Embracing Change: The Continuous Improvement Journey at The Queen’s Health Systems with EDCi

The Queen’s Health Systems in Hawai’i partnered with EDCi to implement our Continuous Improvement (CI) as a Service strategy within their healthcare contact center in 2022. This collaboration enabled Queen’s to enhance operational efficiency, adapt to industry changes, boost ROI, and improve their patient experience. EDCi’s CI model is a subscription-based service designed for companies like Queen’s to leverage expert experience that is aligned with their business goals, helping create a more dynamic and responsive organization.

Throughout this blog, we’ll share how Queen’s and EDCi leveraged advanced technologies and fostered a culture of innovation. This allowed Queen’s to achieve remarkable success in their healthcare contact centers and deliver superior care and service to their community.  

Kuleana and the Aloha Spirit

The Queen’s Health Systems, a nonprofit with a long history of caring for the people of Hawai'i, is grounded in the values of Kuleana and the Aloha Spirit. With four hospitals and over 70 preventative, specialty healthcare locations and labs throughout the Pacific region, they are the state’s largest employer with over 10,000 caregivers, medical staff, and leadership. The Queen’s Health Systems embraces a sense of responsibility (Kuleana) and emphasizes mutual respect (Aloha Spirit), working to ensure a compassionate environment and optimal community health and wellness. Founded in 1859 by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV to address the health needs of Hawai’i during a devastating epidemic, the organization grew and officially became The Queen’s Health Systems in 1985. Today, they are a leader in providing comprehensive health services throughout Hawai’i and the Pacific Basin, prioritizing the wellness of Native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawai’i.

Inspired by their founders, they believe that care is the cornerstone of everything they do. Their mission is to embody compassion through their actions, embrace the Aloha Spirit, uphold the dignity of all individuals, and strive for excellence. This commitment to care and continuous improvement has driven their recent success in the contact center. By implementing Genesys Solutions and EDCi’s EHRConnect product, they realized the ability to adapt and evolve is not just beneficial – it’s essential. At Queen’s, Continuous Improvement is the secret ingredient that fosters a culture of innovation, enhances operational efficiency, and ultimately elevates customer satisfaction, perfectly aligning with EDCi’s Continuous Improvement (CI) as a Service.

Implementing EDCi’s Continuous Improvement Model

By partnering with EDCi and implementing their Continuous Improvement (CI) as a Service solution, Queen’s gained the following advantages within their healthcare contact center:

• Cloud feature release planning
• Expert consultation and road mapping
• Strategic planning workshops
• Performance reporting
• 24-hour technical support
• Training and education
• Feature deployment and enhancement implementation
• ROI evaluations

By working together, Queen’s has become more agile and able to respond quickly to business needs, ensuring Queen’s cloud technology investments keep pace with industry changes and drive them, enhancing productivity, reducing costs, and boosting patient satisfaction. Together, we’ve navigated challenges and achieved remarkable goals.

Embracing Change

Queen’s shares, “One key aspect of Continuous Improvement is the willingness to embrace change. This means identifying areas that need a little TLC, setting crystal-clear goals, and implementing strategies to achieve those goals.”

Achieving these goals requires a unified effort from everyone in the organization, from leadership to frontline staff, working together towards shared objectives, particularly in their healthcare contact center. By embracing change, Queen’s has been able to achieve remarkable results.

The Results:

Empowering their Workforce

At Queen’s, leadership is the driving force behind continuous improvement. Effective leaders inspire and motivate their teams, providing the necessary resources and support to create an environment where employees feel empowered to contribute ideas and take ownership of their work. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and development, leaders ensure that their teams are always striving to improve and innovate.

This approach has driven operational excellence and created a more engaging and fulfilling work environment for employees. They are encouraged to take an active role in shaping the organization's future, leading to a sense of pride and ownership in their contributions. As a result, Queen’s has seen remarkable improvements in productivity, innovation, and overall employee satisfaction.

Making Data-Driven Decisions

Another key aspect of continuous improvement at Queen's is the thoughtful use of data and feedback to guide decision-making. By regularly collecting and analyzing data, Queen's can spot trends, track progress, and make well-informed decisions about where to focus their improvement efforts. This data-driven approach ensures that their initiatives are targeted and effective, making a real difference in their operations and patient care.

Streamlining Operations and Maximizing ROI

Together, we improved efficiency and productivity by automating routine tasks and optimizing processes. As a result, EDCi helped Queen’s improve key metrics, including:

• 12% reduction in abandonment rate
• 18% reduction in transfers
• 2-minute reduction in the average speed of answers
• 74% reduction in callbacks (inbound)

We worked with Queen’s to maximize their investment, unlock the full potential of their existing technology investments, and drive greater value for their business.

Enhancing the Patient Experience

By integrating advanced technologies like conversational AI and predictive analytics, Queen’s has streamlined operations and reduced call times within their contact center. With fewer queues to manage, agents can focus on more complex cases, delivering personalized, efficient, and effective interactions. This results in higher satisfaction and loyalty, quicker resolutions, and a more personalized patient experience – truly embodying the Aloha Spirit. Additionally, it has improved data accuracy and better measurement of efficiencies, and process improvements in agent activity.

What’s to Come

Continuous Improvement is an ongoing journey that requires commitment, collaboration, and a willingness to embrace change. That willingness to embrace change has allowed Queen’s to streamline operations, boost ROI, and enhance employee and patient experiences.

By leveraging advanced technologies and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, Queen’s has embraced their core mission of providing superior patient care, achieving remarkable success in their healthcare contact centers, and delivering exceptional care and service to its community, all while staying rooted in the values of Kuleana and the Aloha Spirit.

This is just the beginning – in our next blog, we’ll explore common Continuous Improvement challenges and how to overcome them. We’ll also explore how to ensure collaboration within the continuous improvement process and how to increase employee engagement.

Interested in learning more? Explore EDCi's Continuous Improvement as a Service model or Contact Us today!