In the midst of a global pandemic, Catholic Medical Center (CMC) was notified by the State of New Hampshire that it had less than two weeks to set up contact centers to register eligible citizens for the Phase 1b COVID-19 vaccine, an immense logistical challenge. Previously, the hospital was vaccinating healthcare workers under Phase 1a. Now, it had to determine who was eligible using a patient database, contact those individuals, and do so quickly due to the risk of further viral spread.

The situation was changing rapidly, with many unknowns about how to identify the right patients, stay in constant contact with state officials, and make sure as many people were vaccinated as possible. Rules for reporting and other procedures were changing rapidly as state, local, and national officials tried to get ahead of the pandemic.

According to Shaunna Shiers, director of operations, "With all the factors, unknowns, and changes at play, we needed a systematic way to centralize our process for Phase 1b. We needed to manage patient information, address inquiries, and provide consistency in guiding patients through the vaccine process—while quantifying and reporting on this work. And we needed to do all of this very quickly."

Team members started with an Excel spreadsheet and quickly realized they needed a more powerful, data-driven solution—and fast.

CMC worked with PowerHouse Consulting, who chose the TIBCO Cloud Integration iPaaS to streamline and automate processes for guiding patients and managing their data. TIBCO's solution offered a fast time to value at a low cost of entry, met rapidly evolving needs, and scaled easily for future use cases.

Shiers noted, "A member of the PowerHouse team had previous experience with TIBCO and identified that the TIBCO Cloud Integration platform would meet all of our criteria, principally speed-to-market, and the agility to keep up with the rollout and pivot as needed."

PowerHouse used TIBCO’s comprehensive integration and automation capabilities to design an easy-to-use and highly flexible registration process that automated patient data management. The new platform empowered staff to easily manage patient data across systems by automating call center activities and allowing staff to access CRM data. At the vaccine center, staff could simply add missing or update incorrect contact information, which was then updated across the system.

With the new solution, a small staff fielded patient phone calls while managers quantified their work for reports. Streamlined processes led to increased business agility as CMC rapidly evolved according to new mandates. The platform quickly provided updates for all staff no matter where they were, and most importantly, after the pandemic subsided, would scale up and down to meet other healthcare objectives.

With PowerHouse and the TIBCO Cloud Integration platform, CMC accelerated its call center schedule and kept up with a rapidly changing pandemic environment—making the registration process fast and easy for both staff and patients.

Shiers stated, "We fielded thousands and thousands of phone calls, and identified the outcome of every single one of those touchpoints. We’ve collected hundreds of email addresses. And we’ve been able to report on exactly what we're doing and quantify this work thanks to TIBCO. It's been a tremendous experience."

By partnering with PowerHouse Consulting and TIBCO, CMC automated complex registration processes and, according to PowerHouse Consulting, created a patient support center in half the time it would have taken with any other integration platform. CMC used its new data platform to seamlessly manage data and accelerate vaccine rollout. In the midst of a global crisis, it saved lives by quickly and proactively providing vaccines to patients throughout New Hampshire—a transformation made possible by TIBCO.