Transforming Assurance Medication Management’s Patient Services with Star Telecom

Company Brief

Assurance Medication Management specializes in providing Chronic Care Management (CCM) services to patients with two or more chronic conditions, such as arthritis, diabetes, or high blood pressure. Their holistic services include:

• Personalized care plans created by dedicated healthcare professionals.
• Coordination of care between pharmacies, specialists, and other healthcare providers.
• Regular phone check-ins with highly trained pharmacists and clinical staff.
• Comprehensive support services, including pharmacy consultations, social services, dietician consultations, and mental health support.

Assurance’s mission is to simplify healthcare management for patients and enable them to spend more time doing what they love. However, the organization faced significant challenges with scalability and efficiency as they rapidly grew.

The Challenge

Before partnering with Star Telecom, Assurance Medication Management’s operations were burdened by time-consuming manual processes:

• Clinical staff manually contacted patients daily for appointment and counseling reminders, reducing time spent on direct patient care.
• Staff turnover created inefficiencies, as new employees had to manually take over patients from departing staff members.
• Manual call routing caused delays, as incoming patient calls required manual identification and redirection to the appropriate clinical staff person.

These inefficiencies hindered Assurance’s ability to scale effectively while maintaining high-quality patient care.

The Solution

Star Telecom implemented a Genesys Cloud solution to revolutionize Assurance Medication Management’s contact center operations. Key features of the solution included:

1. SMS Reminders
   • Star Telecom integrated the Genesys Cloud solution with Assurance’s patient management system to automate SMS reminders.
   • Patients with upcoming appointments received automated text reminders, reducing the need for manual outreach.
2. Automatic Call Routing
   • Calls were routed automatically based on the patient’s ANI (Automatic Number Identification).
   • Patients were connected directly to their assigned clinical staff person, enhancing efficiency.
   • For cases where ANI was unavailable or the patient called from a different number, calls were directed to reception for further assistance.
3. Streamlined Staff Turnover Management
   • The system ensured seamless reassignment of patients to new clinical staff without disrupting care continuity.

Quantitative and Qualitative Outcomes:

The implementation of Star Telecom’s solution delivered remarkable outcomes for Assurance Medication Management:

Improved Patient Experience:

Automated SMS reminders and efficient call routing reduced delays and improved communication with patients. Missed appointments dropped dramatically since the solution was introduced due to the effectiveness of the automated reminders.

Enhanced Staff Efficiency:

Clinical staff spent more time providing direct patient care instead of performing administrative tasks. One employee, Mike, said “I just wanted to say since the switch to the new phone system and the “text campaigns” my call completion rate has blown up. I know it takes a bit for us as humans to adjust to something new but I got say I feel so much more successful in the role. I also LOVE that we are working to improve the patient experience from the perspective of “weary from so many calls” and focus on brevity.”

Scalability:

The automated processes allowed Assurance to manage growth seamlessly without additional strain on staff resources.

Duane Galligher, co-founder and COO, indicated “Our performance metrics improved almost immediately after the solution went live. The improvement in connection rates and efficiency drove an almost 20 percent improvement in capacity for our clinical staff. Billable hours as a ratio to labor hours also improved by almost 15 percent.

The automated routing simplifies things for our patients – they call our toll-free number and are immediately routed to the correct patient advisor based on their phone number. It makes it a very pleasant experience for our patients.