Healthcare

California Health Corps Mobilizes Life-Saving Resources with FormAssembly’s Digital Data Collection Platform

Chaeny Emanavin

Director, Office of Innovation California Health and Human Services

Case Study Snapshot

In collaboration with Slalom, staff members from the Office of Innovation within California’s Health and Human Services division increased COVID-19 assistance efforts in spring of 2020. The combination of FormAssembly and Salesforce allowed state health officials to contact, recruit, and mobilize trained medical professionals to serve in various capacities throughout the state as pandemic trends emerged.

About California Health Corps

The California Health Corps was formed as a direct response to COVID-19 in the state of California. This initiative created an easy outlet for medical professionals to help relieve the burden faced by healthcare systems in some of the hardest hit areas of the state. The California Health Corps includes licensed medical health professionals such as Registered Nurses (RNs).

The numbers

700

number of healthcare professionals mobilized

The Need

Eliminate Manual Efforts for Faster Response

“Paper form processes were too time consuming, and they failed to meet the need for fast and real-time responses during such a significant public health crisis.”

When many small private medical practices closed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Health Corps created an outlet for trained medical professionals to assist with pandemic relief and to earn income that had been lost. With the appropriate credentials, these individuals could provide skilled services in locations where those abilities were needed most. The Health Corps’ process mobilized people who had never worked for the state and onboarded them quickly into the government’s system.

Paper form processes were too time consuming, and they failed to meet the need for fast and real-time responses during such a significant public health crisis. Additionally, the state required a digital path for offering security and privacy to applicants who had not previously worked in a government capacity. In order to increase visibility, web form responses also needed to sync to a larger database, which in this case was Salesforce.

The Solution

A Digital Form Strategy for Emergency Response

The ability to embed survey links into mass emails was what [we] were looking for. Being able to send people the same survey, knowing the data was all going to the same place made it all easier.

Although the California Health and Human Services Office of Innovation was new to both Salesforce and FormAssembly, the team quickly jumped on board to produce forms, surveys, and quizzes for immediate release with the help of our partners from Slalom. These critical digital solutions were distributed to registered health professionals within the state’s broad network. With an overall goal of process improvement, staff began to collect data about workers’ availability, travel preferences, and skill sets in order to deploy people to the best locations.

Given the ability to collect and sync data in real-time, FormAssembly was a natural fit. Key plugins and smart features made the entire process even more streamlined. For example, the Health Corps was able to use FormAssembly to embed form links in emails and text messages. This simple step increased response rate and reduced staff workload.

“The ability to embed survey links into mass emails was what [we] were looking for. Being able to send people the same survey, knowing the data was all going to the same place made it all easier,” said Chaeny Emanavin, CHHS Office of Innovation Director.

The result was a mobilization of 700 plus participants during the earliest months of the pandemic.

Use Cases

COVID-19 Mobilization Efforts

A series of robust process improvements contributed to the mobilization of hundreds of healthcare professionals.

In the case of the California Health Corps, there were many moving parts. Trained medical professionals who applied to serve had to do so through the Disaster Healthcare Volunteer site (DHV), a legacy system, which was essentially an arm of the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA). When a response was recorded, applicant information was sent to the CalHR Human Resources system to complete their application for state employment by submitting information about availability and certification.

To avoid confusion in the data records, the Office of Innovation used FormAssembly forms to link important pieces such as name, phone, and email records. These components were described as “the connective tissue” that made the entire process possible.

“Being able to use FormAssembly to verify [that data] was really handy, and we were really pleased with how little confusion there was,” Chaeny shared.

At the start of this initiative, the Health Corps received information from over 700 qualified healthcare professionals who were willing, able, and licensed to travel to key locations throughout the state. Before the process improvements, the Health Corps had no one to send or mobilize.

In addition to sorting out initial applications, the powerful combination of FormAssembly and Salesforce saved a significant amount of time for staff, who were already bearing the brunt of pandemic response. Data was sent to Salesforce in real time, and communications were fast and targeted. The team transitioned from making individual phone calls and began sending user-friendly forms with prefilled content.

“Once [we] switched from calling people to having links in emails with FormAssembly, the usability was so natural and intuitive. Hardly anyone was confused. When a form is elegant like that, it gives you the speed increases you’re after.”

What’s Next?

FormAssembly was thrilled to highlight the California Health Corps use case during the HealthIMPACT Live Winter Forum in March 2020. This event pulled together hundreds of health systems leaders and technology innovators to discuss industry changes and to highlight the future of hybrid healthcare.

In a webinar, Paul Lazatin, Head of Partnerships at FormAssembly, and Crystal Saetern, Principal Consultant at Slalom, showcased the story of California Health Corps to show how web forms paved the way for healthcare mobilization during COVID-19. To learn more about how this use case solved public health challenges with practical and time-saving solutions, watch the webinar at the link below