Nurse Triage for Health Systems
Hospitals and health systems partner with nurse triage services to provide their patients with immediate 24/7 access to registered nurses (RNs) who efficiently manage patient care needs and streamline connecting them with the appropriate level of care.
Nurse Triage Benefits for Health Care Systems & Hospitals
Neither the clock nor the calendar matters when a patient is sick, hurt or has urgent questions about their health. Hospitals and health systems understand this and select nurse-first triage services from Conduit Health Partners for the benefits, including how nurse call centers:
- Improve patient satisfaction by providing round-the-clock access to healthcare advice, ensuring patients feel supported and valued.
- Attract new patients to the health system by advertising the ability to connect to a nurse 24/7/365.
- Enhance access to care by addressing social determinants of health such as lack of transportation, language barriers, healthcare literacy and neighborhood access to primary and urgent care.
- Manage emergency department (ED) volumes and wait times by diverting inappropriate visits to the right level of care, leading to significant cost savings for patients and providers.
- Enhance the health system’s reputation with a free service that improves patient satisfaction and prompts word-of-mouth referrals.
Learn more about:
After Hours Nurse Triage Assists Hospital Staff
Callers to a hospital’s nurse triage service are connected to an experienced RN who uses evidence-based decision support tools (the gold standard Schmitt-Thompson protocols) to evaluate each patient’s symptoms. If callers speak languages other than English, triage nurses can access support in as many as 300 languages.
- Triage nurses guide patients to the proper care at home or other services available in your health system or hospital. Those may include urgent care centers, telehealth or medical practices.
- Nurse triage services help patients identify the best place to receive care so that staff can focus on patients in the right setting for their need.
- With access to patient records, triage nurses can also support patients newly released from the hospital or who have returned home from visits to emergency rooms, urgent care or other medical practices in the health system.
- Hospitals also deploy nurse lines to reduce avoidable readmissions and prevent revolving-door visits to the ED.
Our Results Attest to Our Effectiveness and Quality
Our clinical team works closely with you and provides access to detailed reports on calls and resolutions. Experiences with large organizations nationwide have led to solid results and satisfied patients and members.
Triage Services Reduce Overcrowded Emergency Departments
The emergency department is the default choice when patients have medical issues, especially at night and on weekends. That leads to overcrowded EDs and pressure on the staff to triage more cases and find beds for patients awaiting care.
With a nurse triage service, a health system or hospital can advertise a phone number available to all callers, allowing patients with questions about an illness or injury to call to talk to a licensed RN.
Triage nurses can often identify care options that suit the patient’s needs, including home care, urgent care, follow-up calls or doctor visits during office hours. Triage nurses also calm frightened patients and restore their confidence in their ability to get the care they need.
Nurse-First Triage Model Increases Patient Satisfaction
Who keeps a quality experience with a hospital or health system quiet? Patients helped by triage nurses quickly spread the word among family, friends and co-workers.
Indeed, all individuals who accessed Conduit Health Partners’ nurse triage services gave Conduit an average of a 4.9 out of 5 satisfaction rating during a 2023 survey.
Remote Registered Nurses Serve as an Extension of Your Team
Triage nurses answer a number dedicated to the hospital and have information on the healthcare resources available throughout its system and the markets it serves.
Triage nurses use the health system’s or hospital’s protocols for patient information collection and documentation. The nurses’ recommendations for the next steps and other caller notes are relayed for follow-up when needed by hospital staff and noted in patient records.
In some cases, hospitals engage triage nurses in making appointments with medical practices and clinics in the health system for patients.
Helping Hospitals Outsource Nurse Triage Lines
“Building” a fully-staffed nurse triage service can be out of reach for many health systems due to the:
- Necessary investment in systems and staff training.
- Shortage of qualified RNs around the country.
- Demands for RNs to sustain staffing levels in the hospitals.
As a result, outsourcing is a growing trend among hospitals and health systems.
In addition, triage nursing is a distinct specialty. Nurse triage services like Conduit Health Partners provide their RNs with ongoing training, reviews and quality control evaluations. Training focuses on honing nurses’ skills in engaging callers, expressing empathy and evaluating their medical situations to find the next best level of care.
Choose a Leading Nurse Triage Company for Your Health System
Conduit Health Partners put the power of nursing to work to address healthcare’s most vexing issues. Among those are disparities in access to quality medical care and variations in disease rates among populations based on race, age, gender identity, economic resources and geography.
Our leadership team is made up of experienced nurses and healthcare administrators who understand the intricacies of operating a health system and are committed to helping hospitals and health systems:
- Get patients to the right level of care without delay.
