Alegent Health Clinic – Omaha, NE
Situation
Alegent was considering adding phone notifications to extend collections from its current mail-only efforts. Past due account volume was too high for patients to be contacted through manual phone calls.
Results
Since adding HouseCalls notifications, Alegent has increased its monthly collections by 26%. They are getting $74 in return for every $1 spent with TeleVox – a 55% greater ROI than mail-only collections efforts.
Annapolis OB-GYN — Annapolis, MD
Situation
Though the practice has been delivering appointment reminders with an automated system for years, they hoped to expand that communication to include recalls, account balance notifications and more flexibility in appointment-related messages.
Results
Automated recalls have generated a 24.4% booking rate from live-answered messages, and account balance calls result in call transfers 16% of the time. The practice is now able to customize appointment messages for new patients, emergency reschedules and more.
Cardiology of Virginia – Midlothian, VA
Situation
Cardiology of Virginia was challenged by high postage, printing and staff labor costs associated with mailing patients about recalls and manually calling them with appointment reminders.
Results
Delivering recalls and appointment confirmations through HouseCalls has reduced communication costs by 68% and decreased patient no-shows by 27%.
Central Arkansas Pediatric Clinic – Benton, AR
Situation
Relying on manual appointment reminder phone calls from staff cost CAPC approximately $10,000 annually. Because these calls were being delivered during business hours, CAPC was not able to remind parents about next-day sick child appointment, which are scheduled that same day.
Results
Adopting HouseCalls to deliver appointment confirmations moves these communications to later in the day, so even last-minute sick-child appointments can be included in the reminder campaigns. Since implementing HouseCalls, CAPC's no-show rate has been reduced by 39%, resulting in $240,000 annual retained revenue!
Comprehensive Orthopedics – Salt Lake City, UT
Situation
For Comprehensive Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Salt Lake City, UT, staff labor expenses and lost revenue from patient no-shows provided two opportunities for improvement that would help compensate for growing A/R.
Results
Automating appointment confirmations allowed the practice to eliminate 50% of patient no-shows and reallocate $1,000 of monthly labor expense.
Cornerstone Family Practice — East Lansing, MI
Situation
Dr. Ralph Harvey's practice was challenged by patient no-shows and their financial impact on the practice. Dr. Harvey estimates potential revenue loss of $1,000 per day before using HouseCalls automated messaging system for reminders.
Results
Automated appointment reminders have streamlined the patient notification process and reduced no-shows by 67%, increasing the practice's annual retained revenue by over $200,000.
Dothan OB/GYN — Dothan, AL
Situation
Dothan OB/GYN's staff was too overloaded with other responsibilities to consistently deliver appointment reminder calls for its 100+ daily appointments. This contributed to high no-show rates and the associated revenue loss.
Results
HouseCalls contributed to an 18% no-show rate drop, which has translated into over $33,000 in annual retained revenue for the practice.
Fullerton Cardiovascular Medical Group — North Orange County, CA
Situation
FCMG was challenged by an appointment reminder process that required high postage expenses and staff involvement for coordination of mailings.
Results
Automated messaging has cut annual postage expenses by nearly $10,000 while saving staff time in the practice. Patient no-shows have decreased by 15% thanks to the personalized telephone reminders.
HealthCare Management Consultants
Situation
This consulting firm evaluated the benefits of the HouseCalls automated messaging system in live healthcare environments, focusing on time/cost savings, staff acceptance and patient acceptance.
Results
The study found average no-show reductions of 30% compared to no appointment reminder calls, an average $25,000 annual reduction in direct appointment reminder costs and high levels of staff acceptance. 94% of HouseCalls clients expressed satisfaction with the system - an outstanding figure compared to other HCMC studies.
Houston Eye Associates — Houston, TX
Situation
The practice needed efficient appointment reminder delivery while maintaining personal touch and keeping expenses at a minimum. Houston Eye also sought to schedule additional visits from thousands of one-visit patients it had previously served.
Results
After one year of HouseCalls usage for automated appointment reminders, Houston Eye reduced its no-show rate by 30%. Marketing calls had a 25% success rate, generating 6,000 additional visits and $900,000 in revenue over the year.
Jackson Eye Associates — Jackson, MS
Situation
Monthly labor costs devoted to patient notifications (appointment reminders, no-show follow-ups, recalls, etc.) were totaling over $2,500. JEA needed a more cost-effective and efficient way to communicate with a rapidly-growing patient population.
Results
JEA cut patient notification-related labor expenses by 66% (a 300% return on investment) after implementing HouseCalls. HouseCalls' thorough documentation of contact attempts has also been helpful when handling patients' appointment inquiries.
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic — Houston, TX
Situation
Traditional collections methods were not effective in managing past due balances for a patient base of over 300,000. Mailed account statements and manual phone calls were replaced with HouseCalls automated notifications to increase collections.
