Innovations San Diego, CA June 4 th – 8 th, 2006 A 12 Step Program for Recovering from MEG- Addiction Judy Nagy Assistant State Registrar Ohio Department of Health Office of Vital Statistics

Back in 2003…. We were faced with an ‘unscheduled upgrade’ and had to communicate the specifics to all our customers

“THE BOX” is Born Color coded by document type Examples of the new birth certificate and worksheets Explanation of upgrade changes Detailed instruction manual Frequently asked questions

The Result Our organized, highly detailed informational package created panic and confusion

Typical Question #1 “I’ve opened the welcome box and removed the packing, now what do I do?”

Typical Translation The welcome box has landed on my desk and I threw away the manual containing detailed instructions on installing, operating, & trouble shooting the software.

Typical Question #2 “My IT departments says the upgrade installation can not be done.”

Typical Translation I do not currently know a child between the ages of 3 through 12 that can install the software for me.

Typical Question #3 “My software upgrade has been installed, but I can’t seem to find my data.”

Typical Translation Your child was successful installing the upgrade on your computer, but obviously, does not know how to hack into your hospital’s mainframe.

Typical Question #4 “I can’t get a hold of anyone to help me through the upgrade transition.”

Typical Translation Meg is probably away from her desk in the bathroom.

Meet Meg

Symptoms of MEG-Addiction The only phone number you know at the Health Department is Meg’s desk phone Information exists, but only if Meg tells you A post it note that says ‘OK’d by Meg’ is given more credence than the Ohio Revised Code If Meg’s in the office, transfer the call to her because she always knows

What?! OUR OWN STAFF WAS ADDICTED!

Going ‘Cold Turkey’ We changed Meg’s phone number (twice) We unlisted her phone number We devised a new centralized call tree for customers to better access our IT help desk and customer service Made our field representative the first point of contact for all registration inquiries

And Still the Addiction Continued.

Here We Go Again! A new integrated birth registration software needs to be deployed Jan. ’06 The software application has a huge need for user management Application users will increase 4x We have new users for our software: perinatal clinics, lab, and local registrars

The Rollout How can we contact all of our users? What information does each user need to know? Where will we send the information? When should the information be made available?

“The Box” Part 2 A new integrated web site Content specific Dynamic Organized system for documentation, forms and communication

We Did It Right All staff helped with content and readability Any updates or important information can be easily and instantly transmitted Everyone using the system is our customer, regardless if they are using a VS application Users send us feedback on content they would like to see

Why It Has Been So Successful Our staff knew what contact to make available based on inquiries ALL users of the system have access to the information The information is updated and corrected as needed The information is organized AND….

Meg’s Phone Calls Have Decreased 80%!