Major Department was Losing Patients to Other Facilities!
Phoenix was asked to help a department with over 30 physicians, and approximately 500 calls per day, by taking on the registration and scheduling of their patients from their current in-house call center. Our practice-trained specialists began answering the phones for this department, and triaging the patients for Subspecialty, and Location, as well as Insurance per Physician. Phoenix answered each call within 3 rings, and using the Provider protocols, scheduled the visit based on the individually customized appointment templates within the EMR. Insurance Verification was done immediately through the EMR, eliminating the patient who takes up a slot, and then is found to have no coverage at time of visit.
Because those calls were answered and the patients’ needs were met, the department’s appointments were increased by 500%, and at a cost reduction of 30% because there was no need for permanent call center employees on the Department’s payroll.
In today’s competitive market, Patient Access to the physician is the key to growth and stability for any Facility, Department or Practice. Anyone who has tried to schedule an appointment and has heard the familiar “Doctor’s office, please hold”, or gets a voice mail, is tempted to hang up after a few minutes and just start dialing down the list of “specialists” in the area, until they get one who answers the phone. This inability to get to the calls is the cause of losing patients to other facilities.
To complete the cycle, Phoenix made the reminder calls, or texts to the patients, so the no-show rate was negligible. During that call, the patient had the option speak to Phoenix immediately and reschedule that appointment. Where the patient didn’t wish to reschedule, Phoenix then utilized the Wait List and called patients to fill that now-available slot!