Epic’s Hello World communication platform helped health systems prevent more than 3.4 million patient no-shows nationwide over the past 12 months, and the company has now added a feature that shows patients a branded caller ID before they answer.
Hello World sends automated text messages and voice calls that let patients confirm, get reminders for, or reschedule appointments without requiring staff to place calls. The platform pulls each patient’s preferred communication channel from their medical record.
The new feature, called Branded Calling, displays a health system’s name, logo and the reason for the call on a patient’s phone before pickup, per a Sept. 23 news release. It works across all major U.S. mobile carriers through an integration between Epic and Vonage, a global cloud communications company owned by Ericsson.
Indianapolis-based Community Health Network has seen a 54% improvement in voice reminder answer rates and a 6% improvement in its overall no-show rate since adopting the tool, while New Bern, N.C.-based CarolinaEast Health System used the feature to recover more than 240 missed appointments over three months, according to Epic.
At New Orleans-based Ochsner Health, SMS rescheduling through Hello World saved call center staff more than 1,000 hours over 10 months. Epic said it is rolling out Branded Calling across the U.S. and exploring the capability in Canada and the U.K.
