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Improving a patient appointment call center at Mayo Clinic

Thomas Rohleder (Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA)
Brian Bailey (Process Improvement Office, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA)
Brian Crum (Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA)
Timothy Faber (Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA)
Brandon Johnson (Essentia Health, Information Services, Duluth, Minnesota, USA)
LeTesha Montgomery (Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA)
Rachel Pringnitz (Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA)

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance

ISSN: 0952-6862

Article publication date: 30 September 2013

1372

Abstract

Purpose

Contact centers for patient and referring physician are important to large medical-centers such as the Mayo Clinic's Central Appointment Office (CAO). The aim of this case study is to report the process and results of a major process improvement effort, designed to simultaneously improve service quality and efficiency.

Design/methodology/approach

Discrete-event simulation and optimization are used and linked to significant service improvements.

Findings

The process improvement efforts led to about a 70 percent improvement in patient service performance as measured by average answering-speed (ASA) and average abandonment rate (AAR). This was achieved without adding additional staff, despite call volume increasing by 12 percent. Evaluating process improvement projects is difficult owing to the “phased” implementation of changes. Thus, there is no true control against which to compare. Additionally, the results are based on a single case study.

Research limitations/implications

Evaluation of process improvement projects is difficult due to the “phased” implementation of changes. Thus, there is no true control to compare against.

Practical implications

Contact center data and operations research methods, such as discrete-event simulation and optimization, can be integrated with change management, which results in significant process improvements in medical call-centers.

Originality/value

Structured quantitative modeling of contact centers can be an important extension to traditional quality and process improvement techniques.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Randy Swanson for his assistance with the simulation and optimization analysis and Todd Huschka for his assistance with model input analysis.

Citation

Rohleder, T., Bailey, B., Crum, B., Faber, T., Johnson, B., Montgomery, L. and Pringnitz, R. (2013), "Improving a patient appointment call center at Mayo Clinic", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 714-728. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-11-2011-0068

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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