Vim & Vigor - Spring 2012 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center - (Page 4)

Communicating with Care PCRMC Contact Center provides callers with results by Somer overShon phone call to a healthcare facility is important. Whatever the reason—an emergency, an appointment, receiving test results or establishing care— Phelps County Regional Medical Center (PCRMC) considers incoming calls a priority. Thanks to PCRMC’s Contact Center, incoming calls are answered in a professional, timely manner. In June 2010, PCRMC began a two-week pilot program of a plan designed to quickly help callers with their specific needs. Janice Thompson, manager of Contact Center operations, remembers those first two weeks: “We set up a room on the third floor of the hospital that only had two desks, where Ginger Yoakum and I answered all the calls for internal medicine, pediatrics and Parks Family Practice.” IT network specialist Donald Pingleton rerouted all calls made to the pediatrics and internal medicine departments and the Parks Family Practice clinic to the women, who quickly conveyed the information to the appropriate people. The positive response was almost immediate, Thompson says: “We found that patient satisfaction increased, requests for prescriptions A were communicated more effectively and people had an overall feeling that their calls were important to us. The response had been so great, we just couldn’t go back.” So they didn’t. Instead, Thompson worked on a business plan with Lynn Wieties, vice president of Medical/Organizational Development and Strategic Planning, on how to expand and develop the program. RECOGNIZING A NEED One month later, Thompson hired four more people— all with some sort of medical background from working in the healthcare field. “When we answer the phone, the caller isn’t getting someone who knows nothing about the healthcare profession,” Thompson says. “Callers are always a little surprised to find out the level of expertise my staff has.” The Contact Center now takes about 2,000 calls per week, along with calling patients with reminders about next-day appointments, mailing new-patient welcome packets, working with the billing department and determining whether a patient’s Medicaid is active. “Every day is something different,” says Arletha Light. “I enjoy how each day brings something new; I enjoy how each day brings something new; there are always new patients to help and new challenges. I genuinely like helping people. 4 Vim & Vigor • SP R I N G 2 012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Spring 2012 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2012 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center
Contents
Opening Thoughts
Auxiliary
Communicating with Care
Patient Care Tops the Charts!
Get Real
How Far We’ve Come
Patient Survival Guide
Perfect Attendance
A New Day
Lean on Me
Intimidated by the Gym?
What Is Your Volunteer Style?
A Prescription for Relief
Virtual Health
SPECIAL: A Commitment to Quality
Communicating Silence
Foundation

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2012 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center