Quincy for Hospice: First72Hours

Executive Summary

Families entering hospice are anxious and overwhelmed. A clear, compassionate welcome process—begun at the moment of referral—sets expectations, establishes a 24/7 safety net, and accelerates the first successful live contact. This article outlines a proven, repeatable approach to the welcome call and shows how QliqSOFT’s platform turns it into a compliant, measurable workflow that scales across teams and geographies.

The first message shapes the entire experience—done right, it reduces crises, builds trust, and shortens time-to-care.

Understanding the Problem

Today’s referral-to-consent workflow is overwhelmingly manual and fragile. Intake teams spend hours on phone tag, leaving voicemails that often go unheard, while field staff drive to homes to secure signatures—only to be met with no-answer door knocks that require repeat visits. This churn delays the start of care, erodes family confidence at a moment of high stress, and provides no consistent, branded introduction that explains who the hospice is or why the referral was made. Operationally, each manual hand-off—calls, paper forms, in-person chases—multiplies failure points: missed billable days, lower conversion from referral to admission, and preventable overtime as staff try to track down paperwork. Strategically, it’s revenue leakage disguised as “process,” with uneven documentation that increases compliance exposure and makes performance hard to measure. In short, the current approach is expensive, slow, and invisible to the family’s experience—resulting in lost revenue and poorer care precisely when speed, clarity, and trust matter most.

The First72Hours Call Process

Traditionally, the “welcome call” is a manual, resource-heavy step—agents dialing cold, families unprepared, and key information often missing. QliqSOFT transforms this into a guided, automated experience that both introduces the hospice organization and sets the stage for a successful admission.

1. Introduce & Educate

1. Immediately after referral, the family receives a personalized digital introduction from the hospice organization.
2. Educational materials are delivered in engaging formats—such as a PDF profile or a welcome video sent to a patient/caregiver —helping families understand the hospice’s mission, values, and services.
3. This first touchpoint builds trust and credibility, ensuring the hospice is presented as the right partner from the very beginning.

2. Set Expectations

1. Families are told what will happen next, preparing them for the upcoming Phone Call.
2. An FAQ resource answers common concerns up front, reducing anxiety and repetitive questioning later.
3. Quick Forms streamline digital data collection, so families are ready for a conversation with the scheduling agent.
4. Families are also provided with the phone number the agent will call from, have an option to transfer directly to the scheduling agent via either a HIPAA-secure digital chat or video visit.

3. Collect Key Information

Through digital forms, the hospice gathers essential details such as:

1. First and last name of key contacts.
2. Primary and secondary contact information.
3. Power of Attorney.

4. Escalate to the Scheduling Agent

1. Upon completion of the digital outreach, the patient or caregiver has the opportunity to transfer directly to the agent to schedule the initial assessment.
2. After the visit is scheduled, the patient or caregiver receives additional information to prepare for the initial assessment visit.
3. This step is now focused on relationship building and deeper engagement, rather than administrative data-gathering.

5. Begin Admission

1. With complete introductions and contact details confirmed, the formal admission process can begin without delays or missed connections.

By shifting from a reactive, manual phone chase to a structured, automated pre-call engagement, hospices can ensure families feel welcomed, informed, and ready to participate. This reduces wasted staff time, increases call answer rates, and accelerates the path from referral to admission.

Regulatory & Compliance Considerations

QliqSOFT supports HIPAA-compliant communication by separating PHI from open channels, placing details behind secure links, and recording consent events. TCPA-compliant SMS templates include opt-out language by default. All interactions are time-stamped for an auditable trail. QliqSOFT is SOC 2 and HIPAA aligned; customers configure policies to their internal standards and CMS requirements.

QliqSOFT’s First72Hours Solution

Our solution streamlines the referral-to-admission process with automation, education, and compliance at its core. Key capabilities include:

• Automated Welcome Campaigns – Deliver video introductions, branded organizational profiles, FAQs, and custom forms directly to families to prepare them for the Welcome Call.
• Pre-Call Data Collection – Securely gather essential contact information, confirm the primary caregiver, Power of Attorney, and emergency contact; prompt families to save the hospice’s call-back number for higher answer rates.
• Referral Traffic Integration – Seamlessly capture referral traffic from the EMR or other sources via APIs, log shippers, and additional interfaces, ensuring no referral is lost or delayed. Consent for Treatments signed in 24 hours.
• EMR Write-Back – Return collected information into the EMR through flexible methods, including manual processes or automated interfaces such as APIs, MDM, HL7, SFTPs, or CSV exports, saving either as discrete data or PDF files.
• Compliance by Design – Ensure HIPAA, TCPA, and CMS requirements are met at every step, protecting both patient privacy and provider liability.
• Scalable & Repeatable – Build a consistent, standardized workflow that reduces staff burden while accelerating the admission process across all referral sources.

