If one stops to think about it, advances in healthcare are simply amazing.  Whether dealing with Alzheimer’s or fetal nutrition, modern medicine has hurdled many obstacles.  While healthcare providers are more capable of managing these issues, and countless others, they find themselves more dependent on technology than ever before.  Current workloads in the healthcare industry reveal the fact that innovation has upped productivity expectations…whether you’re the patient or the physician.  When the customer is the one providing the hands-on care for patients, the stakes are high.  Time is always of essence, and proficient technical support of healthcare providers is as vital as the medicine itself. 

Realizing the need to upgrade their technical support abilities, Sun Health implemented HEAT in December of 2002. 

Sun Health is a non-profit, community-owned network of healthcare services that provides world-class acute, long-term, residential and home-delivered healthcare and related services to west Valley communities in Arizona. Residents of all ages benefit from Sun Health’s community-focused continuum of care that ranges from obstetrics and newborn services to cardiology and orthopedics.  

CreekPointe recently spoke to Kathy Collins, Operations and Help Desk Manager, and Ann Dillon, Help Desk Coordinator, for Sun Health.  We asked them to comment on the HEAT install and how it has affected the way they do business. 

Kathy:  “Before using HEAT to log and manage our calls, we were using an Access based program that had been written for us years ago.  Some of the biggest drawbacks were its inability to provide reporting and the time it took to use it.   Several of our calls were going to voicemail because it took so long to open a call and even longer to research a previous call.” 

Ann:  “You have to remember, we were using a system that was very clunky and didn’t offer a whole lot.  With HEAT, our support staff's jobs are much easier in that, due to HEAT’s speed and automation features, we can log calls in real time and let out customers speak to a person.  As a result, we are logging 20% more calls  

and in turn, allowing these healthcare providers to focus on the patient and not their IT problem.” 

Kathy: “From an IT manager’s perspective, my job has become less stressful.  When our CIO asks for weekly and monthly stats, not only can he run his reports with HEAT’s Answer Wizard, he now knows he is reviewing reliable data.  HEAT has taken the guesswork out of the workload.  It specifically pinpoints the issues and the time it takes to manage these issues.  We can look at our performance on a continual basis which makes for greater accountability and more productive customers.”  

When asked about the implementation itself, they had this to say. 

Ann: “Our CreekPointe HEAT Engineer was tops.  He understood our needs and customized the product to our specifications.  His on-site time with us was spent wisely.  In fact, before he ever arrived, he was designing our screens and thinking of ways to help us streamline the entire process.” 

Kathy: “It was obvious to us that he knew HEAT, inside and out.  While this is an ‘out of the box’ product, the customization that can be done makes it very unique to us.  CreekPointe has the expertise to mold HEAT to fit our specific needs…and their HEAT Engineer did just that.”

Summing it all up… 

Ann: “HEAT is very customer friendly.  It has so much to offer and it’s quick and easy.” 

Kathy: “I would recommend CreekPointe services because of your level of professionalism and willingness to work.  We never felt we were in this alone.  You back up a great product (HEAT) with services to match.  We feel HEAT has been such a wise investment that our Telecom department will soon be using it as well.”