The Institute for Family Health Opens Expanded Call Center in New Paltz

New Paltz, NY (March 10, 2020) – The Institute for Family Health opened an expanded, renovated call center within their New Paltz Family Health Center on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. The expanded call center includes 44 workstations, allowing the Institute to provide centralized telephone support to patients from any of 17 Institute health centers in the Mid-Hudson Valley and New York City. The additional workstations will allow the Institute to increase staff capacity at the call center, so that patients can more easily make appointments and access care coordination assistance.

“We are thrilled to be able to improve telephone access in the communities we serve, and believe these added services will both increase efficiency and improve health outcomes for our patients. We are also happy to provide added jobs in the community,” said Dr. Neil Calman, president & CEO of the Institute for Family Health.

The call center is currently open from 8am until 8pm on weekdays and from 8am until 6pm on weekends. Eventually, the Institute may increase hours to provide as much as 24-hour, 7-day-per-week staffing. Call center staff will be able to assist patients who want to schedule appointments, get assistance with referrals, refill prescriptions, and communicate with their health care providers and team. The Institute is also evaluating opportunities to centralize additional functions, which may include telephone-based outreach, follow-up on hospitalizations and emergency room visits, care coordination, health education, adherence counseling, triage support, and linkages to health and social services.

The call center expansion was funded by a $1.8M grant awarded in 2017 by the New York Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program. The grant supported the renovation of the second floor of the New Paltz Family Health Center, as well as the purchase of essential equipment and software.

The Institute is actively recruiting for additional staff for the call center, including for two registered nurses. Interested applicants can apply at www.institute.org.

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The Institute for Family Health (www.institute.org) is a federally qualified health center network that operates 32 practices in New York State serving 115,000 patients annually. Services are available to people of all ages, regardless of ability to pay.