly knows who’s working, where they are, and how they prefer to receive communication on their designated device. And best of all, it only takes a few seconds.

A Single, Standardized Platform

PerfectServe Unite is an end-to-end solution that connects across the entire care continuum and provides custom workflows for each provider group, eliminating much of the frustration your medical team currently experiences.

With PerfectServe Unite, your medical team won’t have to juggle dozens of disconnected applications that carry a massive price tag but offer poor functionality. Now, everything they need can be managed on a single platform, including care team communication, physician & staff schedules, multichannel patient outreach, and more.

We cover the entire spectrum of needs with five integrated solutions that address different areas of concern:

• Clinical Collaboration
• Provider Scheduling
• Patient Engagement
• Practice Communication
• Operator Console

Clinical Collaboration

All providers, nurses, and staff can communicate through voice, video, text, or page. Clinical Collaboration can even be embedded directly within your EHR environment to drive further efficiency—and with no loss of PerfectServe’s trademark Dynamic Intelligent Routing.

But convenience isn’t the most significant benefit. Shorter communication cycles reduce care delays. PerfectServe Unite can take time-consuming, multi-step processes and transform them into seamless, automated, and easily repeatable workflows that can be executed by any member of the care team.

For example, delivering critical lab results may require lab techs to expend considerable time tracking down an ordering provider by phone. One Clinical Collaboration customer automated this process and now sees closed-loop times as fast as 7 seconds for critical lab results. That’s less time than it takes to pick up the phone and dial a provider’s number.

Your medical staff can also use Clinical Collaboration to mobilize rapid response teams with just one click. Multiple care team members can be simultaneously assigned to emergencies like code blue, STEMI, sepsis, and stroke.

Clinical Collaboration can even send automated event notifications for admissions, discharges, and transfers (ADT) to satisfy CMS conditions of participation (CoPs).

This functionality—called Patient Transition Notifications—can keep all providers in your patient’s orbit of care updated on their current status.

The purpose of a clinical collaboration solution is to seamlessly equip clinicians—regardless of their location—with the best, most up-to-date information to help them make informed patient care decisions. That’s where PerfectServe Unite excels.

Timely, effective, and meaningful communication among care teams is the bedrock for the delivery of high-quality care that leaves both patients and clinicians highly satisfied. A single platform that connects clinicians, patients, physicians, and the switchboard across all care settings, at any time of day, and using different communication modalities like text, voice, and video is a game changer for everyone involved.

– Miriam Halimi
Vice President of Clinical Informatics | PerfectServe

Provider Scheduling

Patient Engagement

Ultimately, everything comes down to patient care— both within and beyond the hospital. A solution must improve outcomes and experiences for patients, or it’s simply not worth the money you’ve invested. That’s why PerfectServe Unite’s Patient Engagement solution helps your organization reach patients and their family members in real time before, during, and after care to better support, assess, and improve the patient experience.

Pre-Visit
PerfectServe Unite’s Patient Engagement solution offers a virtual waiting room—sometimes called a mobile waiting room, curbside check-in, or zero-contact waiting room—that’s integrated with your existing practice management software. This allows patients to maintain a safe and comfortable connection with providers while they wait for their visit. Patients can receive helpful arrival instructions via text, and front office staff receive a notification when a patient texts to confirm their arrival. Then, the patient also gets a notification when it’s okay to enter the facility. This experience is safe, convenient, and helps manage patient flow into care settings that may have less capacity at times.

Patient Engagement also supports other pre-visit communications, including appointment and test reminders, surgery instructions, office directions, and more.

During the Visit
Patient Engagement’s video visit capabilities allow for both scheduled and on-demand virtual appointments. It’s safe and secure, and best of all, the patient doesn’t have to download an app or register a new account. Patients can also connect with providers through secure text and—for Practice Communication customers—voice calls.

Post-Visit
Patient Engagement makes it easy to follow up with patients and help them stay on track with their care plan. Replacing the manual post-discharge follow-up process, automated surveys can be done to ensure patients are doing well and engaged with their care plan. The system can also send prescription and follow-up appointment reminders, as well.

Family Updates
Through secure video and text, PerfectServe keeps approved family members in the loop during patient care and post-discharge, regardless of geographical barriers or visiting restrictions. It’s also a great way to coordinate patient drop-off and pick-up.

Practice Communication

PerfectServe Unite’s innovative Practice Communication solution has successfully replaced human-centric answering services at more than 30,000 medical practices. The solution improves physician response time, eliminates human error, provides substantial cost savings, and gives patients unprecedented access to care while protecting providers and staff from unstructured—and potentially overwhelming— inbound communication.

Practice Communication includes caller ID privacy protection, which supports a mobile workflow by allowing physicians to call patients, colleagues, and care team members while keeping their personal phone numbers private. Practice Communication’s secure messaging functionality facilitates HIPAA-
compliant collaboration between physicians, practitioners, nurses, other care team members, and coordinating facilities.

