Population Health
How TSI Healthcare Partnered with Umass Memorial Health to Enhance Overall Community Health
UMass Memorial Health (UMMH) is the clinical partner of the UMass Chan Medical School and the largest healthcare system in Central and Western Massachusetts, providing all levels of primary to quaternary healthcare to over 22 communities.
UMMH was using an internal team for scheduling, but with all of the nuances surrounding physician schedule preference and the hospital system’s lack of advanced call/account screening technology, call volume was increasing, patient satisfaction was beginning to decrease, and appointment no- shows and last-minute cancellations were happening more frequently. Ultimately, the overall health and wellness of the surrounding community was being impacted. Following the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” UMMH began looking for a solution that dramatically improved community outreach and preventative care.
After a rigorous proposal process, UMMH determined EOS North America, now a Transworld Systems Inc. company (hereafter “TSI”), would provide scheduling services for the hospital system, collaboratively developing a program to exceed both patient and provider expectations. Throughout onboarding, TSI partnered with UMMH to fully understand their current patient scheduling workflow and processes, detailed support needs, and specific distinctions surrounding each physician’s scheduling preferences. Our priority was to develop a solution to meet both patient and provider expectations.
TSI staffed the program with a dedicated set of representatives, allowing for superior focus and training, leading to a decreased number of scheduling and account errors. With advanced dialing technology, TSI was able to increase patient touchpoints and improve efficiencies. With Intelligent Outreach, TSI was able to design a strategy to contact patients at their most opportune time, based on historical communication patterns and medical needs.
In 2020, the patient outreach program for UMMH had a record-breaking year, just when patients needed it most! More conversations took place than ever before – TSI booked appointments, verified and confirmed upcoming visits reducing cancellations/no-shows, and held “educational” conversations with patients regarding their appointments. When the world around us was one of uncertainty and patients were feeling stressed, sad, confused or even fearful, TSI was reaching out and offering support, helping build stronger relations between UMMH, their patients, and the community.
During this time, TSI became increasingly more aware of one fact – patients are not proactive in reaching out to their doctors. To combat this, TSI proposed to significantly raise call volumes, shifting the program from primarily inbound communication to outbound. Our solution morphed from a Patient Scheduling team to an expanded Population Health support program, encompassing multiple call types and various patient needs.
CALL VOLUMES INCREASED 400%.
Until 2020, there was no systemic screening in place to initiate a dial (call) without a complete account review. TSI, in conjunction with the UMass Memorial team, developed a new outreach and dialing strategy. New programming was completed that allowed account review codes to be captured by the system, thus eliminating redundant account review and increasing staff productivity.
TSI’s outbound campaign began educating patients on their upcoming visits and helped to get a better understanding of patient behavior. By calling the patient before their appointment, TSI was available to answer questions, ease pre-appointment anxiety, and confirm and/or reschedule their visit, leading to a decrease in cancellations and missed appointments. Following superior results and community feedback, UMass expanded the program, including additional call types surrounding behavioral and mental health.
“EOS is viewed by patients and UMMH alike as an integral part of the UMass Memorial team. Patients call us specifically to share their positive interactions with EOS.”
– Francis M. Wanjau
Senior Director, Network Performance
