title: The telephone: managing demand.
abstract: The telephone system is the pulse of communication in a medical group. As customers demand increased access to their providers, telephone systems and their operators are becoming overloaded. Re-engineering is critical to meet this surging customer demand. This article explores new methods and applications of re-engineering the telephone system by managing demand, instead of the traditional solutions of adding more staff and/or more lines.
authors.affiliation: Medical Group Management Association, Health Care Consulting Group, Atlanta, GA 30345, USA. ewwoodcock@mindspring.com
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Woodcock
mesh_terms: D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D011216:Practice Management, Medical; D013689:Telephone