Twilio Case Studies Arkansas Children's Hospital Enhances Patient Care with IoT: A Case Study

	Arkansas Children's Hospital Enhances Patient Care with IoT: A Case Study Twilio

Arkansas Children's Hospital Enhances Patient Care with IoT: A Case Study

Twilio

Applicable Industries	Healthcare & Hospitals Telecommunications
Applicable Functions	Maintenance
Use Cases	Personnel Tracking & Monitoring Time Sensitive Networking
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Arkansas Children's Hospital, one of the largest pediatric medical centers in the US, was facing a significant challenge in confirming patient appointments. The hospital was dealing with a high no-show rate, which was not only costing the hospital a substantial amount of time and money but also negatively impacting the care and recovery of the children. The hospital's legacy phone system, which was used to send out hundreds of thousands of appointment confirmation calls, was unable to handle the load and would frequently break down. This resulted in only a small percentage of patients receiving call reminders, leading to more missed appointments and further stress on the system. The hospital's search for a new solution was met with high price quotes from vendors and long waiting periods. The hospital also considered building an in-house notification system, but this would have left them with too much responsibility over the call center and taken valuable time away from other operations. Read More
About Customer	Arkansas Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric medical providers in the US, with a mission to pioneer pediatric patient care, research cutting-edge treatment, and save lives. The hospital has a team of 500 physicians, 95 residents in pediatrics and pediatric specialties, and 4,400 employees, and operates 370 beds. The hospital is committed to championing children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow. However, the hospital can only help patients that show up for their appointments. When patients no-show, it costs the hospital a tremendous amount of time and money, and can negatively affect a child's care and recovery. Read More
Solution	The hospital turned to Twilio, a cloud communications platform, to reduce its no-show rate. Twilio's solution allowed the hospital to send out SMS or voice reminders to patients a day before their appointment, reminding them of the day, time, and location, and asking them if they would make the appointment. If the patient confirmed their attendance, the system would confirm the appointment time once again and hang up. If the patient indicated they would not be able to make it, the system would remind them to reschedule and provide them with the number to call to make a new appointment. The hospital also launched a broadcast message system that allowed outpatient administrators to build, schedule, and deliver phone calls for groups of patients scheduled for an appointment in any of their five clinic locations, informing them of changes in opening hours. The hospital is currently researching how to leverage Twilio even further, with an SMS short code that will allow them to contact even more patients about their appointments and changes in clinic opening hours, at greater speed and scale. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Applicable Industries

Healthcare & Hospitals

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Use Cases

Personnel Tracking & Monitoring

Time Sensitive Networking

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Arkansas Children's Hospital, one of the largest pediatric medical centers in the US, was facing a significant challenge in confirming patient appointments. The hospital was dealing with a high no-show rate, which was not only costing the hospital a substantial amount of time and money but also negatively impacting the care and recovery of the children. The hospital's legacy phone system, which was used to send out hundreds of thousands of appointment confirmation calls, was unable to handle the load and would frequently break down. This resulted in only a small percentage of patients receiving call reminders, leading to more missed appointments and further stress on the system. The hospital's search for a new solution was met with high price quotes from vendors and long waiting periods. The hospital also considered building an in-house notification system, but this would have left them with too much responsibility over the call center and taken valuable time away from other operations.

About Customer

Arkansas Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric medical providers in the US, with a mission to pioneer pediatric patient care, research cutting-edge treatment, and save lives. The hospital has a team of 500 physicians, 95 residents in pediatrics and pediatric specialties, and 4,400 employees, and operates 370 beds. The hospital is committed to championing children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow. However, the hospital can only help patients that show up for their appointments. When patients no-show, it costs the hospital a tremendous amount of time and money, and can negatively affect a child's care and recovery.

Solution

The hospital turned to Twilio, a cloud communications platform, to reduce its no-show rate. Twilio's solution allowed the hospital to send out SMS or voice reminders to patients a day before their appointment, reminding them of the day, time, and location, and asking them if they would make the appointment. If the patient confirmed their attendance, the system would confirm the appointment time once again and hang up. If the patient indicated they would not be able to make it, the system would remind them to reschedule and provide them with the number to call to make a new appointment. The hospital also launched a broadcast message system that allowed outpatient administrators to build, schedule, and deliver phone calls for groups of patients scheduled for an appointment in any of their five clinic locations, informing them of changes in opening hours. The hospital is currently researching how to leverage Twilio even further, with an SMS short code that will allow them to contact even more patients about their appointments and changes in clinic opening hours, at greater speed and scale.

Impact #1	The implementation of Twilio's solution has resulted in a massive improvement in the hospital's appointment confirmation process. The system has required very little upkeep and has not experienced any problems. With 400,000 outpatient appointments a year, getting the right message out at the right time is critical to patients' treatment, and the hospital's bottom line. Twilio provides the hospital with the deliverability it can rely on, the scale it needs, and the speed it requires to get timely updates to patients. The hospital now spends less time communicating the same information to different staff members. At the start of each day, hospital staff can see a report of which patients confirmed their appointment and who said they wouldn't make it. The new system has not only saved the hospital money but also improved patient care by ensuring that patients are reminded of their appointments in a timely manner.

Impact #1

The implementation of Twilio's solution has resulted in a massive improvement in the hospital's appointment confirmation process. The system has required very little upkeep and has not experienced any problems. With 400,000 outpatient appointments a year, getting the right message out at the right time is critical to patients' treatment, and the hospital's bottom line. Twilio provides the hospital with the deliverability it can rely on, the scale it needs, and the speed it requires to get timely updates to patients. The hospital now spends less time communicating the same information to different staff members. At the start of each day, hospital staff can see a report of which patients confirmed their appointment and who said they wouldn't make it. The new system has not only saved the hospital money but also improved patient care by ensuring that patients are reminded of their appointments in a timely manner.

Benefit #1	90% decrease in missed appointments
Benefit #2	400,000 appointments per year
Benefit #3	2% appointment no-show rate

Benefit #1

90% decrease in missed appointments

Benefit #2

400,000 appointments per year

Benefit #3

2% appointment no-show rate

Download PDF Version

Overview

Arkansas Children's Hospital Enhances Patient Care with IoT: A Case Study

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit