The taskforce was charged with establishing voicemail standards for the Clinical Areas that encompassed the ideals of the Clinical Initiative. Establishing a culture for patient focused care involves a strategy to balance best practices and system limitations.
It was determined that the frequent shunting of a patient related call to voicemail answering systems is an undesirable practice for a number of reasons:
• Patient matters not handled immediately almost invariably decrease service level
• Delayed return of calls to voicemail recordings for any reason (such as recipient sick or vacationing) may significantly compromise patient care
• Delay of patient service produces major inefficiencies for the medical staff (with significant financial consequence) and the patient themselves.
• Response time to medical issues via voicemail is not easily controlled or monitored, reducing clinical service standards (also with potentially negative legal ramifications)
A pilot project involving the Neurosurgery clinic required termination of voice mail use for all clinical calls. The phone-answering agents instead immediately obtained relevant information for healthcare professionals to be able to better help the patient at that time or return the call at a later time. Initial results based on only 2-3 weeks data include:
1. Calls to nurses were reduced by 50% (many calls easily handled by phone-agents)
2. Return calls more effective as the appropriate information was obtained a priori
3. Nurses able to leave work on time more frequently
4. Phone Statistics have minimally improved (Abandonment rate, Answer w/in 30sec, etc)
5. Number of incoming calls slightly increased and outgoing calls slightly decreased
6. No patient complaints as of yet
The taskforce has made the following recommendations for Voicemail standards:
Clinics with UT Smart System:
1. Voicemail will be discontinued for patient calls seeking medical advice
2. All patient calls will be documented via the UT Smart system
Clinics without UT Smart System:
1. Live agents will answer all patient calls seeking medical advice for screening purposes.
2. Voicemail will be used as a last resort for patient messages and will only be forwarded at the patient’s request, after the screening process (including warning that return call may be delayed, as per written script).
3. Voicemail will be reviewed at minimum twice daily.
4. A group password will be used for all voicemail so that absences can easily be covered.
5. A standardized script will be used for voicemail detailing the expected turnaround times.
6. A written plan will be required for the management of the voicemail process.
The taskforce realizes that the transition from voicemail to a live screener is complicated. The individual clinics will have different staffing concerns, and circumstances that must be reviewed before the transition. Changes will clearly be more difficult for some clinics. The taskforce therefore recommends that help and alternative options be available to the clinics which include:
1. With prior approval from Ambulatory Administration, CTCS can be used for periods of help with phones. There will be a cost recovery charge for this service.
2. Outside process design and review to help develop a transition plan will be offered on request.
3. Education and training for the implementation of live agent screening will be offered.
