Clinical call center
The Spectrum Health clinical call center is designed to enhance physicians' quality of life while supporting their patients' quality of care. We manage more than 100,000 after-hours calls each year for more than 300 physicians statewide and actively work with a local medical advisory board that includes physicians from emergency medicine, family practice, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics.
Software-based guidelines ensure that all necessary data is captured during a call. The system is backed up daily and is protected by power-failure technology to prevent loss of service and information. All calls are recorded for quality assurance purposes and our pricing is very competitive.
Registered nurses perform all clinical activities, including patient assessments and triage. Our support associates are non-licensed personnel who perform non-clinical activities, such as registering callers, performing answering service functions and providing physician/service referrals.
Our registered nurses have an average of 19 years of nursing experience and six years of call center experience. RNs are required to take a 10-hour course that covers nursing assessments, cultural diversity, communication/customer service skills, risk management and the management of difficult calls. Support associates are required to take a similar, five-hour course.
Spectrum Health's clinical call center offers several service options to participating physicians. Many participants choose to combine services to achieve the best coverage for their patients and business model.
Pages are received and managed by non-licensed staff working in conjunction with professional nurses. Relay options are customized to meet physicians' specific messaging requirements.
After hours is a nurse-based symptom assessment, triage and information service designed to assist physicians in achieving 24-hour accessibility for their patients. Physicians may indicate where patients are to be directed for care before the office reopens. If desired, the on-call physician may be paged for second-level triage before the patient is sent for care.
Coverage is offered:
- Monday through Thursday from 5 pm to 8:30 am
- Friday through Sunday from 5 pm to 8:30 am
- 24-hour holiday coverage is available on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day
- Additional coverage is available for lunch hours, staff meetings, etc.
Also with this service, patients can access hundreds of pre-recorded health information messages available through our health information library. The major collections include general information, parent advice and women's advice.
Our registered nurses and non-licensed staff members provide physician/service referrals for hospitals. Referrals are based on caller needs, type of insurance accepted, location and special interest/procedures of the physicians.