Reducing Call Volume to Improve Staff and Patient Satisfaction
Jayne Chase at The Valley Health System
With nearly three decades’ experience as telecommunications manager at The Valley Health System, Jayne Chase knows her call center inside out. And with a staff of 13 fielding up to 3,500 calls per day for six Las Vegas hospitals, the overwhelming volume was causing considerable stress and burnout among her team members. Resignations were a concern, especially working in a hospitality town that offered other telecommunication opportunities.
“It was really hard. With the hotels and casinos as our competition, it was tough getting good people to stay…
We had resorted to temp workers, but training new people every month was very expensive and time-consuming.” – Jayne Chase, Valley Health System Telecommunications Manager
Making a business case for a switchboard automation solution to reduce operator burden
Jayne knew that patient experience was going to continue to decline unless something changed. She approached her CFO with Parlance, pitching the technology solution as a way to reduce the number of calls requiring operator assistance by 50%, make more efficient utilization of the current staff, eliminate caller hold times, and get call center staff back on track to providing effective, pleasing, personalized customer service.
“The Valley Health System is all about customer service. It’s our goal. But we’re also invested in our employees’ experience. We care about them greatly, too, and Parlance is a big part of that.”
Reducing labor costs
Now, with Parlance-provided data, the business case speaks for itself – and, as Jayne puts it, “the solution has lived up to what we expected, answering up to 50% of our incoming calls.” In fact, The Valley Health System opened a new hospital without having to hire more operators, representing a significant ROI. Operators today are less rushed and better able to provide thoughtful, compassionate service for complex issues – a personal touch that is essential to providing personalized patient care.
“Now, in the event of only one person staffing the phones, Parlance can handle nonemergency calls – seamlessly and accurately – which frees up staff to answer critical code calls.”
