How Journey Coordinators Enhance the Customer Experience

How Journey Coordinators Enhance the Customer Experience

Gelb Consulting, An Endeavor Management Company 2700 Post Oak Blvd P + 281.759.3600 Suite 1400 F + 281.759.3607 Houston, Texas 77056 www.endeavormgmt.com/healthcare


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Gelb Consultants helped create a model for a “Journey

Coordinator” role for the “Destination Programs at an

Academic Medical Center in the Midwest.

Every Destination Patient would

be assigned a Journey Coordinator who would touch base with the patient through designated touch points during the care path to ensure a smooth transition during the hand off

phases.

These touchpoints were chosen based on customer feedback from the Patient Experience

Mapping results.

Introduction and Overview The appointment of a “Journey Coordinator” position to expedite care when needed, and fill in when gaps occur in the episode of care, has been shown to improve the patient experience. This position is especially necessary in the preliminary stages of change. Health Systems put coordination of care practices in place to negate gaps in service created by multiple hand offs but need a mechanism in place when mishaps occur.

The Journey Coordinator Role In order to promote the Ideal Patient Care Experience and to pilot efforts for coordination of care, an Academic Medical Center in the Midwest created the “Destination Program Office” to manage and highlight seven clinical programs that were above average in coordinating care, had engaged physicians and were willing to spend the time and effort to pilot new models for improving the health care experience. The Destination Programs then wanted to pilot an initiative that would coordinate care between multiple departments and produce increased patient satisfaction. The coordination of care efforts had been tested in other areas; primary care, cancer centers and under the Medicare Demonstration project but not under the “specialty care model.” This position would act as a bridge to ensure that coordination within the Health System was smooth and effortless for patients while they traveled through the multitude of handoffs within the health system. Piloting this position would ensure coordination of care for our contracted physician partners in remote areas and begin to note other areas of patient need that we may currently be unaware of. In addition, the Destination Program would collaborate efforts with other departments to fill in gaps and increase efficiencies of services to our patients and families to control costs. Some clinics coordinated care well while others struggled to coordinate care due to multiple operational issues.



The Journey Coordinator position would be piloted first under a Physician/Hospital Relationship contract. The position would coordinate the plan of care designed by Rural Contracted Hospital once the patient presents to Academic Medical Center. The specific areas for coordination would be the Cancer Center, Cancer associated departments re: Surgery, Radiation Oncology etc. and the Cardiovascular Center per the Contract detail. Once shown to successfully coordinate visits internally, the position would be open to other Destination Programs for additional help in navigating the health system. The Journey Coordinator position would be used to:

1. Initiate contact with patients prior to their first appointment, establish the “Temporary Specialty Medical Home” based on diagnosis,” send patients advance resources customized to their needs (such as hotel discounts, travel help to/from the airport, coupons for activities in town, etc.), help with any record transfer, insurance needs, and offer to meet them when they arrive for their first appointment to establish the relationship.

2. The Journey Coordinator would review the care path designed by the contracted provider, partner with the patient, and the contracted entity’s Care Management team to ensure a smooth coordination between the two Hospital Systems. The Coordinators of the two Health Systems prior to the patient’s services would handle any patient issues if possible.

3. Call Referring physicians regarding the care of their referred patients and answer questions, field issues and report back to specialists concerns or questions that referring physicians may have. Coordinate with the contracted provider’s Care Management the documented care path at the Academic Medical Center to ensure understanding and agreement.

4. Assist with insurance related questions if necessary, to inform parties regarding specific authorizations and referral requirements for Destination and International patients.

5. Initiate contact post-‐discharge to check on patients and help patients remain connected, offering options for support groups when applicable and making sure that patients are clear on their follow-‐up plan, next appointment and where that appointment is.

6. Throughout the journey, be available for patients/families, and contracted provider’s

Care Management, to call with questions and serve as a “hand to hold”. The Journey Coordinator would connect patients to resources, such as holistic care options, social/mental services, pharmacy, clinical trials, or their clinical provider. The Journey



Coordinator would also be able to serve as a patient advocate to make sure appointments are timely and intervene if patients are getting mixed messages from multiple clinical providers. During inpatient care, the Journey Coordinator would offer as an option to patients, to visit them in the hospital and make sure they don’t have any problems or questions.



About Endeavor Endeavor Management, is an international management consulting firm that collaboratively works with their clients to achieve greater value from their transformational business initiatives. Endeavor serves as a catalyst by providing pragmatic methodologies and industry expertise in Transformational Strategies, Operational Excellence, Organizational Effectiveness, and Transformational Leadership. Our clients include those responsible for:

• Business Strategy • Marketing and Brand Strategy • Operations • Technology Deployment • Strategic Human Capital • Corporate Finance

The firm’s 40 year heritage has produced a substantial portfolio of proven methodologies, deep operational insight and broad industry experience. This experience enables our team to quickly understand the dynamics of client companies and markets. Endeavor’s clients span the globe and are typically leaders in their industry. Gelb Consulting, a wholly owned subsidiary, monitors organizational performance and designs winning marketing strategies. Gelb helps organizations focus their marketing initiatives by fully understanding customer needs through proven strategic frameworks to guide marketing strategies, build trusted brands, deliver exceptional experiences and launch new products. Our websites:

www.endeavormgmt.com www.gulfresearch.com