CASE STUDIES - REAL RESULTS
CASE STUDY: STAFF SUPPORT TEXTS DURING COVID-19
LOVELACE HEALTH SYSTEM USES DIALOG HEALTH TO COMMUNICATE COVID-19 UPDATES AND SEND SUPPORT MESSAGES TO STAFF
THE PROBLEM:
When COVID-19 hit, Lovelace Health System in New Mexico realized that its ability to effectively communicate with all of its staff was insufficient to handle the ever-changing and updating guidelines being issued by federal, state, local, and even corporate authorities.
THE SOLUTION:
Lovelace decided to deploy two-way text messaging so all employees could receive timely messages with relevant updates on their phones. The two-way texting platform provided leadership with the ability to send messages with updates, inspirational quotes, and reminders about key employee resources, such as the system's employee assistance program.
THE RESULTS:
The Dialog Health platform allowed Lovelace to communicate quickly and efficiently to nearly 3,600 employees. Between March 15 and March 31, Lovelace sent more than 46,000 messages, such as:
Lovelace: As we enter another week of challenges during this crisis, we encourage you to take this opportunity to embrace the time with your family and loved ones, to find ways to help others and take time for yourself, knowing that we will get through this period.
Lovelace: Be sure to review the updated PPE guidelines in light of COVID-19 with your manager to ensure you have appropriate protection at work.
Lovelace: During the COVID-19 pandemic, it's important to clean commonly touched surfaces, such as your cell phone's screen. Apple, Google, and others are recommending the use of 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. PLEASE check with your manufacturer for specific instructions.
Lovelace: Looking for a way to help your fellow New Mexicans? Give blood at our drive in the parking lot behind Lovelace Women's Hospital on Thursday, July 2, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., at 101 Hospital Loop. Call 505.246.XXXX for info.
THE CONCLUSION:
The Dialog Health two-way mobile messaging platform has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective way to communicate with all staff who have a mobile phone and chose to remain opted in for texting. Lovelace continues to use the platform daily and is exploring ways to further leverage text messaging for staff communications.
“Lovelace: During this challenging time, we want you to know that we are appreciative of everything you do and the sacrifices that have been made. Your selflessness is a reflection of our patient care and represents the best of our centers."
CASE STUDY: TEXTING SAVED STAFF FROM MAKING OVER 75,000 CALLS
URGENT CARE COMPANY USES DIALOG HEALTH TEXTING PLATFORM TO COMMUNICATE NEGATIVE COVID-19 TEST RESULTS
THE PROBLEM:
When CareSpot Urgent Care began performing COVID-19 tests in spring 2020, its physicians were finding that they were spending a few hours every day making phone calls just to tell patients that their test results came back negative.
THE SOLUTION:
CareSpot decided to leverage live-texting feature of the Dialog Health HIPAA-compliant, two-way text messaging platform. This allowed physicians to send texts to patients letting them know that their COVID-19 test results were normal. CareSpot was already using live texting to communicate with patients about normal results for other studies, so the addition of a COVID-19-related text was simple to set up and deploy.
THE RESULTS:
Within the first 60 days of implementing live text messages to inform patients of COVID-19 negative results, CareSpot was able to eliminate the need for its physicians to make more than 75,000 phone calls. This allowed CareSpot physicians to spend more time providing services to patients.
THE CONCLUSION:
The Dialog Health two-way mobile messaging platform has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective means of freeing up valuable physician time by reducing the need for physicians to communicate with patients via phone calls, which are time- and resource-intensive process. CareSpot, its physicians, and patients also benefit since the urgent care centers using the live-texting feature for COVID-19 have more time available to schedule appointments and provide services.
CASE STUDY: REDUCE NO-SHOWS
PHYSICIAN GROUP USES DIALOG HEALTH TO HELP REDUCE NO-SHOWS WITH PATIENTS BY 34% AND GREW REVENUE BY $100,000.
THE PROBLEM:
The physician services division of a large health system had a goal of reducing appointment no shows in 2015. Missed appointments were costing them considerable time and money. The primary form of appointment related communication was automated phone calls.
THE SOLUTION:
The physician services division implemented a two-way real time text messaging platform from Dialog Health. The platform provides clinics the ability to engage patients via automated messaging, ad hoc (group) messaging and direct text messaging. The system has proven the ability to increase revenue, decrease costs, improve staff workflow and enhance patient satisfaction.
THE RESULTS:
The Dialog Health solution dropped the collective no-show rate by 34%, from 7.64% in December 2014 to 5.03% in June of 2015. The Physician’s group has projected $100,000 in additional revenue.
