Spok Enables Banner Health’s 2020 Technology Initiatives as Priorities Shift Due to COVID-19

Banner Health’s contact centers successfully handle 30% increase in volume

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (June 10, 2020) – Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK) and a global leader in healthcare communications, is supporting Banner Health’s 2020 technology initiatives to enable them to provide more patient-centric communications. By expanding its use of Spok solutions, Banner Health can stay compliant with new regulations, standardize training, and unify technology platforms, while quickly shifting focus to staff its COVID-19 information and scheduling hotline.

“It has been amazing to see how our customers, like Banner, maintain efficiency and accuracy, even under the pressure of COVID-19,” said Vincent D. Kelly, president and chief executive officer of Spok Holdings, Inc. “We are proud to continue to work with Banner Health as they look to complete many technology initiatives this year.  We are committed to helping Banner and all our customers improve care delivery while navigating the significant impact COVID-19 has had on their patients and health systems. When it comes to communication technology, especially during this unprecedented time, we understand that reliability is critical.”

Banner Health’s centralized contact center manages emergency notifications 24 hours per day, including code blue, code pink, and code triage. The health system is expanding its use of Spok Care Connect® to add value to the organization by reducing response times, increasing accuracy and, most importantly, ensuring reliability, especially during code events. The health system has already reduced critical code launch time by 68% since using Spok. Now, by upgrading their solutions, they are able to streamline efficiency by eliminating other point solutions and moving to a one-system standard with Spok.

While doctors, nurses, and other clinicians work on the front lines, contact centers are the first line of defense at Banner. From helping patients find physicians, taking after hours calls, or answering general questions, the team of 550 agents across multiple locations fields more than 9 million calls annually. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, these agents took on a new role, providing emotional support for customers. In April, the average call volume for Banner Health was 25,000 calls per day with COVID-19 inquiries representing 4-12% of those calls. Agents are spending much of their day talking to fearful patients who need answers quickly.  In several cases, people have called within hours of losing someone they love and want to know what to do next.  Banner Health’s call center staff have taken on this emotional support role while simultaneously transitioning into a virtual environment and working from home.

“The Spok platform is so user-friendly it is very easy for us to train employees,” said Cippy Seidler, director of consumer care center at Banner Health. “Since the pandemic began our call volume is up 31% over last year. With the platform being so intuitive, it makes a huge difference for our staff to be able to easily learn the tool and utilize it in their workflows. Other organizations may have multiple tools, but for us the information is all on one screen and at our fingertips.”

Seidler added that disaster communications are vital to the organization and that it is critical to have the latest technologies to ensure patient safety, organization-wide security, and risk management.  They are also focused on being better partners to security and other staff and have seen the value of the Spok platform when they quickly adapted to their new roles due to the pandemic.

“Upgrading our Spok solutions allows us to eliminate manual processes, reduce response times, and improve accuracy,” added Seidler.  “We are excited to continue to explore opportunities with Spok Go® and look forward to the possibilities for Banner Health with communications in the cloud in the future.”

Learn more about how Spok is assisting Banner Health with creating patient-centric communications here.