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Prescription Renewal: Givingthem the slip

Presented by:Lisa Olson, Thom Parrotti, Mary Schiller

Notify MD-Lisa OlsonNotify MD-Lisa Olson

Franklin, TN

Background:Background:

20 years experience 18,000 physicians 75,000 patient encounters daily 6 call centers Services

– Daytime call management– After hours– Appointment confirmation– Lab results– Outbound care compliance– Speech to text dictation

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Typical Patient RX ExperienceTypical Patient RX Experience Patient calls in and listens to Auto

Attendant Patient Transfers to Receptionist Receptionist places caller on hold Nurse is not available to take call Patient leaves message in voicemail Message does not have all info to

fulfill request Call back is made but patient is no

longer available for return call

Typical Patient RX ExperienceTypical Patient RX Experience Nurse leaves message and process is

repeated Chart is pulled by clerk and process

for fulfillment starts

Total time elapsed = 6 hours

Facts about Medical PracticesFacts about Medical Practices

Average physician/provider gets 100calls per day

Approximately 10-15 % of those call(depending on specialty) are RXrefills

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Application-Application-

Benefits to PracticeBenefits to Practice

Call type is known to operator Data collection defined by script Caller is given call back expectation Decrease call volume/repeat calls Reduce liability Frees clinical staff Quicker response to patient

– Voicemail generates 1.5 additional calls– Messages can’t be prioritized– Patient satisfaction

Sample Template and GreetingSample Template and Greeting

See attached for example templateand Greeting

Things to remember when buildingRX renewal scripts and greetings

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Benefit to youBenefit to you

Average length of call 2-3 minutes Priced at $1.10 to $1.60 per minute $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Bassett Healthcare-Thom ParrottiBassett Healthcare-Thom Parrotti

Cooperstown, NY

Background-Background-

Contact Thom Parrotti, Director Bassett Call Centerthomas.parrotti@bassett.org

FOR MORE INFO...

Main ‘Access Center’ for Bassett Healthcare Corporate offices: Cooperstown, New York - supporting

4 Hospitals and 24 Regional Sites across Central New York Annual Volume of over 5 million calls in 2007 Multiple call processes:

Main Board, Code/Emergency, Scheduling, Paging, Messaging, AfterHours, Web Directory/On-Call, Pre-Reg Calls, ED Follow Up Calls,Patient Transportation, Regional Support, Alarm System Monitoring

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History of RX Renewal LineHistory of RX Renewal Line

Primary Care Secretaries processed all RX Renewal requests

Staff reduced from 4 to 2 Secretaries

RX Renewal requests not being processed in timely manner

50% of volume due to RX Renewal requests

High volumes were confirmed by queued Lines reporting solid stats

Based on this, Call Center applied dept. staffing model to volumes

2.4 FTE positions added to Call Center to focus on RX Renewals

New ProcessNew Process Front End Menu for secretaries re-routes prescription

renewal requests to Call Center

Rep takes I Series Message ticket (sample follows on next page)

Rep utilizes Meditech’s drug lookup utility via searchableweb-page link

Message is sent to appropriate secretaries account forcovering provider by Ultracomm

Secretary verifies renewal request in Meditech

Secretary prepares actual script for Provider’s signature.

Sample Message TicketSample Message Ticket& Utility Lookup& Utility Lookup

Enter the partial drug nameyou wish to look up, and clicksearch.

Drug:Leva

There were 27 possiblematches for Leva :

Levacet Caplet 1 TABLevalbuterol Hcl 25 GMLevall 5.0 Liquid 473 ML

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StatisticsStatistics

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20

40

60

80

100

PRE new process POST new process

RX Renewal Service

Levels

ImplementationImplementation

Marketing Challenges Work-Arounds

Brody School of Medicine-MaryBrody School of Medicine-MarySchillerSchiller

Greenville, NC

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Background:Background:

Brody School of Medicine Contact Centeris located in Greenville, North Carolina

Joint ownership with Pitt County MemorialHospital

We currently have approximately 3300physician and resident accounts

We provide support to approximately 50clinical sites

Average annual call volume is 300,000 24 hour service, 365 days a year with 8

full-time, and 11 part-time agents

Our Mission:Our Mission:

To develop an all-source, multi-purpose Contact Center that

supports East Carolina University’sDivision of Health Sciences and

Brody School of MedicinePhysician’s Group Practice, andintegrates with the Pitt CountyMemorial Hospital Call Center.

Services Provided using theServices Provided using theElectronic Medical RecordsElectronic Medical Records Patient information verification General appointment information (date,

time, clinic location, directions) Prescription refill and medical test results

requests Administrative and Academic messaging

suppport Physician’s Answering Service

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Benefits to the PhysicianBenefits to the Physician’’s Groups Group

One Call - call resolution Standardized processes High level of professionalism and

customer service Reduced OnCall paging Reduced liability Reduced abandonment rates More efficient Adverse Weather

processes

One-call Call ResolutionOne-call Call Resolution

Prescription Refill AssistancePrescription Refill Assistance

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Pharmacy InformationPharmacy Information

MessagingMessaging

Summary Summary –– Using the EMR Using the EMR

More convenient More accurate More efficient Reduces liability