Improving internal workflow process and response rate

The Office of Patient Care Services (PCS) within the Department of Veterans Affairs receives an enormous number of high-priority, deadline-sensitive electronic correspondence from Congress, the White House, the media, and veterans. PCS receives 200-500 emails per day and must achieve rapid turnaround to process these requests. As a result, PCS is experiencing an overwhelming volume of incoming correspondence, unregulated workflow, and information overload. The Capstone team was tasked with analyzing their current process and level of performance. By conducting internal interviews and developing and evaluating questionnaires, the team collected information and provided recommendations to improve the overall process. Based on their findings, the Capstone team, while measuring for quality assurance, piloted their customized tracking mechanism to enhance the department’s response rate.