How SimboPAS Became the Best Answering Service for New Bedford’s Medical Community in Hospitals and Practices

Introduction: What is Answering Service and Why is it Needed by Hospitals and Practices?

Answering services play a crucial role in the medical community, simplifying the way hospitals and practices handle communication. Effective patient communication ensures that vital information and care instructions are conveyed accurately and timely. In New Bedford, where the medical community is tightly knit and patient care is of utmost importance, the local healthcare landscape is characterized by the Southcoast Health system, which encompasses four hospitals, including St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, serving over 719,000 residents across the region. The Southcoast Health 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment highlights key concerns within this community, such as economic opportunity, behavioral health challenges, and housing affordability, all of which underline the necessity for a reliable answering service to manage patient communication effectively. With an AI-powered answering service like SimboPAS, local hospitals and practices can enhance their communication strategies, improving responsiveness and overall patient satisfaction.

What Options are Available in New Bedford?

In New Bedford, medical facilities have traditionally relied on human-based answering services or basic automated systems. The four hospitals under Southcoast Health — Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, Tobey Hospital, and Southcoast Behavioral Health — have faced communication challenges, particularly as the demand for mental health services increases and patient inquiries become more complex. According to the Community Health Needs Assessment, approximately 83% of respondents rated substance use disorder as an “extremely concerning” health issue, necessitating a system that can efficiently manage after-hours calls, emergency situations, and patient inquiries. SimboPAS, an AI-powered answering service, emerges as a smarter, faster, and more cost-effective alternative, eliminating the shortcomings of traditional methods.

Introducing SimboPAS: Smarter, Faster, and Affordable AI Answering Service for Hospitals and Practices in New Bedford

SimboPAS is a revolutionary AI-powered answering service tailored to meet the needs of hospitals and practices in New Bedford. Utilizing advanced conversational AI technology, SimboPAS offers seamless access to healthcare communication through mobile apps (iPhone/Android), PCs, and text messages. With the region’s healthcare access being a priority, as identified by the surveying stakeholders who noted the importance of improving health literacy, SimboPAS addresses unique medical community needs, ensuring secure and private communication while enhancing patient interaction around the clock.

Benefits of SimboPAS

• Save 50% on Existing Cost: SimboPAS offers an AI-powered service with advanced features at half the cost of traditional human-based services, providing a financially sustainable option for hospitals and practices in New Bedford.
• Access Anywhere Anytime: The service is accessible via mobile apps for iPhone and Android, and through PCs and text messages, allowing medical staff to stay connected amidst rising demands for healthcare access.
• Secure and Private: SimboPAS is designed with HIPAA compliance in mind, ensuring patient information remains secure. The system hides the provider’s phone number from patients, which aligns with community concerns about privacy and trust in healthcare relationships.
• Asynchronous Messages: With asynchronous messaging, doctors can respond to patient messages at their convenience, addressing the challenges posed by multi-generational poverty in New Bedford that may impact their availability for immediate response.
• No Message is Missed: Multiple alerts and escalation protocols are implemented to ensure that no message goes unattended, a critical feature as local hospitals report increasing patient inquiries.
• Parallel Bot Available 24×7: SimboPAS’s bots answer calls within 2 seconds and manage multiple calls simultaneously, ensuring that patients receive prompt assistance even during peak times.

Features of SimboPAS

• Customized Workflows: SimboPAS allows for customized workflows to efficiently handle both routine and urgent matters, essential for addressing the complexities of care in practices that face high rates of behavioral health needs.
• Multi-Level Advanced AI Alerting Protocol: The system offers customizable alerting protocols, ensuring that critical messages reach the right personnel promptly, which is essential given the increasing demand for accessible mental health services.
• Patient Pre-Screening: SimboPAS performs patient pre-screening for urgent messages before alerting the doctor, optimizing their time amidst concerns about health inequities and access to care.
• Available 24×7: The service supports after-hours on-call and hospital answering services continuously, which is critical in New Bedford as healthcare access is a pressing concern for many residents.
• Parallel Calls: The system is capable of handling multiple calls simultaneously, further ensuring efficiency during high call volumes typical within the region’s hospitals.
• Plug-and-Play Integration with Existing Phone Systems: SimboPAS can be smoothly integrated into existing phone systems without drastic changes, facilitating a seamless transition for healthcare providers.
• External On-Call Doctors: On-call doctors can manage after-hours messages via SMS text, enhancing connectivity with patients despite shortages in healthcare providers reported in the community.
• Doctors Can Call Patients from App: Medical professionals can utilize the app or a proxy number to call patients directly, further protecting their personal privacy while ensuring open communication.
• Message Transcript and Original Audio: SimboPAS provides access to message transcripts and audio recordings, assisting practices in reviewing communications for continuous service improvement.
• On-Call Doctors Can Assign Patient Messages: On-call doctors have the option to assign messages to office staff, streamlining workflow management, particularly vital in practices facing high volumes of patient communication.

EHR Integrations: Integrated with Many EHRs and Expanding

One of the standout features of SimboPAS is its seamless integration with various Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. This ongoing expansion of EHR integrations is vital for health facilities in New Bedford, especially given that Southcoast Health operates with over 55 service locations. The integration enables real-time data exchange, which minimizes manual entry errors and streamlines patient management. Improving electronic health records accessibility contributes to holistic healthcare, allowing medical providers to maintain coherent and updated patient histories essential for making informed decisions in light of socioeconomic barriers prevalent in the community.

How AI is Transforming the Industry and Adoption by Medical Practices in New Bedford

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing the healthcare industry, and New Bedford is no exception. AI technologies like SimboPAS are enabling hospitals and practices to enhance operational efficiency, patient diagnostics, and personalized treatment plans, ultimately improving patient care outcomes. As health inequities have risen, evidenced by the increased demand for services highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, AI also facilitates better resource management by processing and analyzing large volumes of data swiftly. New Bedford’s healthcare providers are increasingly turning to AI to streamline processes like scheduling and patient follow-ups, all contributing to improved patient satisfaction and trust during these challenging times.

Conclusion: A Path Forward for New Bedford’s Medical Community

The integration of advanced answering services like SimboPAS into New Bedford’s medical community represents a significant step towards modernizing healthcare communication. As local hospitals and practices face myriad challenges — from high demands on mental health services to socioeconomic barriers impacting patient access — solutions that enhance communication, streamline operations, and ensure privacy become essential. By adopting innovative technologies and fostering collaboration among community partners, New Bedford can improve health outcomes and build a healthier future for its residents. This forward-thinking approach not only addresses the pressing needs of the community but also sets a precedent for how technology can transform healthcare delivery in an accessible and equitable manner.

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