Amcom Software
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Winter Haven Hospital Improves Efficiency, Patient Care with
Online On-Call Scheduling from Amcom Software
Amcom Smart Web Provides Key Technology Improvements. Hospital's Commitment to Quality
and Improved Patient Care Spur Implementation
MINNEAPOLIS – July 10, 2008 – Winter Haven Hospital, in Winter Haven, Florida has improved mission-critical communications by implementing Amcom Smart Web technology to handle on-call scheduling for their hospital and clinic staff, including the 300 physicians in their system. Key to this success were the organization's commitment to improvement and excellent process management on the part of the hospital communications staff, along with the ease-of-use and flexibility of Amcom's Smart Web self-service portal.
Like most major healthcare organizations, Winter Haven is broadly-based and serves diverse needs across the region. Facilities include Winter Haven hospital, a women's health center, a mental health center, 7 family health clinics as well as administrative operations. The organization's call-center operation handles over 1 million calls per year and 21,000 pages and messages per month in serving the communications needs of the 2,600 employees in the system.
Winter Haven has relied on Smart Web for several years to manage call connections and messaging within the hospital, but the paper-based,
on-call scheduling system, in-use since the hospital was founded, was
still a challenge for everyone involved. Desktop resource manager Diane Stamey, felt that redistribution of on-call scheduling and messaging responsibilities was critical to making the hospital's scheduling and related communications significantly better and helping provide more effective customer service and patient care.
"Our schedules were kept in 3-inch thick binders," explained Stamey. "They included more than one hundred pages of schedules, physician's contact preferences and department directory listings. We had a goal of moving to a whole new level of customer service and patient care, while
at the same time improving the way we manage on-call schedules and internal communications. We knew we had to get rid of that book and free up more of our operator's time to make that possible. We knew we could do a better job of communicating internally and handling the million calls we receive each year."
Amcom professional services VP Randy Hoffman, agreed that Winter Haven could be getting much better value from its Smart Web system
and his team moved quickly to assist the hospital to better address their on-call challenges. Hoffman explained, "It's great to have a customer who understands the critical role communications plays in a hospital, the issues of managing a large volume of calls and contact preferences,
as well as knowing that our solution can help in so many ways."
"Amcom helped us a lot with the information we had to handle," continued Stamey. "Now we have real-time employee information, on-call calendars and directory information — and it works so much better than our staff trying to remember all that. It makes all the difference in the world. In addition, when we implemented Smart Web, the paging tool gave anyone with access to a computer the ability to send alpha pages, not just numeric information via permission based listings within our directory. That's made us much faster and clearer in our communications."
Stamey and her staff are now working to integrate the clinics and
doctor's offices in the same way. In fact, when the next clinic's transition
is complete, over 85% of Winter Haven's doctors and clinics will be on the real-time, online system. "That'll be a big deal," said Stamey. "It's been phenomenal; on-call scheduling has probably shown the best return on investment in our whole system. By giving departments, clinics and physicians the ability and responsibility to keep their schedules up-to-date, we make everyone part of the process and a big part of the solution to
any problems."
About Winter Haven Hospital
Established in 1926, Winter Haven Hospital serves as the major medical center for east Polk County and surrounding parts of central Florida. The hospital, a division of Mid-Florida Medical Services, has 527 licensed beds and is the largest facility in the healthcare system that includes a women's health center, a mental health facility, 7 family health clinics and administrative operations. The system is fully accredited by the Joint Commission and has more than 2,600 employees and more than 300 board-certified physicians on its medical staff.
About Amcom Software
Amcom Software provides technology solutions for organizations that depend on speed, accuracy, and productivity to manage mission-critical, day-to-day, emergency and event-driven communications. Amcom's advanced solutions are used by more than 1,400 leading corporations and organizations in healthcare, education, hospitality and government. With the recent additions of XTEND Communications and Telident E911 solutions, the company further solidified its market leadership with the combined companies' committed employees, broad expertise across several distinct markets, strong technologies and growing client base. For more information, call (800) 852-8935 or go to www.amcomsoftware.com.
Media Contact: Ron Wenaas
rwenaas@amcomsoft.com
612.418.7077