Medical Call Centers
Potentially avoidable hospitalizations are common, costly, and can have meaningful economic impacts. Medical Call Centers, driven by Nurse Only Triage, have been shown to reduce emergency department, ER visits, 911 calls and hospitalization of patients, yet adoption of Nurse driven Medical Call Centers have been limited. This is due to to most providers including, Physicians, Physician Groups, Hospitals, Hospice, Home Care, SNFs, Nursing Homes, ACOs, TPAs, Employers and Insurers not knowing or not realizing that there are options when it comes to medical call centers or medical answering services. But the truth is that there is and the new standard is a Medical Answering Service or Medical Call Center driven by Nurse Based Triage.
All types of patients frequently experience potentially avoidable hospitalizations, which are defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as hospitalizations that could have been avoided because the condition could have been prevented or treated outside of an inpatient hospital setting. The primary reason for avoidable hospitalizations is the lack of access to qualified nurses coupled with the absence of appropriate clinical decision support tools to guide care consistent with care plan goals at any time during the day or night. Basically, access to nurse based triage.
Medical Call Centers driven by nurse only care for addressing avoidable 911 calls and ER visits improves the overall quality of care and patient satisfaction by providing remote clinical care without having to do an on-site face-to-face evaluation or waiting until the next day to get the care needed. The improved Medical Call Center that includes “Nurse Only” triage goes above and beyond what traditional Medical Answering Services provide, as only trained licensed nurses allow for a more timely and detailed assessment of a patient’s condition and provide the appropriate clinical decision support coupled with immediate access to care in order to reduce the variability in outcomes.
Despite the potential benefits, adoption of medical call centers that utilize only nurses, has been limited and additional strategies to manage unnecessary ER visits are needed. The burgeoning interest in nurse driven medical call centers represents an opportunity for providers to emphasize the importance of high-quality after hours care, while also wanting to fill existing service gaps and improve timeliness of care. This reflects a high degree of confidence in the potential for nurse driven medical call center solutions to manage patients.
If you are ready to make the change from the traditional medical call center or medical answering service to a more effective, nurse driven model, contact us today to start a conversation.
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