Southwest Cardiovascular Associates boosts patient experience and operational agility

Overview: Southwest Cardiovascular Associates (SWCVA) was facing growing communication challenges as demand for care increased. Frequent call drops, inefficient workflows, and limited system control were affecting both staff productivity and patient experience. Seeking a scalable and reliable solution, SWCVA partnered with CompassMSP, who recommended 8x8. With the implementation of 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center, SWCVA has improved service delivery, empowered staff with real-time insights, and created a flexible communications infrastructure that supports continued growth.

"We’re now able to look at performance on a daily basis, so we can track progress and make adjustments faster. That’s huge for us."

Sarah McGee

Applications Manager, Southwest Cardiovascular Associates

Putting patients first in every interactionlink to this section

Southwest Cardiovascular Associates (SWCVA) is a dedicated and fast-growing cardiology group serving the greater Phoenix area. With a multidisciplinary team of board-certified cardiologists, nurse practitioners, and an interventional radiologist, the organization delivers a full spectrum of diagnostic, interventional, and preventative cardiovascular services. In addition to in-office care, SWCVA operates its own surgical center and provides extensive follow-up and post-discharge coordination.

At the heart of SWCVA’s operations is a deep commitment to patient care and experience. The team strives to ensure that every interaction—whether on the phone or in person—reflects their dedication to compassionate, timely, and high-quality service.

This commitment is especially visible in the organization’s centralized call center, where a team of agents manages more than 1,800 calls daily. From scheduling and referrals to urgent messages between patients and clinical teams, the call center plays a vital role in connecting people to care.

Supporting these operations are teams responsible for both technology and patient engagement. Applications Manager Sarah McGee oversees the systems that keep communications running smoothly, while Patient Engagement Manager Paige Barnes leads the call center and non-clinical departments that interact directly with patients. Together, their teams work to ensure that staff have the tools and processes needed to deliver consistent, high-quality patient experiences.

Outdated systems and rising frustrationslink to this section

Despite their commitment to excellence, SWCVA’s legacy system could not keep pace with the growing demands of their patient population. Frequent call drops, poor audio quality, and long hold times created stress for agents and frustration for patients.

Call recordings had a delay, which jumbled the audio and made it difficult to assess conversations. Reporting capabilities were limited, and system administration required external IT support—even for minor changes—which slowed down operations and hindered responsiveness. In addition, calls were being dropped frequently, leading to patient frustration.

A smooth migration to 8x8link to this section

With CompassMSP’s help, SWCVA explored several integrated communications platforms that could unify voice, collaboration, and contact center capabilities in a single solution.

The team was specifically looking for a platform that would eliminate data silos and disjointed workflows, which often result in inconsistent customer experiences and operational inefficiencies. Their goal was to replace multiple tools and vendors with a unified interface that could simplify administration, improve response times, and unlock deeper insights across every interaction.

Ultimately, 8x8 stood out for combining robust contact center capabilities with advanced analytics, seamless integration with existing business applications, and flexible APIs—all in a competitively priced solution.

"It had all the bells and whistles," says Sarah. "We’re now able to look at performance on a daily basis, so we can track progress and make adjustments faster. That’s huge for us."

The final decision was driven by 8x8’s proven reliability, strong partnership with CompassMSP, and the overall value of the solution.

Deployment was completed in under two months with minimal disruption.

“The implementation went so smoothly. Our staff didn’t even realize we had switched systems,” says Sarah. “They just noticed better call quality and fewer issues.”

Scaling with confidence while transforming the experiencelink to this section

Since switching to 8x8, SWCVA has experienced a transformative improvement in communication operations. The practice has tripled its daily call volume, added new locations, and seamlessly supported remote work—all without sacrificing service quality.

With features like live queue dashboards, call recordings, and monitoring tools, supervisors can now have far greater visibility into call center operations. These tools make it easier to track key performance indicators such as wait times, call volume, and abandonment rates, enabling better staffing decisions and more effective coaching.

“The reports are night and day compared to what we had,” says Paige. “I can pull average wait times, call volume, abandon rates—anything I need to optimize staffing and support the team.”

Productivity across the board has improved by 50%, and first call resolution is up by as much as 60%, reducing the need for callbacks and enhancing the patient experience. Administrative overhead has also decreased as much as 90%, as managers can add users or update call flows in minutes without submitting IT requests or waiting for outside help.

The 8x8 platform also enables secure, flexible work arrangements while ensuring consistent service and data protection.

“Patients are happier, staff are more efficient, and we have the tools we need to grow,” says Paige.

Even more value on the horizonlink to this section

With a strong communications foundation in place, SWCVA is continuing to expand its use of the 8x8 platform to further strengthen contact center performance.

In the near term, the organization plans to implement 8x8 Quality Management and Speech Analytics, enabling supervisors to gain deeper insights into agent performance, identify coaching opportunities, and ensure every interaction meets service and compliance standards.

"Patients are happier, staff are more efficient, and we have the tools we need to grow."

Paige Barnes

Patient Engagement Manager, Southwest Cardiovascular Associates

SWCVA is also exploring integration with its NextGen EHR system, which would allow agents and clinical staff to access relevant patient information during calls and deliver more personalized service.

Additional capabilities such as screen monitoring are also under consideration to support remote agents and maintain consistent service across every patient interaction.

With 8x8 in place, SWCVA now has a scalable communications platform that supports continued growth while helping the organization deliver fast, reliable access to care for its patients.

*Results and observations in this case study reflect the experience of Southwest Cardiovascular Associates in its own specific environment and may vary for other organizations.