THE CONCLUSION:
Dialog Health two-way mobile messaging platform has proven to be an efficient and cost effective way to reduce no-shows and increase revenue.
“Dialog Health has been a great addition to communicate with our patients. It has allowed us to connect much more efficiently without any of the regular issues that present with conventional communication. I would recommend the system because it has so many different functions from decreasing no-shows to notifying our patients of last-minute office changes due to weather delays.”
– Braxton H., Medical Office Coordinator
CASE STUDY: REDUCE PHONE CALLS
AMBULATORY SURGERY CENTER USES DIALOG HEALTH TO HELP REDUCE POST-OP CALLS BY 92%.
THE PROBLEM:
Post-op staff at a high volume surgery center struggled to get patients on the phone the day after surgery to check in on them. Staff were making on average 2.5 calls to each patient to ask the required post-op questions regarding nausea, pain, and relative well being. The typical call lasts about 6 minutes. Staff were also spending unproductive time leaving voicemail messages and most often recalling multiple times before finally getting the patient on the phone.
THE SOLUTION:
The ASC implemented Dialog Health’s two-way real time text-messaging solution. They immediately automated the delivery of a “1 day post-op” follow-up text survey that would replace the phone call if the patient responded positively to the questions. Dialog Health worked with the quality professionals at the ASC to design the questions to meet the requirements of recent QAPI changes.
THE RESULTS:
Over a 4 month period from April to July 2015, 1,768 patients opted-in for text reminder messages. 1,411 (80%) patients responded to the post-op text questions. 1,301 (92%) patients responded YES to all of the questions, and saved the cost of the time necessary to make post-op phone calls. 101 (8%) patients responded NO to at least one of the questions so the center called the patient. Overall, Dialog Health reduced post-op calls by 92%.
THE CONCLUSION:
Dialog Health’s two-way mobile messaging platform has proven to significantly improve sta workflow and productivity through its unique text survey capabilities.
“Given we average about 2.5 calls per patient during post-op follow up, the 1,301 patients who responded YES to the texts sent by Dialog Health saved my sta from having to make more than 3,250 calls which has substantially impacted our FTE per case. From a PACU workflow standpoint, the productivity gains we have seen using Dialog Health have been significant and my nurses now concentrate on doing what we do best...care for our patients.”
-Nelson Rue, Administrator, Baptist Plaza Surgicare
CASE STUDY: EMERGENCY / MASS COMMUNICATIONS
PHYSICIAN GROUP USES DIALOG HEALTH TO HELP ALERT THOUSANDS OF PATIENTS WITHIN MINUTES DRASTICALLY REDUCING STAFF PHONE CALLS.
THE PROBLEM:
A major practice was having diffIculty communicating quickly with patients, staff, and providers when unexpected events happened— increasing stress, confusion, and costs due to miscommunication and the chaos it caused.
THE SOLUTION:
The practice implemented Dialog Health’s Ad Hoc mobile messaging solution to send messages to a specific segment of the patient, staff, and provider population.
THE RESULTS:
Using the Dialog Health Ad Hoc mobile messaging solution, the administrator sent 4,706 messages for 1 practice in 3 locations instead of using phone calls to reach the same population. Total time spent by administrator: less than 10 minutes. The Ad Hoc solution is also a great incentive to get patients to OPT-IN, which in turn increases patient satisfaction.
THE CONCLUSION:
Dialog Health’s two-way mobile messaging platform has proven to drastically reduce staff workload and reach thousands of patients in minutes.
“The Dialog Health platform has brought a new light to the way we communicate with our patients. Outside the appointment reminders, this platform has provided my clinic with the ability to communicate with a mass amount of patients in a very short amount of time. Throughout this year, we have had multiple cases of inclement weather or ill providers where we had to communicate with our patients that would potentially be affected. With the ability to send mass texts to specific patients, we have dramatically reduced the number of hours spent on the phone and minimized the stress level within my staff.”
- Austin R., Clinic Manager
CASE STUDY: INCREASED BENEFITS ENROLLMENT AND REDUCED ACQUISITION COSTS
Broker recommends to Employer HR department to use Dialog Health two-way text solution to eliminate onsite disruption and costly benefit admin buildout for voluntary benefit enrollment. The text messages also kept voluntary plans non-ERISA. The process dramatically reduced acquisition cost and generated $100 of annual revenue per eligible employee.