Results
Kelsey-Seybold increased quarterly outbound collections by as much as 255% while streamlining the entire account balance notification process.
MD Anderson Cancer Center — Houston, TX
Situation
High missed appointment volume was causing the Cancer Prevention Center to lose thousands in potential revenue each month.
Results
Since implementing HouseCalls appointment reminders, MD Anderson's missed appointment rate has decreased by 42%, retaining over $230,000 in annual revenue. Labor and supply costs of previous patient reminder methods have been reduced by over $18,000 annually.
MU Health Care — Columbia, MO
Situation
University of Missouri Health Care sought a way to decrease A/R accounts without adding greater contact responsibilities to their self-pay team.
Results
HouseCalls has enabled MU Health Care increase daily account contact by 54% while decreasing the average lifespan of an A/R account by 14%. The resulting annual increase in total collections is over $463,000.
Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons - Kent, OH
Situation
The practice was relying on postcards to schedule recall visits with patients and only achieving 20% success in booking those appointments. The practice wanted a solution to help increase revenue by bringing in a greater percentage of these recall visit opportunities.
Results
Delivering recalls through HouseCalls has resulted in a 41% conversion rate – a 104% improvement over previous postcard-only efforts. The increased appointment volume has translated into $523,000 additional annual revenue
Piedmont Healthcare – Atlanta, GA
Situation
Piedmont was challenged by limited collections staff resources to contact past due accounts. Primary focus was being placed on high balance accounts, and the majority of other account never received contact.
Results
In their own words, Piedmont "went from being an outbound calling unit to an inbound unit that handles patient response to TeleVox notifications". The response rate to TeleVox messages is 25%, and total collections are up 22%.
Physicians Care of Virginia — Roanoke, VA
Situation
PCV was plagued by numerous collections-related problems. The practice had more than $700,000 in accounts receivable. High employee turnover in the collections department made it nearly impossible to decrease the practice's bad debt, and many of the doctors objected to bringing in an outside collections agency.
Results
In the first six months after implementing the HouseCalls automated messaging system, PCV experienced a 43% decrease in delinquent accounts and a $500,000 increase in collections. PCV also saw a reduction in accounts receivable days and increases in accounts committed to payment plans and average dollars collected per account.
Saint Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center – Livingston, NJ
Situation
Saint Barnabas sought a way to increase appointment volume for bone density testing while reducing their financial investment in these promotional efforts.
Results
A TeleVox phone campaign delivered a 3.9% conversion rate within the first 20 days, and Saint Barnabas estimates $26 in revenue generated for every $1 spent on the TeleVox outreach.
St. Clair Shores OBGYN – St. Clair Shores, MI
Situation
St. Clair Shores needed a way to efficiently communicate with patients about a variety of subjects, including appointment confirmations, annual visits/recalls, past due balances and emergency closings.
Results
Since adopting HouseCalls notifications, St. Clair Shores has maintained an impressively low 4% no-show rate, experienced a 58% appointment booking rate from recall notifications and significantly reduced the cost of contacting patients with past due balances.
UNC Health Care — Chapel Hill, NC
Situation
UNC Health Care's Ambulatory Care Center was spending over $366,000 annually on appointment reminder mailers and nearly $1.3 million annually on manual reminder calls. UNC automated appointment reminders with HouseCalls to redeploy personnel and reduce high mailing costs.
Results
UNC has saved approximately $5,000 in postage and printing costs and several hundred thousand dollars in annual employee salaries after reallocating those FTE to other important job functions.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center — Pittsburgh, PA
Situation
UPMC was using an automatic dialer to more efficiently deliver account balance notifications, with minimal success in actually connecting to patients. UPMC was limited both by the high number of attempts required to generate live answers and the small number of personnel available to monitor calls and handle live connections (even though there were few).
Results
The HouseCalls automated messaging system has driven a complete workflow change, optimizing collections personnel time and allowing the reallocation of 9 FTE positions to other areas. Cash collections have increased by 290%, an annual increase of over $2.6 million.
Vanderbilt Medical Center — Nashville, TN
Situation
Before turning to automated appointment reminders, Vanderbilt relied solely upon mailed reminders. The disadvantages of mailed reminders became evident. Printing and postage expenses were adding up and the large gap between reminder date and appointment had a negative effect on patient attendance.
Results
Thanks to HouseCalls automated appointment reminders, Vanderbilt has saved $74,000 in postage and retained over $2 million in revenue annually.
The Hand and Shoulder Center — Buffalo, NY
Situation
The Hand and Shoulder Center lacked the staff resources necessary to consistently remind each of their patients about their scheduled appointments. The practice saw an opportunity to decrease its no-show rate by bringing a solution to deliver those reminders.
Results
The no-show rate has been cut in half — down from 11% to 5.5%. Patients are consistently reminded of their upcoming visit. The practice has also been able to quickly deliver emergency messages to large lists of patients and conveniently alter message content as needed.
