Finnish public healthcare organizations have been running SMS based citizen services, provided by Tieto, for several years. An interactive SMS solution has been launched in Germany, too. The German service supports appointment confirmation and patient reminder processes, and finds and reaches a suitable patient to replace a cancelled patient.

When a hospital is using the SMS Pre-Call Request service, each patient is requested about the suitability of the appointment date before booking the appointment or sending an invitation letter. By using the service, the hospital makes sure that the offered appointment date is suitable for the patient, thus reducing need to reschedule appointments.

Customer benefits
SMS services bring significant health benefits, ease the daily routines of healthcare professionals, improve organizational productivity and customer service, speed up access to care, and enable patients to take responsibility for their own access to care. In addition, services make appointment booking process more patient-oriented.

In the North Karelia Central Hospital (PKKS) the SMS Pre-Call Request service has reduced changes of appointment dates by 20% units at the orthopaedic clinic. As a result, the hospital is able to allocate more nursing effort to immediate patient care, annually worth three work months. The solution has been extensively implemented in the hospital for booking surgery appointments, for example, in orthopaedics, short stay surgery, otorhinolaryngology, and gastric surgery. Paediatric and otorhinolaryngology clinics have tested the service in booking outpatient appointments for doctors. The gynaecology clinic and hospital wards will be the next units to implement the new appointment booking process.

The use of the SMS Pre-Call Request service makes hospital appointment booking more patient oriented and enables the patient to take responsibility for their own access to care. This saves healthcare professional time to the actual patient work - there is less work with unnecessary cancellations or rescheduling. According to preliminary results, the new process saves about 10-15% of the working hours per nurse working with booking appointments at otorhinolaryngology clinic. At the paediatric outpatient clinic, the SMS Pre-Call system reduced the number of phone calls significantly: the total number of phone calls dropped by a third, and phone calls regarding rescheduling by over 60%.

At hospital level, work effort worth nine person years annually, can be reallocated from administrative work to immediate patient care.

"Our SMS services contribute to making sure that healthcare professionals cope at work - and at the same time they can improve patient services. Increased efficiency in hospitals is a significant factor as well. When SMS services boost efficiency by 17 %, one hundred euro becomes 117 euro," said Ari Laurila, specialist in development of these services at Tieto.

Related news articles:

• Tieto's Profile

For further information, please visit:
http://www.tieto.com/healthcare

About Tieto
Tieto supports its healthcare and welfare customers by digitalizing their service and care processes. The aim is to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of lifetime care. Tieto is the leading healthcare and welfare ICT solution provider in the Nordic countries and has a strong position in Germany and the Netherlands. We provide a comprehensive set of solutions based on our own products as well as customized solutions and ICT services. Solutions are focused on making life easier for citizens, patients and the caring staff. Over 40 years in the business, more than 1000 professionals in seven countries and close customer relations give us a strong foundation to further develop healthcare and welfare at the individual, regional and national level. For more information, visit www.tieto.com/healthcare.