Benchmarking Medical Call Center Disposition Rates 2023

Authors:

David A. Thompson 1

Jeanine Feirer RN, MSN

Cheryl Patterson RNC-TNP, BSN

1 Northwestern University, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Background: Telehealth triage aims to match patients with the most appropriate level of medical care based on symptom severity and acuity. Structured telehealth triage guidelines offer decision support and documentation tools to standardize telehealth encounters. The key outcome of this process is the triager's disposition recommendation, directing patients to appropriate sources of care and needed resources. Disposition rates serve as vital benchmarking statistics and performance metrics for medical call centers.

Methods: Full-age range medical call centers that utilize Schmitt-Thompson Clinical Content (STCC) After-Hours telehealth triage guidelines were invited to contribute de-identified data from the 2023 calendar year. A standardized data entry form was provided, listing 37 possible triage disposition levels. For the purpose of analysis, the disposition levels were consolidated into six primary groups:

1.      EMS 911

2.      Emergent (Go to ED Now, Go to ED/UCC)

3.      Urgent (See Within 4 Hours)

4.      Office Visit (See PCP Within 24 Hours, See PCP Within 3 Days, See PCP within 2 Weeks)

5.      Home Care (Self Care)

6.      Other (all other encounters including L&D, Call Local Agency, Call PCP, See Dentist)

Custom dispositions from individual call centers were mapped to one of these six disposition levels. Encounters with dispositions of Duplicate Contact Calls or No Contact Calls were excluded.

Results: Data was submitted for 1,647,846 encounters by 11 medical call centers. There were 1,112,585 adult encounters (21 years and older) and 535,261 pediatric encounters. The median call center handled 45,090 encounters. The call center median disposition rates by disposition grouping for adult and pediatric encounters respectively were EMS 911 (4.3%, 1.3%), Emergent (22.6%, 20.3%), Urgent (10.7%, 6.2%), Office Visit (22.8%, 26.6%), Home Care (20.5%, 31.7%), and Other (17.2%, 12.8%). 

Conclusion: Compared to pediatric encounters, the disposition rates for adult encounters were higher for EMS 911, Emergent, Urgent, and Other categories. Compared to adult encounters, the disposition rates for pediatric encounters were higher for Office Visit and Home Care categories. These results are consistent with previous benchmarking results and expectations. Adult patients generally have a higher acuity reason for visit and greater number of medical co-morbidities. In addition, adults are possibly less inclined to call for minor illness and injury.

Citation

Thompson DA, Feirer J, Patterson C.  Benchmarking Medical Call Center Disposition Rates 2023. February 12, 2025.

Related References

Marks GA, Thompson DA.  Top 25 Adult and Pediatric Office-Hours Telehealth Triage Guidelines Used During Calendar Years 2020 – 2022. March 31, 2023. Abstract and Charts.

Thompson DA. Medical Call Center Benchmarking Report: 2004 to 2016. An analysis of 6.5 million triage calls from 16 medical call centers. Full report available to participating call centers. 2017. Summary Report and Charts.

Thompson DA, Marks GA.  Top 25 Adult and Pediatric After-Hours Telehealth Triage Guidelines Used During Calendar Years 2020 – 2022. March 22, 2023. Abstract and Charts.