Virtual Walk-In Clinic

A new service based in California offers a creative approach to dealing with the rising costs and decreased productivity for doctor's office visits. Doctors on Demand Health Networks provides a virtual walk-in clinic for patients seeking quick, non-emergency related health care. The network consists of a pool of licensed physicians who are seeking additional work hours without the need to hire more staff to assist in scheduling and record keeping. A doctor in the network simply notifies the system when he or she has had a patient cancellation and the network will attempt to match someone in need to that doctor at that open appointment time.

Patients enroll in the service by phone through an IVR system that collects their contact information, medical histories and current health issues. Doctors who are available for an appointment can listen to the patient medical histories as well as voice notes left by other doctors in the system. The system then notifies the patient of the appointment with the best available doctor for the particular health issue. After the appointment, the doctor can then use the IVR system to record notes on the visit. Additionally, the system handles billing and electronic record keeping for the visit.

This is, of course, not a replacement for traditional family practitioners nor is it legally allowed as primary care. Rather, it is a way for doctors who have spare time and desire for extra work to help more people. Furthermore, this approach could potentially be employed by other appointment-based businesses in an effort to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Improved Self-Service Through IVR

One of the drawbacks of IVR systems is that customers sometimes feel that the available options do not specifically address their particular question or need sending them into a loop of menus in search of the proper path to resolve their issue. A newly announced system from eGain promises better self-service capability by using case-based reasoning technology to simulate intelligent dialogs between clients and the most qualified customer service agents. The end result of the improvement is that more customers would be capable of completing their calls without ever needing to speak to a live agent.

Such a system would naturally offer cost savings by requiring fewer human agents to handle issues that the system is unable to resolve. Furthermore, the developers claim that there is no additional implementation cost as the system uses the same knowledge base, customer interaction records, and reports as a traditional IVR system. Additionally, the system is designed to be implemented in concert with web-based self-service portals which are fast becoming a major part of customer service departments. While there will always be a need for human interaction between customers and live service agents, advances like these will certainly increase consumer confidence and, more importantly, comfort levels with IVR systems.

A Novel Use of IVR

Medical science has made tremendous strides in developing treatments to chronic illnesses that, in the past, were usually terminal. Many treatments to such illnesses require vigilant monitoring of a patient's blood chemistry. These can range from routine home monitoring of blood sugar levels for diabetics to regularly scheduled blood tests for patients suffering from blood clotting disorders.

A study published in the April 28th issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal tested the use of IVR in communicating with patients undergoing anticoagulation therapy. The rigorous treatment involves periodic blood testing and medication to maintain normalized levels of clotting factors in the blood. For the study, an IVR system was implemented that contacted the patients to communicate medication reminders, blood testing appointment times and notifications when appointments were missed. At the conclusion of the study, the authors found that the workload on the staff was reduced by 33% and some patients asked to continue the service as a way to manage their treatments. More research is certainly required, but this study indicates the potential of IVR as a part of medical therapy.

IVR and Voice Biometrics

In an effort to ensure security in these times of increasing identity theft, businesses that deal in sensitive customer information must be extremely vigilant as the gatekeeper of such information. Under current conditions, most credit card users, for example, are prompted to answer a number of standard questions supplied by an IVR system with the goal being verification of the customer's identity before giving sensitive account access. Often times, customers will find that after they have suitably identified themselves through their unique answers to the IVR system's security protocols, they are connected to a customer service representative who will ask some of the same and/or additional questions to further verify their identities. This can not only be frustrating, but also a tremendous waste of resources.

One area of research aimed to improve the process is the technology of voice biometrics. Employing the concept that every person has a unique "voice print," the system aims to verify a customer's identity by comparing his voice to a stored sample. Of course this idea does not come without issues to consider, chief among them is extraneous noise introduced during the recognition process by a poor telephone connection or from external sources in the customer's calling environment. Opus Research recently released a report on the state of the technology which is concisely summarized by it's author, Dan Miller, at TCMnet.com. As voice biometric systems improve through more pilot projects and widespread implementation, the technology is sure to offer resource savings for businesses that employ them as well as improved experiences for customers that use them.

IVR and H1N1

Although the threat of the H1N1 swine flu virus appears to be less severe than first predicted, some nations are choosing novel approaches for dealing with the potential pandemic. Yesterday, the health minister if India unveiled an IVR system that will be used to disseminate information about the flu including symptoms, spread of the flu and where to seek treatment. The IVR messages are available in English, Telugu and Hindi and are also accessible through SMS text messages on cellular phones.

The concept of using IVR systems in a disaster scenario could be especially useful in the event that such a disaster affects emergency information staffing centers but not telephonic infrastructure. A highly populated nation in crisis needs a proven method of dissemination of information to its citizens. Many people, especially in lower income areas, would rely entirely on the telephone for information and updates on the situation. An IVR system could potentially save lives and ultimately valuable resources during disaster recovery periods.

Wes Raine
http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/