Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) is a county health system in California that serves the surrounding area’s most vulnerable populations.
CCHS engaged ECG to address ongoing issues with patient access, including long phone wait times and poor appointment availability.
Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) is a county health system in California that serves the surrounding area’s most vulnerable populations.
To understand the patient access challenges, ECG conducted a rapid assessment of contact center and practice operations and developed prioritized recommendations for improving access. ECG then developed and implemented a future-state model for centralized services and patient access operations that supported and balanced the needs of patients, physicians, clinics, and the county. Implementation of this model included:
These optimization efforts led to increased revenue, decreased costs, and an improved patient experience.
Increased Revenue: Provider ProductivityThe contact center was able to keep provider schedules full by improving the scheduling process, including introducing online scheduling, revamping the referral management process, using additional mediums of communication, simplifying provider templates, and optimizing use of their EHR to better organize work. This led to a 2.7% increase in provider fill rate in the first six months, expanding provider capacity and volumes.
Improved Patient Experience: Digital Options
Patients can now schedule or register for an appointment online. Just six months after its launch, 18% of new patients are scheduled online at CCHS. This digitization of patient access services has begun CCHS’s efforts to empower the consumer and establish a digital front door. Additionally, improvements to the contact center have reduced phone wait times by more than 25%.
Decreased Costs: Labor Efficiencies
Three separate patient access teams were combined to reduce fragmentation and improve efficiency in completing tasks. To improve employee productivity, ECG implemented shrinkage monitoring and coaching protocols. ECG also updated the training program and created more efficient processes through workflow and template optimization sprints.
CCHS saw a 4.1% decrease in inbound call volume primarily due to online appointment scheduling, 5.2% decrease in time employees spend on the phone, and 4.0% improvement in scheduling efficiency from cross-training staff, introducing automation, and standardizing workflows.