THE PROBLEM:
An Employer with more than 3,000 employees realized that hosting voluntary benefits on their benefit admin system was not only costly but was resulting in very low participation and potentially triggered ERISA plan requirements. Enrollment deadlines were often missed as Employees did not respond to reminder emails in a timely manner or did not engage with marketing collateral that was distributed. Also, Employers found onsite enrollment visits caused worksite disruption with limited engagement.
THE SOLUTION:
The insurance broker recommended the Employer use Dialog Health’s two-way mobile messaging platform for enrollment related communication. The Employer deployed Dialog Health’s two-way texting solution letting Employees know that Annual Enrollment had begun and that they MUST accept or decline voluntary benefits by a certain date. Given that over 90% of mobile phones have access to the internet, the text messages included a direct link to a third party voluntary benefits website and the access code for the Employee. This allowed the Employees to log on and enroll directly from their mobile device. The texts focused on two distinct campaigns: Accident/CI/Identity Theft and Life/Long Term Care. If an Employee had not completed enrollment by a set date, they were sent a 2nd text reminding them that enrollment was not completed and again giving them a link to the benefits website in the text. Importantly, the website was set-up as a bit.ly link so that the company could track the number of clicks on the link sent via the text messages.
THE RESULTS:
As a result of using Dialog Health’s two-way texting solution the Employer drastically increased engagement with their voluntary benefits enrollment campaign. The Accident/CI/Identity Theft campaign, 9399 SMS texts were sent with over 78% of employees logging into the enrollment website (7385 responses). For the Life/Long Term Care campaign, 57% of employees logged in and accepted or declined coverage (1786 responses to the 3139 texts sent). Also, the text included a direct link to a third-party enrollment system that was clicked on over 60% of the time.
THE CONCLUSION:
The Dialog Health two-way mobile messaging platform has proven to be a highly effective and very cost-efficient way to inform and engage Employees of voluntary benefits, keep plans non-ERISA and directly link them to a third party voluntary benefits website where they can accept or decline coverage.
“Dialog Health provided the perfect delivery method for our mobile compatible enrollment website, resulting in the elimination of costly onsite enrollments, worksite disruption and with a much higher participation rate than hosting voluntary benefits on benefit admin systems,”
- Tom Smith, Founder of VBA and developer of www.HighLowOrNo.com voluntary benefits enrollment platform.
CASE STUDY: IMPROVE REVENUE COLLECTION
Ambulatory surgery center uses Dialog Health to help reduce outstanding accounts receivables with patients from $110,000 to $48,000 in just 6 weeks.
THE PROBLEM:
Chasing up payments from patients can be an expensive, time consuming, and inefficient process. Employees at a high volume surgery center attempted multiple calls and sent multiple letters in hopes of reaching the patients who had payments that were past due. As of October 1, 2016, the facility had $110,000 in outstanding accounts receivables with patients.
THE SOLUTION:
The ASC which was already using Dialog Health’s two-way real time text messaging platform for appointment related communication added messages to the Dialog Health platform to remind patients that a payment was due. Employees were able to send direct texts to the patient instead of making multiple phone calls or mailing billing correspondences. Importantly, the text messages included a link to their payment portal and a phone number the patient could call if they had any questions.
THE RESULTS:
The ASC was able to reduce their outstanding accounts receivable balance from $110,000 to $48,000 in just six weeks by using the Dialog Health platform. Employees also had more time to focus on other tasks at the facility instead of making phone calls and generating and mailing reminder invoices.
THE CONCLUSION:
Dialog Health two-way mobile messaging platform has proven to be an efficient and cost effective way to improve the collection of accounts receivables from patients.
“The Dialog Health platform is an invaluable part of our efforts to improve our payment collections process. By working with Dialog Health, we were able to reduce the outstanding balances by over half in about six weeks. My staff found the direct texting to be far more efficient and pleasant than making many phone calls, and not having to send letters reduced our expenses. Not only has the Dialog Health platform been extremely cost effective, but feedback from our patients has been positive in that they find a text reminder less of a hassle and more welcoming than a phone call.”
- Barry Cullen, Regional Vice President, USPI
95%
THOUSANDS OF EMERGENCY MESSAGES DURING HURRICANE HARVEY AND IRMA…REDUCING STAFF PHONE TIME BY 95%
“The Dialog Health platform was essential during Hurricane Irma. With mandatory and voluntary evacuations taking place during the state of emergency...the only way to reach our employees was on their mobile phones. The two-way texting platform was a quick way for us to do headcount checks, identify which staff had evacuated, and confirm employees were safe and accounted for. We also used the system to keep staff apprised of office closures and re-openings.”
- Amy Southerland Lugar, HUB International Southeast