GMT Drives Significant Results for Advocate Medical Group | GMT

GMT Planet Drives Significant Results, Efficiencies for Advocate Medical Group

Leading Chicago-area medical provider boosts service quality, agent satisfaction in 24/7 contact center while significantly reducing administrative time and overtime costs

March 2, 2009 -- Norcross, GA

GMT Corp., a global industry leader in enterprise workforce management and performance optimization solutions, today announced that Advocate Medical Group (AMG), one of the leading physician group practices in the Chicago area, has reported achieving significant operational improvements through its use of GMT Planet®. With GMT Planet—the company’s award-winning workforce management solution—AMG was able to boost service quality and associate satisfaction while also dramatically reducing costs associated with its contact center operations and beyond.

Founded in 1980, Advocate Medical Group is part of Oak Brook, Illinois-based Advocate Health Care, widely regarded as one of the top 10 systems in the country and the largest fully integrated not-for-profit health care delivery system in metropolitan Chicago. AMG’s 24/7 Patient Care Express contact center is run by approximately 100 FTEs who handle over 2 million inbound calls annually—handling a wide array of services ranging from RN Nurse Triage to Physician Answering Service to Appointment Scheduling and Messaging.

As a result of its deployment of GMT Planet in the summer of 2008, AMG replaced time-intensive, manual processes with streamlined, automated processes facilitated by the solution’s precise forecasting and scheduling capabilities, which enabled its Patient Care Express operations to realize efficiencies and cost savings across a number of operational areas. For instance, it is estimated that administrative time related to schedule management has been reduced by more than 90%, enabling time and resources to be deployed to higher value activities.

Furthermore, AMG anticipates additional cost savings by reducing overtime pay, stemming from the new ability to dynamically manage and precisely match their supply of resources with incoming calls. Similarly, GMT Planet has enabled management to address another key concern: increasing Associate satisfaction and retention. With GMT’s Employee Time Center (ETC), AMG is able to provide its associates with a more systematic vacation approval process and increased efficiency in other scheduling-related activities—such as managing sick days and shift swaps.

“Because our Patient Care Express serves as the main point of contact and communication conduit between our patients and their care givers and medical homes, it’s critically important that we strive for excellence by looking for new ways to continually improve our operations and processes,” explained Tina Kennedy, Operations Director for Advocate Medical Group’s Patient Care Express/Telecommunications. “GMT Planet has become a key tool in enabling us to reach multiple departmental goals, which include improving our service levels and other key performance indicators, carving out overtime and labor-related costs, as well as boosting associate satisfaction. In short, we’ve been able to realize a strong return on investment by significantly boosting efficiency while also better serving the needs of our patients and our people.”

“For companies like Advocate Medical Group, achieving significant operational improvements through its use of GMT Planet is only one part of the equation,” explained Simon Angove, GMT’s chief executive officer. “Ensuring the highest level of patient care possible as well as improving associate satisfaction through improved work-life balance is equally important.” For further details on how GMT Planet is helping companies across vertical markets achieve new heights in operational efficiency and effectiveness, please visit our resources page.