ENT Clinic Improves Patient Call Management with an Automated Answering Service

A recently established ear, nose, and throat (ENT) practice based in  East Tennessee was unsure if patient messages were being tracked and properly actioned. The practice is part of a larger medical group, and the  medical group is affiliated with an area hospital that uses PerfectServe’s  enterprise Clinical Collaboration solution. Other practices within the  group were already using PerfectServe’s medical answering service  for after-hours call management, but the new ENT service line was still  using a live answering service.

Challenges

The practice—which has one nurse practitioner (NP) and one doctor— used a centralized live answering service staffed by the health system  to manage calls both during and after office hours. To put it simply,  it wasn’t very effective. Though the providers were told that calls  were coming through the live answering service, patient messages  and voicemails were getting lost and inbound calls were not being  connected to the right on-call provider. It seemed like all patient  outreach landed in a black hole. 

The practice needed to make major adjustments to the way it  handled calls and messages, and the timeline for change accelerated  considerably when the doctor informed the NP that he was going on  vacation in three days. The NP didn’t want to deal with dysfunctional  lines of communication while he handled patients himself. Thankfully,  he had heard from other practices within the system that PerfectServe’s  answering service was an effective alternative to the live service.

Solution

The practice implemented PerfectServe’s Practice Communication solution to manage their patient calls and messages based on a simple on-call schedule. Because the health system already used PerfectServe, it only took a few days to bring the ENT practice live with the answering service. PerfectServe was used to manage inbound patient calls and other messages during and after office hours.

Implementation

The NP initially called PerfectServe support on a Tuesday  to explain his pressing situation. He explained that the  practice’s only physician was going out of town that  Friday, and the PerfectServe team was able to expedite  the implementation process to meet his needs. They  quickly took stock of existing communication issues,  reviewed call workflows to identify needs, and offered  staff training. 

By Wednesday evening, a new after-hours call structure  had been built, and adjustments were made to get  the system up and running by Thursday evening.  Within a few days, the practice had a unique schedule  and custom workflows in place, meaning providers  and administrators could log in to the PerfectServe  application to check and manage patient messages. If a  callback was needed, the patient’s phone number was  highlighted, which gave providers the ability to quickly  call patients back with one touch. Incoming patient calls  were now routed to the correct provider automatically,  ensuring no patient communication got lost in translation.

Results

From implementation to product functionality  to post go-live support, the new ENT practice was hugely satisfied with its PerfectServe experience. Results from the project include:

Efficient Deployment and Adoption

• The implementation process took less than three days from start to finish
• User-friendly design allowed office staff and providers to easily adapt to the new solution
• All providers at the clinic now use PerfectServe’s mobile app to manage calls

Customizable, Easy-to-Use Structure

• PerfectServe’s sample phone tree structures and communication workflows gave the practice an almost complete blueprint that could be adjusted for their own needs
• Providers can easily check patient voicemails from the PerfectServe mobile app
• Status messages about office hours are easy to change in house
• Consult calls from other hospital groups are routed accurately and take into account the urgency of the request
• On-call schedules are easy to update and modify in real time
• Providers can listen to voicemails right from the inbox on their PerfectServe mobile app; if necessary, they can also use a one-touch callback link to speak with the patient

Improved Patient Calling Experience

• Restructured phone tree options give patients an easier and clearer calling experience
• Urgent and non-urgent calls are routed to the correct inbox or on-call provider, meaning all patient inquiries are met with a timely and appropriate response

Top-Notch Training and Customer Support

• Consistent, positive customer experience
• Knowledgeable and responsive customer support representatives are available 24/7 and able to address questions quickly
• With PerfectServe’s standard training and an intuitive app that encourages self service for things like schedules changes and updates to contact preferences, it’s easy to make adjustments on the fly

Conclusion

Due to a complicated hospital system structure, an ENT practice was experiencing inconsistent inbound patient call management through a live answering service. Patient messages were often lost, and there was no solution in place to receive, house, or manage after-hours calls. It’s not uncommon for practices to have ineffective after hours messaging management. The ENT clinic was able to leverage an existing vendor relationship to quickly set up and implement a system that connects providers both to patients and other clinicians within the health system.

Patients experience an improved call-in experience with the new ability to make routine requests, leave messages as needed, and connect to the right on-call ENT provider for any emergent needs. By onboarding the ENT clinic’s care team into a cohesive, intelligent answering service, the practice is now better equipped to handle inbound calls, and patients now receive a high-quality call-in experience for all their care needs.

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