Improving a patient appointment call center at Mayo Clinic
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
ISSN: 0952-6862
Article publication date: 30 September 2013
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