Asked and Answered: Nurse-Based Triage After-Hours Care

Nurse-based phone triage is an emerging approach that is designed to improve nurse efficiency, reduce staff burnout and increase patient satisfaction. With this updated model, after-hours calls are always answered by a hospice-trained registered nurse, giving caregivers access to the support they need, when they need it. Here we’ll cover some commonly asked questions around our capabilities, including questions asked during a recent Hospice News webinar. 

Why would I choose a nurse-first model for my hospice/home health facility?

The patient’s and/or care providers’ concerns are addressed during the initial call and not during a call-back. This has proven to not only reduce nurse burnout but also increase CAHPS scores and patient satisfaction.

Does my nursing staff need to learn a new technology platform to get the benefit of this service?

If partnering with IntellaTriage, the answer is no. We live in your current processes and systems so that your staff can avoid any kind of learning curve and focus on patient care during their shift.

What percentage of calls have to be routed to the on-call staff after speaking with IntellaTriage?

While the percentages may vary depending on the clinical directives we develop with your team, IntellaTriage can address anywhere between 65-75% of calls, meaning only ~ 35% of calls go to on-call staff.

Does IntellaTriage service only hospice providers, or does this extend to other groups? If yes, how are those triage models different?

We have two segments of our business: 

Nurse Triage is all things post-acute care, including hospice and home health, home infusion and palliative care. The goal of this service is to ensure the patient receives the best possible care after-hours. 

Our Nurse Advice Line is for health plans and provider groups. The goal of the nurse advice line is to make sure the patient is getting to the right level of care through the direction and assessment of our registered nurses. 

While the two segments have slightly different goals, they share several similarities in terms of their actual workflows and tailored approaches. 

Does IntellaTriage QA calls to ensure compliance and client/patient satisfaction?

Yes, IntellaTriage records every call so our Quality Assurance team can conduct daily audits for all of our nurses. In addition to the daily audits, our QA team performs monthly focused audits on a particular type of call or customer and we conduct specific incident audits to ensure our service is of the highest quality.

How does IntellaTriage integrate with the client’s secure messaging platform?

We do have the capabilities to integrate with secure messaging platforms, but we prefer the phone call method because it helps ensure accurate and clear communication. 

Do you see a significant impact on the satisfaction survey/ CAHPS survey?

Yes. For example, we helped a hospice in the Mid-Atlantic region improve from about ten points below average CAHPS score on after-hours to about ten points above the national average.

What is the cost of this service?

Cost is dependent on facility size, hospice versus home health versus palliative care, coverage hours and other variables. Generally speaking, our strategy is less than 1% of your daily reimbursement for your patients. We intentionally work to make this cost-cautious because it’s a great service and we want people to be able to benefit from it.

IntellaTriage is Your All-in-One Solution

The greatest value in a nurse-first phone triage model is how it complements current staffing models. This strategy allows for customization to your clinical directives, becomes an extension of your team and improves the patient experience. Contact IntellaTriage today for more information about our essential phone triage services.