The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program is one of the largest in the country, providing services to over 70,000 clients. They provide a multitude of services including nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and other family resources to pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children under the age of 5.
The Challenge
In 2020, Miami-Dade WIC faced the challenge of providing services to clients in a new way. Initially, they shifted to a phone service approach, calling patients for their scheduled appointment, and trying to connect on the phone. However, they quickly realized that this method created challenges. With over 70,0000 clients receiving WIC services yearly, this option was inadequate for the long term.
By 2022, they were in a position to pursue a more effective and dynamic virtual solution. Miami-Dade WIC desired a telehealth platform for staff to connect with clients on a personal level through video appointments. Additionally, they aimed to simplify the complex appointment scheduling requirements and streamline the multi-step process. Miami-Dade WIC sought a system that would allow patient assignment to specific staff and detailed reporting of their end-to-end process.
Eriko Robinson, the Nutrition Program Director, witnessed Q-Flow's performance in other county facilities, motivating her to explore our services further.
Solution Overview
Before implementing Q-Flow, Miami-Dade WIC relied on an in-house routing system that offered wait and service time information but lacked the capability to support virtual services. Additionally, they utilized an MIS database, yet its data was limited and did not align with their requirements.
Recognizing the need for a more robust solution, Miami-Dade WIC opted for ACF's Queue Management Solution and Assistant Anywhere. These solutions were tailored to address the evolving needs of WIC facilities, particularly in facilitating telehealth appointments. Moreover, they presented new possibilities for seamless operations, ensuring a smooth journey for patients from start to finish.
Q-Flow went live across all 15 Miami-Dade WICs locations at the same time. Because they are a centralized local agency, they wanted all locations to be in sync.
Solution Features
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Queue Management System
Q-Flow significantly improved both patient and staff experiences in Miami-Dade WIC facilities by effectively managing wait times through a streamlined self-check-in process with appointment scheduling efficiencies.
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Assistant Anywhere
A key goal for Miami-Dade WIC was to be able to provide virtual services to patients through video appointments. Assistant Anywhere empowers WIC patients to attend appointments via web browser. By utilizing video appointments, Miami-Dade WIC can efficiently streamline its services and ensure enhanced accessibility for new moms, pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, as well as young children.
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Staff Assignment
Miami-Dade WIC can better manage their staff and allocate resources accordingly using Q-Flow’s Staff Management tool. This is done through orchestrating different workgroups, defining schedules, and having control of arrivals, rotations, special dates, and vacations for all employees. With this, Miami-Dade WIC can optimize its resources and improve its customer experience.
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Data and Reports
Miami-Dade WIC uses data and reports to review productivity statistics such as average wait time by employee or by unit. Eriko Robinson states she finds the reports dashboard in Q-Flow extremely helpful. Miami-Dade WIC utilizes this information to make confident decisions for their facilities.
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Customer Notifications
Configurable client notification options are a key feature of Q-Flow now in Miami-Dade’s daily operations. It is important to provide client’s reasonable appointment reminders. Sending these simple notifications reduces the no-call/no-show rate of organizations.
The Results
Since teaming up with ACF Technologies, Miami-Dade WIC has witnessed impressive outcomes, even within a short period. Distinguished as one of the nation's pioneers in offering telehealth appointments for WIC services, Miami-Dade has observed the following results:
- Enhanced value delivery through telehealth appointments.
- Improved staff management.
- Access to comprehensive and detailed reports/data.
- Reduced wait times for in-person appointments.
- Streamlined operations and standardized procedures across facilities.
