We are excited to announce the launch of 924-KIDS! Please use this flyer and see FAQs below.
What is 924-KIDS?
It is basically a ‘back line’ for referring physicians who need to speak to one of our Docs or APP’s in Children’s by calling 434-924-KIDS or by calling the main CH phone line and selecting “if you are calling from a physician’s office.”
Why?
To increase the accessibility of our medical staff to referring providers. The Children’s Hospital Marketing and Branding multidisciplinary workgroup with representation from marketing, Dept. of Pediatrics, physician liaison office, and ambulatory identified the inability of referring docs to reach our providers without multiple phone calls and transfers and barriers and/or work-arounds. The referring providers are our greatest source for expansion and growth. If it is easier to reach other subspecialists at other institutions, then they will call them instead of us. As a children’s hospital, we want to provide stellar service and superb communication to our referral base.
How does it work?
Referring doc calls and asks to speak to a provider; they are then asked if they would like an “urgent page,” or a “call back at the end of the day,” or “have an inbasket message sent” for a return later. If “urgent” or “call back by end of day”—a text page will be sent to the provider. For “urgent,” the caller will be instructed to call back if no response within 10 minutes. If they call back, the attending on call will be paged while the caller holding.
What will the pages look like?
“Urgent—“
“Non-urgent but requesting same-day call back—“
What if the PCP’s office is closed when I can finally call back?
The access agent will be obtaining a phone number for the PCP that will not be re-routed at close of business hours, preferably a cell phone
What if I am busy when the page comes in?
If urgent, you can have someone place the call for you to help triage; or you could have a fellow or a colleague call, or worst case scenario—they will call back and the attending on call will be paged
What if I am off service and do not wish to receive these calls?
No problem, when you go off service, make yourself unavailable for paging, and the page will go to whomever is on call for your service
When?
924-KIDS phone line opened on Monday, March 14th!
How?
A referral guide is being circulated to PCPs in our primary and secondary referral areas (attached)
What if I encounter a problem?
Everyone on the Children’s team is committed to making this work! There will inevitably be some kinks as we roll this out. Please feel free to email [alk9c@virginia.edu], text, or call Ann Kellams [(434) 953-6637], and she will make sure the issue gets routed to the appropriate place. This is a service for referring physicians, so it is on us to troubleshoot the problems, and keep in mind it is not their fault if the wrong person is paged or their call is routed to the wrong place. If that happens, please help them by making sure they get to the right place in real time. Then, let us know so we can try to make sure that does not happen again!
Filed Under: Features