LifeLong Medical Care Streamlines Service
With every dollar counting, particularly after more than two years of COVID, LifeLong Medical Care is establishing a more streamlined and efficient way for employees to serve one another. And better services for staff lead to better care for patients.
LifeLong is establishing what are called Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to help staff acquire what they need in a timely way, whether it’s Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies or a computer malfunction.
We look at staff as our customers. So, we want to provide the best customer service we can. – Noah Salomon
The “agreements” are between the various departments and its customers, i.e., LifeLong’s staff. Simply put, they are a way for staff to make clear requests to the right place and be able to track their progress. The new process also makes the departments – Procurement, Facilities, and IT — more accountable for fulfilling those requests.
And although LifeLong is new to SLAs, it turns out that other federally qualified health centers are watching LifeLong’s implementation with an eye to changing their own processes.
“We really are leading in terms of creating this,” says LifeLong Chief Operations Officer D.L. Poole. “I get CFOs from other organizations and other community health CEOs who are saying, ‘Hey, I heard you guys are doing this.’”
“A lot of FQHCs are in the same boat dealing with the same situation, which means they haven’t developed a lot of SLAs. So they’re looking at us.”
Through a partnership, Kaiser Permanente provided free technical assistance and LifeLong hired Research Development Associates (RDA) to oversee and help build the SLAs. It’s an investment that department heads think will pay off.
“The SLA agreement isn’t just another modernized fancy term. It’s another milestone at LifeLong at getting more organized,” says Director of Facilities Tony Ng.
Says Director of Technology Operations Noah Salomon, “We look at staff as our customers. From an IT perspective, we’ve always called them customers. So, we want to provide the best customer service we can.”
Learn more about LifeLong Medical Care HERE.