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NEWPORT - On Monday, July 1, Newport Hospital and Health Services improved their phone service by hiring three operators to receive calls.
During COVID-19, the hospital went to a phone tree system due to the high demand of calls, Admitting Manager Brian Burkhead said.
Improving the phone service was part of Newport Hospital and Health Services 2024 strategic plan to improve patient experience.
“In an era where A.I. and outsourcing are replacing frontline staff across many industries, NHHS chose human connection,” Jenny Smith, Director of Strategy and Community Engagement, said. “We recognize that having friendly, local human operators answer the phone is just one more way we can care for our community.”
“When people are sick or dealing with healthcare concerns, the last thing they need is to get stuck in a complicated phone tree loop,” she said.
Currently, the hospital has three operators, although only two operators work at any given time. They answer the phones Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We may expand the hours in the future, as long as we can balance budget considerations with community need,” Smith said The old phone tree system provides back-up during times of high call volume when both operators are taking calls.
“Fortunately, this doesn’t happen often. For instance, on Monday, (July 15) our operators answered 425 calls, and only 6 bounced to the old phone tree,” Smith said.
The operators are trained on the hospital’s phone system and department structure. When the operators were hired for these positions, hiring managers were seeking people with customer service experience and overall friendly nature.
The operator program cost roughly $84,000 for 2024, Smith said. The hospital district received some grant funding to assist with equipment purchases and upgrades. Two of the operators are full time, and one works on a per diem basis when a full-time operator is out, she said.
