LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Virginia –
The 1st Medical Group will introduce an $835,000 consolidated telephone system Jan. 14, which will greatly reduce the chance of patients getting a busy signal when they call the 1st Fighter Wing Hospital and greatly increase patient’s first-call resolution for health care.
The new system introduces a “One-Number-Required” to access health care on Langley AFB. That number is 225-7630. This is part of an Air Forcewide initiative by the Air Force Surgeon General to better patient care at every Air Force installation.
According to hospital officials, the new phone system comes at the perfect time as patient volume now outweighs what the current phone system can handle. The new system is being put in place to best manage the large number of calls the hospital receives during peak hours.
Instead of calling a different number for each medical service and risk getting a busy signal or voice mail, patients only need to call 225-7630 and be routed into an interactive system.
Capt. Gregory J. Ready, 1st MDG Group Practice Manager, says the best characteristics of the new system are the one-number-access and the automatic routing of phone calls to available phones.
“A lot less frustrating busy signals” he said. “If a line is full, patients will be put on hold and in a cue as they wait for their calls to be routed and answered. At least they know they are going to be answered instead of having to leave a message or call back. Our goal is better Customer Service which is priority one here at the Med Group.”
When the new phone system goes online, the 1st Communications Squadron and RS Information Systems, Inc. will be there to make sure everything runs smoothly and all bugs get worked out of the system so that the most important part of the system is taken care of -- the patients.