4. Serving as a consumer hub
Transfer and access centers are generally focused on service to referring providers. However, many organizations are extending their focus to interact directly with patients. During this pandemic, residents of communities have been seeking answers about their symptoms, as well as concerns about information accuracy, testing and potential exposure. Consequently, they may overwhelm clinic or hospital phone lines with inquiries, or they may even visit an urgent care center or ED for non-emergent reasons. All of this diverts valuable resources needed in other areas and risks exposing healthy patients to the virus.
Your access center can alleviate this pressure and mitigate risks by serving as a community information hub. In many cases, access centers are implementing and publicizing a designated phone number for consumers to call. Non-clinical personnel can be temporarily assigned to field these calls and respond to initial consumer concerns and connect them with clinical personnel as needed. This reduces phone-line congestion, builds stronger goodwill with the community and allows people who should self-isolate and shelter-in-place to do so safely and confidently.
5. Data to support planning and response
The data captured from patient care orchestration activities, as well as from calls to the COVID-19 information line, are valuable as your organization tracks activity across the community and assesses changes in the infection curve over time. Additionally, infection clusters can be readily identified based on referring or home locations. Outcomes data for admitted, transferred and telehealth patients can also be tracked to optimize future treatment protocols, such as when a likely second wave of COVID-19 cases arrives later this year.
Accurate, real-time answers to these and other questions, when presented in at-a-glance dashboards and easy-to-understand reports, enable decision-makers to more proactively and effectively respond to the pandemic. In addition, data generated by your access center can benefit the business side of your organization, particularly as you strive to judiciously allocate finite resources.
Combined, your access center can be your health system’s secret weapon to combat the spread and harm caused by COVID-19 to your patients, providers and your community.
About the Author: Angie Franks is the CEO of Central Logic, an industry innovator in enterprise visibility and tools to accelerate access to care.
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