Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center Partnered With American Health Connection

Innovative partnership is designed to improve accessibility to the interpreter services and streamline workflow.

Beverly Hills, CA (PRWEB) - Michael Sciarabba, Administrator of Support Services Operations at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center (AIMMC), introduced the idea of partnering with American Health Connection (AHC) Medical Call Center Services to meet the department’s needs, improving accessibility to the interpreter services, and streamlining workflow without burdening the hospital with hiring additional employees. The project produced many positive results in line with the hospital’s pursuit of efficiency and improved patient access. As part of the project requirements, AHC developed a custom mobile-enabled scheduling system that allows interpreters to view and manage their appointments from their iPads while on the go. Mr. Sciarabba’s initiative completes the missing link of most language departments by having professionally-trained Patient Communication Specialists™ to assist in the department’s scheduling needs.

Before AHC, scheduling interpreters was manual, time consuming, and an error-prone process. Events were scheduled in variable formats by multiple interpreters. Events were phoned or faxed in. Requesters complained that the time it took to schedule an appointment was "too long." Administratively, tracking, trending, and reporting utilization data was difficult. Now with AHC, scheduling is automated and available 24/7 standardized templates making scheduling a quick and accurate process, and the interpreters don't have to schedule and can focus all of their time on interpreting for patients, improving patient safety and communication at the medical center.

AIMMC has one of the most diverse patient populations in Chicago, and for many English is not their first language. To ensure everyone receives the best possible care, AIMMC recently expanded its comprehensive interpreter services for patients and family members for whom English is not their primary language.

Currently, Advocate Illinois Masonic has five on-site interpreters providing services in Spanish, Polish, and American Sign Language (ASL) as well as access to telephonic and video interpreters. Double-handset telephones were recently installed on each of the medical center’s patient care units for use in interpretation offering access to more than 180 languages.

In addition, video interpreting is available in ASL, Polish, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

About Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center is a 408-bed hospital in Chicago offering comprehensive inpatient services including medical, surgical, obstetrics, and pediatric inpatient care as well as multiple sites for outpatient care. They are home to a level I trauma center and level III neonatal intensive care unit, the highest designations awarded by the state of Illinois. More than 800 physicians in numerous specialties are helping to advance medicine at Illinois Masonic. Their Heart and Vascular Institute’s full service cardiac catheterization and intervention program is among the most advanced in the area. Their Women’s Center for Continence & Pelvic Medicine features unique and specialized services. They also have the city’s largest and most experienced certified nurse midwifery program plus full resources for high-risk pregnancies and newborns. To learn more about Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, visit http://advocatehealth.com.

About American Health Connection
American Health Connection is a leading provider of medical call center services. American Health Connection’s call center services include patient scheduling, pre-registration, pre-collection, patient access consulting, appointment reminders and discharge follow-up calls. Additional services include text messaging, online chat, and with patient portal integration. American Health Connection, with headquarters in Beverly Hills, California, is 100% U.S.A.-based with 24/7 coverage and offers multilingual services. To learn more about American Health Connection, visit http://www.AmericanHealthConnection.com.