Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) wanted to enhance patient access by making its “Get CHOC” registered nurse (RN) advice line available for all patients at no cost. Doing so removed the revenue generated from the advice line’s subscription model and raised concerns regarding its sustainability. Understanding the importance of providing this valuable service to patients, CHOC utilized the Health Catalyst® Data Platform and RN advice line analytics to make data-informed decisions about the advice line and effectively track improved patient access and revenue. Using these solutions, CHOC has optimized its services and ensured the advice line’s financial sustainability.
Effective patient access is critical to the success of health systems. Patient access is the entryway to the health system, influencing decisions about where patients will receive care and impacting patient outcomes and health system revenue.
To better serve children and their families, CHOC wanted to expand its RN advice line to support all patients, 24 hours a day, at no charge. Transitioning from a subscription-based service providing physician office support to a no-charge model for all offices and all patients required significant operational changes and eliminated the revenue associated with the subscription-based service. The service would only be sustainable if it improved patient access.
CHOC leaders were committed to making this change and demonstrating the benefits of the RN advice line and its ongoing sustainability. Leaders spent more than 25 hours each week manually gathering data and attempting to prepare reports for the budget and finance teams. CHOC needed a timely, efficient solution to support data-informed decision-making and evaluation of ongoing financial viability.
The solution for CHOC was the Health Catalyst® Data Platform and RN advice line analytics that visualizes data over time. The data platform and analytics integrate and visualize call center, EHR, and revenue cycle data, providing leaders with insight into patient demand for services and operational and financial performance.
Leaders efficiently analyzed and visualized overall call volume by month, week, day, and hour. This enabled them to develop and implement optimized staffing schedules, expand the RN advice line hours and availability, and make the service available at no cost to all patients 24 hours a day.
Patients/families can call the “Get CHOC” RN advice line and connect with a care manager assistant who registers the child and collects information about the call. Patients/families are then connected with an RN who asks questions about the child’s condition and links the patient with the proper care in the best setting. This may include providing at-home care recommendations, advising an appointment with the child’s primary care provider, or guiding the patient to seek immediate medical attention. Patients whose situations warrant detailed examinations or consultations are directly connected with telehealth services, ensuring patients receive needed care without delays.
Leaders utilize the analytics to evaluate the impact of the RN advice line on the number of new patient encounters and telehealth visits, including the revenue impact. Data are routinely shared with frontline staff and executive leaders. Data are used to refine operations and staff, ensuring RNs can respond to patient needs whenever the patients/families need assistance.
In just one year, the RN advice line answered more than 74K calls, providing patients and families the support and care they need, regardless of the time of day. “Get CHOC” is becoming the go-to resource for community calls and collaboration.
Using the RN advice line analytics and data platform, CHOC confirmed the benefits of the RN advice line, ensuring the sustainability of an important service. Results include a:
"By leveraging insights from the Health Catalyst data platform and RN advice line analytics, we've improved patient access and financial sustainability, allowing us to offer critical services at no cost while maintaining operational efficiency."
- John Henderson, MBA, VP, Chief Information & Digital Officer, Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC)
CHOC has already expanded to screening specialty after-hours calls and paging physicians when necessary. CHOC plans to expand the RN service line to include the after-hours triage for its primary care network, covering more than 40 practices and over 100 providers.
