Customer service

What Are the 6 Best Practices of a Healthcare Call Center?

Enreach 19/05/2022
Clock icon 3 min

Contact centers are at the forefront when it comes to ensuring customers have a great experience. Agents can make or break an organization’s reputation based on how they treat callers.

Keep in mind that, in the health sector, the users who call are not only customers, but also patients who need constant assistance and guidance to keep their health under control or solve administrative problems.

Leveraging existing strategies to optimize healthcare call center service and satisfy as many patients as possible can help improve the customer experience (CX) and therefore the reputation of the company in question.

Automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and self-service solutions can smooth out the bumps in the customer journey, but there are also other options that can help the team open up new opportunities for improvement.

6 Best Practices to Optimize Healthcare Call Center Operations

Optimizing contact center operations involves making improvements to both processes and technology. Here are some best practices that will help improve call center efficiency and performance:

1) Leverage a Robust Customer Relationship Management Platform

Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions help unifies all the processes involved in keeping up with customers.

Equipping call center agents with the kind of staff information they need to meaningfully address patient concerns can make a world of difference to their overall experience.

2) Adopt Cloud-based Service Strategies

Moving contact center operations to the cloud provides tremendous business value through lower operating costs and access to a more powerful data analytics infrastructure.

Having all the tools necessary to conduct strategic analysis of call-related data at scale could make it possible for the company to identify better ways to serve patients and protect their interests. The simple act of moving your operations to the cloud offers this opportunity.

3) Pay Attention to Compliance Concerns

Compliance in the healthcare sector is no small concern: the fines for non-compliance can be exorbitant and the blow to an organization’s reputation can be catastrophic in the long run if any issue arises in this area.

Making sure all team members, especially call center agents, are well-versed in HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) procedures and other legal needs can help keep the business out of trouble and avoid negative press that could otherwise jeopardize patient relationships.

4) Calculate and Track the Right KPIs

The contact center KPIs chosen to track describe team performance in a way that is easily assessed from a central dashboard. Each and every one of the KPIs used predefines the focus and priorities of the staff.

Track metrics like patient satisfaction rate, a great option for improving patient satisfaction over time.

One thing is clear, the right KPIs needs to be tracked to understand current successes as well as areas for improvement.

5) Implement Self-Service Solutions

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are an often-overlooked option for developing a patient support system, but they are very useful.

A FAQ portal can improve patient experience and satisfaction, while decreasing the number of calls contact center agents receive and handle on a regular basis.

6) Prioritize EHR Integrations

A CRM without access to patients’ electronic health records (EHRs) cannot truly empower call center agents to provide quick and accurate assistance to callers within reasonable time frames.

This link forms the basis for additional functions, such as scheduling appointments with family doctors and resolving health history questions that would otherwise be beyond the agent’s knowledge.

In conclusion, to improve a healthcare call center, innovative strategies must be adopted. As patient interests and expectations change and evolve, the importance of basing contact center agent actions on reason, legal consideration, and accuracy can make a world of difference.

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