State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

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Wheeler’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone platform, made possible with support from the first round of the Governor’s Nonprofit Grant Program, has had a positive impact on the more than 30,000 patients, professionals and community members served each year.  The VOIP system replaced multiple aging phone systems across Wheeler’s statewide service system and has reduced service interruptions due to equipment failures, increased patient and staff safety and reduced operating costs.2
The VOIP system implementation includes 969 telephone units, installed in 25 sites, with more than 1,300 users.  Each month the system manages more than 45,000 incoming calls and more than 35,000 outgoing calls, including calls to Wheeler’s centralized patient navigation center.  The VOIP system also:
  • Ensures critical telephone application functionality for state-contracted programs operating 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year including congregate care facilities, the HelpLine crisis telephone support line which processes more than 15,000 calls each year and mobile crisis services for thousands of children and adults and improves services for more than 22,000 individuals receiving direct care;
  • Ensures critical telephone application functionality for state-contracted intensive home-based programs providing 24/7 crisis support to more than 900 children and families each year including Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services, Multisystemic Therapy, Multidimensional Family Therapy, Therapeutic Foster Care and other services;
  • Ensures critical telephone application functionality during critical situations including natural disasters and telecommunications carrier service outages to ensure Wheeler's capacity to support the more than 3,000 vulnerable individuals in care on a daily basis during periods of community crises, including ensuring access to crisis supports and critical medication services;
  • Enhance staff safety with system-wide alert capacity that allows staff to request on-site assistance and allows Wheeler to notify all members of the workforce of safety issues at their workstations or in the community immediately;
  • Reduces costs by reducing need for daily staff supported maintenance and repair, centralizing service delivery and contract maintenance to a single vendor and lowering service delivery charges.