New caller ID rolled out across both KHSC sites

Patients and families glancing at their telephone’s call display will soon be able to spot that Kingston Health Sciences Centre is trying to reach them.

As of Tuesday, August 29, both sites of Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), Hotel Dieu Hospital (HDH) and Kingston General Hospital (KGH), are displaying a new caller ID for outbound calls.  It will read either “Hotel Dieu-KHSC” or “KHSC-KGH,” depending on the originating site of the call.

The new ID replaces the “Private Caller” display message (or, on some phones, “No Caller ID”). With the switch to the new identifier, patients and families can more easily see that one of the KHSC hospital sites is calling, which could make it less likely that individuals will miss or skip the call because they cannot recognize the caller.

KHSC sought feedback from patients, volunteers, Patient Experience Advisors and staff about implementing the new caller ID, says Deb Sapp, KHSC director of registration and health information services.

“They agreed that people would be more inclined to answer a call if they knew it was the hospital calling,” she says. “Historically, without call display, there was some hesitation because of telemarketers.

“Our expectation is that with more patients and families answering calls from the organization we hope to see patients more engaged in their appointment scheduling resulting in fewer absences from clinic and more opportunity for the patients to clarify the information with the organization directly as opposed to through voice mail messages.”