Practice Communication gives providers control over the communication they receive by directing voice and text communications based on where, when, and how they prefer to be reached. It also uses rule-based routing to reduce unwanted interruptions and prevent messages from being lost or delayed.

For patients, Practice Communication is able to route appropriately escalated messages to the right care team member at the right time. It ensures 24/7 call and message support and improves the overall experience and satisfaction with faster time to treatment.

PerfectServe started over 25 years ago as an automated replacement for the traditional live answering services used by medical practices, and this functionality remains core to our DNA. With Practice Communication, there are no more missed calls and messages from patients and no more time wasted trying to find the right provider—just efficient communication and round-the- clock call and message management in one easy-to-use application.

Operator Console

Healthcare facilities of all sizes handle patient transfers, and efficient communication is a key part of the process. Operator consoles used by call and transfer centers play an essential role in facilitating successful communication, whether it’s for a small hospital or a large, multi-site health system. PerfectServe Unite’s cloud-based Operator Console solution is designed with operators in mind. Because operators are there to route patients and providers to the right place, they need a streamlined, user-friendly platform that integrates with the real-time on-call schedule, the communication system(s) used by the entire facility/system, and all call queues. Operator Console offers these features and integrations within one platform, meaning operators no longer need to switch between applications to do their jobs.

Operators can also quickly send team activations to mobilize groups (such as stroke or STEMI response teams), attach patient records to messages as an easy reference for physicians, perform search queries to find the right physician in real time, and utilize reliable two-way messaging with ‘sent,’ ‘received,’ and ‘read’ notifications. And because the solution is built on cloud-based technology, the console is location-independent and “always on” during emergencies, power outages, storms, active threats, and more.

PerfectServe knows a strong operator console is crucial to information sharing, security, care delivery, savings, and efficiency. That’s why the Operator Console solution is a core piece of the Unite puzzle: it’s the communication backbone that ensures 24/7, accurate call management, efficient patient transfers, and reliable communication across the entire healthcare ecosystem.

High Adoption

Despite all that PerfectServe Unite has to offer, it can’t bring the change you need if providers and staff don’t use it. That’s why we employ a unique and highly effective methodology to get as many users onto the platform as possible.

We start by identifying the 40% of physicians who drive the most patient volume and revenue, understanding that these individuals make up 90% of all communications. PerfectServe ensures that 85% of these core providers will be engaged on the platform prior to go-live, along with 75% of the remaining providers.

We’ve found that a human-centered approach is the most effective way to ensure a successful implementation. PerfectServe consistently achieves these lofty goals by engaging directly with every physician in person. We take the time to answer questions, address individual concerns, and walk everybody through the process. When everyone is using the same tool to collaborate on patient care, you’re on the path to achieving faster interventions and optimal patient outcomes.

PerfectServe has been much more than a vendor for us. They’ve been a true strategic partner as we’ve looked at our road map for communications and different functionalities of the platform.

-Dr. Doug McKee, M.D.
Chief Medical Information Officer | Health First

Our Team Makes the Difference

The PerfectServe team is united by a shared mission to improve healthcare communication, scheduling, and collaboration.

These are complex problems that require deep insight, expertise, and passion to solve. We recognize that our solutions have a substantial impact on the lives of real people, and that’s a major part of what motivates us every day.

Whether as patients, staff, or a concerned loved one, our team members have lived through the problems we solve. Many have personal stories that underscore how communication problems can cause delays, frustration, or even harm in a healthcare setting.

Through their lived experiences, thorough training, and continuing education, our team understands what works—and what doesn’t work—in healthcare communication and collaboration technology. We’re proud to have the most knowledgeable and dedicated team in the business.

We’re a team of problem solvers. Not everyone is up to tackling such complex issues day in and day out, but our team is up to the challenge. Above all else, they appreciate the opportunity to use their collective expertise to improve the care experience for providers, staff, and patients alike.

Accelerating Speed to Care

Communication in the medical industry is woefully inefficient. Scheduling is complex. Collaboration is cumbersome at best. There are simply too many roadblocks that heighten care team frustration in an industry that’s already experiencing high levels of burnout. And, sadly, patient care pays the highest price.

But, we’ve got some good news: PerfectServe Unite can remove these roadblocks to improve patient care and provider satisfaction. By addressing your communication and staff & provider scheduling needs on one platform and seamlessly integrating with your EHR (along with more than 250 other clinical, IT, and telecom systems), PerfectServe can completely change the way your organization operates.

Schedules are created quickly and easily, with complete transparency and real-time viewing of changes and updates. Staff can instantly contact providers in every department, including inpatient and ambulatory clinics and call centers.

Providers have the patient information they need right when they need it, allowing them to make timely and effective care decisions. They can also quickly check patient progress and offer ongoing support from their smartphones. Patients get the information and support they need to achieve the best outcomes, and their families can stay informed on the progress of their care.

You don’t have to settle for dated or ineffective technology that creates cumbersome communication, scheduling, and patient care workflows. We know the risks, we understand the frustrations, and we’re here to help.