Central DuPage Health Saves Call Center, Refines Marketing with CPM System.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

MIDDLETON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2003

Faced with possible budget cuts to its call center, Central DuPage Health not only saved its nurse triage line, but expanded and refined its overall marketing vision and demonstrated consistent revenue generation via physician clinic analysis and three campaigns with a patient relationship management (PRM) system developed by Customer Potential Management, Inc.

Central DuPage Health is an interdependent network of healthcare organizations and services in Chicago's west side suburbs. CPM is a healthcare database marketing and patient relationship management company.

During an annual budget scrutiny, the marketing department had to quickly respond to an inquiry about the value of the nurse line as well as whether or not marketing was promoting the right services based on revenue generated and market need. Using the PRM database it had just developed with CPM, the health provider examined patient and market data for its Nurse Line and its Physician Information and Referral Line to determine total call volume, new contacts over the previous year, total number of physician referrals and total number of class registrations. It found that combined, the services generated more than $3 million in charges and nearly $800,000 in net revenue.

"This got our attention, and allowed us to determine the true capabilities of our PRM system," explained Bradley Garcia, corporate director of marketing and business development at Central DuPage Health. "As a result of our call center analysis, we gained important market knowledge about the needs and use of health services by individuals in our various market areas, which in turn drives our overall approach to planning and strategy."

For example, Garcia learned that the provider's physician-owned clinics lost $2.3 million in potential annual revenue to urgent care centers because it often took too long to get an appointment at one of the clinics. This analysis sold the physicians on instituting an "advanced access" scheduling system that now allows nearly 80 percent of patients to get an appointment the same day they call.

A pediatric practice campaign to respond to a 28 percent drop in HMO enrollees, carefully targeted and tracked with the PRM system, generated 1,390 new patients in one year and more than $2 million in gross revenue. A mammography campaign using targeted direct mail with a discounted mammography offer increased screenings by nearly 1,000 over the previous year of yearly reminder mammography media ads and generated $52,560 gross revenue in three months. Finally, a simple heartburn lecture campaign resulted in nine percent greater response rate and $13 million more in gross revenue when compared with a control group.

"The strength of the PRM system is its market analysis, segmentation and campaign tracking features that drive planning and strategy," said John Hallick, CPM president and CEO. "If a service line is not profitable or necessary, PRM can help a healthcare organization focus on other areas. If there is an unfulfilled market need, that also may show up with PRM and help the organization develop strategies that will meet the need and boost revenue. The days of non-trackable, one-size fits all programs are over in healthcare."

To learn more, go to the Press Room as www.cpm.com to read the case study, "Saving the Call Center: PRM to the Rescue," or contact CPM at 1-800-332-2631 or [e-mail] for a copy.

About CPM Marketing Group, Inc.

CPM Marketing Group, Inc., headquartered in Middleton, WI, is a pioneer in the development of patient relationship management (PRM) solutions, including database development, intelligent healthcare marketing systems and predictive market segmentation. CPM's PRM integrated solutions allow healthcare organizations to maximize their patient relationships through market analysis, strategic planning and targeted personal communications. The foundation is an accessible, customer-centric database that includes comprehensive individual and household data. CPM's suite of software tools provide easy and secure access to the data for individual snapshots of patients and health consumers on a "segment of one" basis. For more information, visit www.cpm.com, call 1-800-332-2631, or contact us via email at [e-mail].

About Central DuPage Health

Central duPage Health is an interdependent network of healthcare organizations and services on Chicago's west side, including 700 physicians and 4,300 employees working in Central DuPage Hospital, convenient care centers, senior services, home health and hospice care, and CENTRA--a primary care physicians group. For more information, go to www.cdh.org.