Medical West Healthcare Centers offers medical supplies and equipment delivery together with comprehensive respiratory services to patients in two major metropolitan counties in Missouri. As part of their customer service, Medical West also employs respiratory therapists and dieticians who deliver care in the patient’s home. Managing a service area of over 1,000 square miles via traditional phone communication meant the central office had no reliable system for tracking their drivers, engineers, technicians, and therapists. Looking for ways to improve customer service and delivery times while reducing overtime, Medical West turned to Mobile Health Technologies.
In 2007, Medical West implemented Mobile Health Technologies’ SmartLOCATE. At the start of each shift, drivers and other mobile workers launch the application from their Nextel phones, establishing the critical connection that allows the location based services of SmartLOCATE to go to work. Taking advantage of the organizational flexibility offered by SmartLOCATE, Medical West divided its mobile workforce into functional fleets. Jim Kohnen, Operations Manager at Medical West, can now pinpoint each worker in the field, see where all his mobile workers are, by category, on a detailed web-based map and know with confidence that they are on the job. In addition, Medical West enabled the clock in and clock out functionality to capture electronic, accurate payroll information that was previously unavailable.
“The tracking technology and customer service of Mobile Health Technologies are both ‘Very Helpful’ tools to running our Logistics” said Jim Kohnen. The tracking features provide the management overview to ensure drivers stay on task. A respiratory therapist can instantly communicate a need for additional supplies or equipment repair and know that the central office will locate the nearest truck with the needed stock.and direct them to the patient’s home. With the free transmissions available thru the Messaging Center, the dispatcher can provide all the necessary details, quickly and efficiently, to ensure the terrific customer service Medical West promises and delivers.
