Case Study
Acurata is already having a major impact on Tidewell Hospice. Read below or download the PDF to learn more!
About Tidewell Hospice
Founded in 1980 as a Florida-based not for profit hospice, Tidewell cares for of 9,000 patients each year, while receiving over 4,000 calls per month to their triage call center, making them the largest non-profit hospice system in the United States. Tidewell has been using Acurata since 2016.
Challenges
Response Times
At a call center this large with such a high volume of calls during peak hours, challenges arose with regards to interaction with caregivers, patients, and efficient dispatching to them.
Triage nurses would receive a request for a visit and then call all on-duty nurses to try and determine who was the closest. Many times, they would reach the field nurses’ voicemail. Returned calls would add to nurse-to-nurse call volume taking away from nurse-to-patient calls. Additionally, without the ability to see where the field nurses were, calls would be assigned to the first nurse who answered their phone, rather than who was the closest. Often, drive times and response times were increased as a result of not dispatching the closest field nurse.
These extended response times in turn led to an increase in patient and caregiver complaints. Anxious caregivers would place more calls into the call center, increasing call volume, and in some cases calling 911.
Reporting
Triage reporting for government and accrediting agencies was being done manually. These reports included the time that the request was received, dispatch time, and arrival time. Arrival times depended upon a dispatched nurse calling the call center letting them know they were on site. Handwritten notes were often taken to log and submit these statistics.
Solutions
Our goal was to simplify and standardize the triage process across all of Tidewell’s locations and service areas
Deploying our Triage Portal to the call center increases efficiency of the dispatching process by centralizing all calls and allowing call center nurses to see where the on-duty field nurses are at any given moment.
Decreasing response times as a result of more efficient dispatching reduces confusion and prevents call backs from anxious caregivers. Lower call volume to the call center allows for more time spent focused on patient care.
Providing the Acurata mobile app to field nurses allows the call center to see exactly where each on duty nurse is in real-time. Field nurses using the mobile app get alerts when assigned a visit, and will get visit details, turn-by-turn directions, and can change their status when they arrive and complete a visit.
Hands-on support and focus group sessions with call center and field nurses with the Acurata team to discuss in-app and web portal features, call center workflow, and field nurse processes.
Results
Decreased Complaints
Patient complaints related to extended response times were decreased by 63% from the previous fiscal year, without an increase in workforce.
Acurata allowed the call center to assign a visit to a field nurse while they were still on the phone with a patient. By the time the call was finished, the field nurse had received the visit information on their mobile app, and the call center nurse was able to take the next patient call, reducing response times by 43%.
In-app navigation allowed nurses to determine the fastest route. When the field nurse received the visit information, they could change their status in the mobile app, alerting call center nurses immediately, without a phone call.
Reduced Costs
Mileage reimbursement costs were reduced by 22% and call volume between call center nurses and field nurses was reduced by 40%.
With always-on GPS, nurses were able to see the fastest route to the patient from their current location.
Knowing how many visits a field nurse had in their queue using the triage portal allowed call center nurses to make the best choice for who to assign a visit to.
Introducing these new efficiencies to Tidewell’s triage practices reduced over-staffing field nurses, while affording more time to patient care.
Increased Business Intelligence
Acurata provided much more accurate reporting data for government compliance and accrediting agencies.
With all of the data Acurata recorded on nurse locations and visit details, Tidewell was able to customize their reports detailing average response times, average visit times, number of visits by reason-code, and nurse utilization.
The historical data stored by Acurata allowed for efficient adjustment to staffing by identifying visit trends, reason codes, length of visit, and nurse skill set.
As a result, the nursing staffs’ job satisfaction levels greatly improved as evidenced in Tidewell’s annual stay interviews.
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5342 Clark Road #185
Sarasota, FL 34233