Every time a patient calls your practice, you want to make sure that their symptoms are noted fully and addressed in the appropriate window of time. However, this may not always happen when they speak with nonclinical operators (those who man front desks or work at medical call centers) because operators may not recognize important follow-up questions to ask based on the symptoms that are being reported by patients. As a result, the triage nurses or medical providers who receive messages from these operators could then overlook patients who have urgent needs. Now, thanks to TriageLogic’s new module called MedMessage Assist (MMA), operators are already seeing a remarkable difference in the accuracy of their call notes. This includes those taken by operators at Southern Voices, a healthcare telecommunications company.
How MedMessage Assist Helped Southern Voices
When Southern Voices heard about MedMessage Assist, they recognized how valuable it could be, both for their medical call center and for the healthcare providers they represent.
Here was their process prior to implementing our tool: their phone operators would take patient notes during calls and enter them into a nurse triage software, or relay messages to providers. From there, based on the initial messages they received, nurses would categorize them as nonurgent, urgent, or emergent, which dictated how soon they would call patients back.
By implementing MedMessage Assist, Southern Voices has enabled our artificial intelligence-based software to analyze patient complaints as their phone operators take them. Using its real-time analysis, our AI prompts operators with additional clarifying questions to ask patients in order to get accurate descriptions from them.
Results
The results following implementation were illuminating. When reviewing over 1000 calls from one of Southern Voices’ clients where MedMessage Assist was used, the AI module accurately captured over 99% of calls that resulted in a 911 disposition. The AI also indicated urgency for calls that would otherwise have been considered routine. By using MMA, all calls that were potentially life-threatening and urgent were correctly flagged, leading to better response times by nurses.
Training for MedMessage Assist
Because it was designed with all of the necessary prompts to be self-guiding, training on this software is as intuitive as using it. It’s a feature that Jason Miller, president at Southern Voices, was particularly fond of when he told us, “We are excited that we can now take more accurate messages without extra training for the staff.”
Regarding Care
While MedMessage Assist is many things, it’s not meant to be a tool for diagnosing patients. Phone operators will continue to follow their normal procedures for medical message intake, with a minimal amount of time added from MMA’s prompts. Triage nurses will then continue to call patients back and use Schmitt-Thompson protocols to determine the best dispositions for care, before referring patients to the appropriate medical providers. MedMessage Assist also applies when operators send messages directly to providers so that on-call doctors can correctly assess the urgency of each complaint before calling a patient back.
HIPAA
Cybersecurity is a priority for us and the healthcare tools we develop. Our company has achieved SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, and MedMessage Assist meets the privacy and security requirements under HIPAA.
Try MedMessage With Your Team
We would be delighted to share this tool with your staff to improve the accuracy of your medical answering service. Contact us today to discuss a demo, program, or any questions you may have.
About TriageLogic
TriageLogic is a URAC-accredited, physician-led provider of top-quality nurse telehealth technology, remote patient monitoring, and medical call center solutions. Founded in 2007, the TriageLogic Group now serves more than 9,000 physicians and covers over 42 million lives nationwide.
