What does Ease of Scheduling (EOS) KPI mean?
The EOS KPI measures health consumers' perceptions of how easy it is to schedule an in-person or virtual visit with an Intermountain Medical Group provider in Utah, Idaho, or Nevada.
What does EOS mean for our patients and for us?
Helping people live the healthiest lives possible is our mission. Access to care is essential to accomplish this mission. By maximizing patients' ability to schedule care with us, we improve the quality of their health, and the satisfaction they have with the experience of care we provide
A patient comments on poor ease of scheduling:
"[My doctor] is truly wonderful, but when he retires I will find a new clinic for my kids. The difficulty of getting appointments in a reasonable timeframe and the consistently long wait time on the phone are the reasons I don't recommend this doctor. He is wonderful, but if he were anything less than exceptional, I would have already left. His talent and compassion are unsurpassed."
Getting to YES for an appointment
As the comment above illustrated, even when the quality of our care is great, if patients have a hard time accessing us, their experience and trust erode, and may cause them to seek care elsewhere. To ensure our great care reaches the people who need it, we must make it easy for patients to connect with us and navigate our system. The figure below captures additional comments from patients, both negative and positive, that emphasizes the importance of easy scheduling.
The figure below captures addition comments from patients, both negative and positive, that emphasizes the importance of easy scheduling.
Patients comments on access
What can we do?
- Improve our phones performance: Answer in less than 30 seconds, or bring abandonment rate below 5%
- Evaluate impact: Review patient comments about access and identify steps to improve
- Work better as a team (this is a key drive for both patient experience and access), using the quadrant below:
There are many efforts underway to support access and experience. Do you have questions about our KPIs? Please contact your leader for more information.
Do you have a great idea to share on how to improve ease of scheduling? Use this short form to share.