- Avoid inappropriate ED use and the burdens it places on staff.
- Demonstrate their community commitment.
- Improve patient satisfaction and self-confidence.
- Attract new patients to a health system’s many resources.
Choose a Leading Nurse Triage Company for Your Health Plan
Conduit Health Partners understands the healthcare system from all angles – providers, payers and patients. By tapping the clinical expertise of RNs, we connect everyone in a circle of caring dedicated to delivering better outcomes at lower costs.
Our leadership team is made up of experienced nurses and healthcare administrators committed to helping health plans:
- Lower costs by helping members get the right level of care without delay.
- Avoid inappropriate ED use and the associated costs for members and health plans.
- Improve healthcare access for members affected by disparities in the healthcare system.
- Boost member satisfaction and health literacy.
- Enhance the plan’s reputation among its customers and within the markets it serves.
Learn More About Conduit's Nurse Triage Services
We welcome the opportunity to learn about your health system as you consider the potential for nurse triage services. Our leaders can introduce you to the team of clinical, operations and technology experts who support our customers and, by extension, hundreds of thousands of patients across the country.
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Contact us for a no-obligation consultation
Call us at 855-605-2833 or fill out the form below to schedule a meeting with a member of our leadership team.
When you hire nurse triage from Conduit Health Partners, your team includes an account manager dedicated to your organization and a team of experts in clinical care, call center operations and technology.
We serve hundreds of thousands of individuals nationwide through our contracts with employers, health plans, hospitals and medical practices. We’d welcome discussing how we might help your health plan.
Contact us for a no-obligation consultation
Call us at 855-605-2833 or fill out our form to schedule a meeting with a member of our leadership team.
1 2023 Conduit Health Partners Triage Service (combined clients)
2Based on a panel of 50,000 individuals with 5% utilization of Conduit Health Partners nurse-first triage. The total savings was $250,000 on a $75,000 investment in the service.
3 2023 Conduit Health Partners Post Call Survey (combined clients)
4 Assuming 71% of ED visits are unnecessary, and an average ED visit costs $1,250, a health plan or self-insured employer can save $88,750 per 100 contacts with nurse-first triage.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nurse Triage Call Centers for Healthcare Systems and Hospitals
The reasons are as varied as the hospitals and health systems we serve. However, each customer aspires to expand its front line to get patients and prospective patients to the right level of care without delay 24/7/365.
Other reasons for adding nurse triage services to a hospital call center are:
- Improving patient flow to health system clinicians and departments.
- Lowering the number and frequency of inappropriate ED visits.
- Providing patients with a convenient service to support their health.
- Reducing disparities in access to care within their communities.
With lights on, doors open and dedicated healthcare professionals working 24/7, the emergency department can be the first place people think to go if they have a sick family member, become ill or have a health concern and want answers.
Nurse triage lines can help prevent unnecessary emergency department visits by forming a new and skillful first line for consultation, evaluation and guidance to the appropriate level of care — urgent care, a visit to a doctor during office hours, telehealth visits or informed self-care at home.
Triage nurses use evidence-based protocols with each patient who calls. If emergency care is warranted, triage nurses help patients secure safe transportation, including ambulance services.
Many patients lack a primary care physician (PCP), nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant. Many also are overwhelmed by the healthcare system and don’t know where to turn when they need care.
By advertising a nurse call line, hospitals can attract callers with limited access and healthcare literacy and suggest resources within the organization ready to care for them. Conduit Health Partners can also work as an extension of the hospital by making referrals to clinics or medical practices that are part of the hospital system.
Many neighborhoods, counties and even larger geographic areas across the United States have limited primary care providers (PCPs) and healthcare facilities, leaving residents stranded in “healthcare deserts.”
Almost everyone, though, has a telephone and can search the internet for how to get medical care or answers near them. Triage nurses can be ready for those calls and become guides to the appropriate level of care available to people with healthcare needs or concerns.
At a hospital’s discretion, triage nurses can also arrange follow-up visits to clinics or medical practices within their system and refer patients to social services, transportation and other available services.
Hospitals adapt their contracts with nurse-first triage services from Conduit Health Partners to address their own needs and goals, such as:
- Reducing inappropriate emergency department visits.
- Preventing avoidable readmissions.
- Lowering barriers to care, particularly for underserved individuals.
- Visibly supporting patients on their journeys to health.
- Expanding their reach and influence to the community at large.
With experience working with healthcare organizations across the United States, Conduit Health Partners can help a hospital or health system design its nurse triage services to meet its most urgent needs and financial goals.