Referral Capture with Integration

QliqSOFT’s Welcome Call solution is designed to fit seamlessly into existing clinical workflows by connecting directly with leading EMR systems. Referral and patient data can be pulled from the EMR using log shippers, APIs, MDM messages, HL7, or FHIR standards, ensuring that every referral is captured without manual effort.

On the return path, completed forms, contact details, and call outcomes can be written back into the EMR either manually or through automated pathways. Automation options include APIs, MDM, HL7, secure SFTP transfers, or CSV imports, giving providers flexibility to match their integration strategy and IT capabilities.

This bidirectional integration ensures that data flows smoothly in and out of the EMR, reducing administrative overhead, eliminating duplicate entry, and maintaining a single, accurate source of truth for patient records.

Best Practices

• Be brief, warm, and specific; keep SMS PHI-light and push details behind secure links.
• Always include the 24/7 number and explicit ‘when to call’ examples. Consider adding a link on the website for families to initiate digital contact.
• Respect language and accessibility preferences from the first touch; maintain quiet-hour rules.
• Use one clear call to action (confirm contact/time window) to reduce friction.
• Standardized content templates but allow local personalization for names and context.

Benefits & ROI (Illustrative Model)

Implementing an automated Welcome Call process with QliqSOFT delivers measurable operational gains and meaningful improvements in family experience. By replacing manual phone tag and inefficient outreach with structured, digital-first engagement, hospices realize both financial and clinical value.

• Reduced Phone Tag & Lost Time
  Automated introductions and digital quick forms minimize endless voicemail cycles and door knocks, freeing staff to focus on care instead of logistics.
  
• Accurate Contact Information Up Front
  Quick forms collect and confirm key details before the first live interaction, ensuring agents always reach the right caregiver on the first attempt.
  
• Educated & Prepared Families
  Video introductions, organization profiles, and FAQ resources equip families with the information they need—on their own time—reducing repetitive questions and lowering call durations.
  
• Trust Built Early
  Families engage with branded, consistent messaging from the start, strengthening confidence in the hospice before the first live conversation.
  
• Higher Call Answer Rates
  By providing the phone number in advance and prompting families to save it, answer rates rise significantly, shortening the path to admission.
  
• Accelerated Referral-to-Admission
  A structured, automated workflow transforms referrals into admissions faster, reducing revenue leakage and ensuring patients receive timely care.
  
• Scalable, Repeatable Process
  What was once a manual, error-prone step is now a repeatable best practice—allowing hospices to grow without adding overhead.
  

The ROI: Hospices save hours of staff time per referral, reduce missed billable days caused by delays, and increase admissions through higher connection rates. More importantly, families experience a smoother, more supportive introduction to care—one that builds trust at a critical moment.

Implementation Plan (30 Days)

This solution can be implemented quickly, as illustrated in the following example.

Prerequisites: Form the project team.  The hospice provides a list of certifying clinicians, current documents, escalation rules, and baseline performance metrics.

Week 1: Map admission triggers; select content templates; confirm opt-out and language variants. Identify client educational materials to be used. Record a welcome video.

Week 2: Configure Auto Campaigns (Day 0–3) and Quick Forms; set escalation.

Week 3: Pilot on one team/site; validate consent capture and EMR writeback; refine quiet hours.

Week 4: Train staff; go live system-wide; monitor KPIs daily for two weeks and tune.

Month 6: Determine current KPI performance and measure improvement.

KPIs to Track

• Delivery & response rates at 24/48 hours by site/shift.
• Median time to first successful live contact.
• Count and % of Consent to Treat forms signed within 24 hours.
• Count and % of referral visits scheduled within 48 hours.
• Post Admission caregiver satisfaction pulse score.
• Documentation completeness: consent, preferences, and contact verification.

Conclusion

The welcome call is not just a greeting—it’s the clinical and operational foundation for trust, safety, and speed. QliqSOFT transforms it into a repeatable, compliant workflow that your teams can run every time, even on the busiest days. Ready to standardize the first 72 hours and see measurable gains?