Four Ways to Improve your Patient Service Center | MUSEWeb

By Ane Ohm, President of LaserNet, Inc.

Call centers are an extension of a patients’ total experience and efficient, effective patient servicing can help your organization thrive – or falter. As you make call center decisions about hiring, training and technology, remember that a two-minute phone conversation can make or break a relationship.

To help you give your call center the attention it deserves, we’ve identified four areas for you to consider.

1. Defining Roles and Hiring

Call centers are notorious for having high turnover across every industry. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Know what drives your success, don’t compromise, and make sure prospective representatives understand this as well.

Start by looking at your current team. What differentiates your best performers from the bottom performers? Does Joe’s previous healthcare experience take him a leap ahead? Is Samantha always tolerant and friendly, no matter how frustrated a caller might be? Can Elaine answer call after call without fail?

Use this knowledge to hire the right people. While there are hundreds of great questions to ask a candidate, focus your interviews on these differentiators. “Please describe your past healthcare experience.” “Tell me about a time when you dealt with a difficult customer. How was the situation resolved?”

And let prospective representatives help you determine if they’re the right fit. Provide a realistic preview of the role’s daily responsibilities. Make sure they clearly understand your expectations of the position. Great employees want to know how to be successful and will be more attracted to your opening as a result.

2. Training & Tools

Quality training programs will accomplish many objectives, including education on services and procedures, problem solving, and changes to existing services or procedures.

Where do you begin? First, recognize that adults learn differently from children, and training cannot simply follow a traditional schooling model. Defined by Dr. Malcolm Knowles as andragogy, or self-directed learning, adults bring rich life experience, are internally motivated to gain knowledge, and want to apply their learning to daily life.

Further, consider your training through the perspective of different learning styles. Visual learners benefit from graphics and written documentation. Auditory learners are best served with in-class or recorded sessions. And tactile learners work best with hands-on examples.

How to achieve all of this in a cost effective manner? E-learning is the latest and greatest tool available, with a relatively small investment – other than your time. Self-paced, with the ability to include pre-recorded messages, visually attractive presentations, and interactive problem solving, e-learning is a great solution for many organizations.

Of course, the best training programs balance e-learning tools with live classroom or on-on-one training. When delivered by a passionate, knowledgeable employee, you will motivate your representatives in a way that e-learning alone can’t do.

Regardless of its delivery method, one of the best ways to help representatives succeed is to provide real-life situations and how they were successfully resolved. Share actual recorded conversations and work through appropriate responses together.

Most importantly, provide the right tools to fully resolve patient questions immediately. Does a patient have a question about a statement? That same statement should be available to representatives as well. When resolving a question requires a return phone call, your representatives lose credibility and confidence, the patient is frustrated, and it ultimately costs more time and money.

Finally, what’s the best way to handle ever-changing services and procedures? While answering the phone is always your first priority, ongoing training is essential for your reps to be effective. Leverage technology such as email, but do not underestimate the value of off-the-phone training. And make sure your call center isn’t “the last to know”. Any organizational service or procedure change should include a plan to provide accurate, complete information to your representatives. The last thing you want to have happen is to receive a patient to call regarding a new service or procedure and find your representatives unprepared.

3. Know Your Audience

Who are your patients and what do they want? A 2009 Press Ganey study tells us that patient satisfaction levels are high among those aged 65-79 and much lower for those aged 49 and younger. What do we know about the younger generations that will help us create an experience that engenders satisfaction and loyalty? According to Press Ganey, “Younger generations become accustomed to faster, easier, and more accessible service very quickly. And they come to expect it every time. If you want to develop long-term loyalty with these patient populations, you need to continuously improve service quality.”

Younger generations are technologically savvy and expect administrative ease, which has prompted several healthcare organizations to implement e-delivery of patient statements. How does this relate to the call center? E-delivery can consolidate patient billing information across systems and provide electronic notification to patients when statements are available online. Just as important, that same information is available to the customer service representatives, which improves first-call resolution and call time metrics.

One Wisconsin-based organization, Affinity Health Systems delivers on their brand promise of “Personalized Care” in their call center. One metric of success is first-call resolution: the number of patient calls that can be resolved immediately. Their goal was 90%. After implementing e-delivery, Affinity’s first-call resolution rate jumped to 93%, an immediate and meaningful increase over previous levels.

Bellin Health, another Wisconsin healthcare organization, also realized faster accounts receivable collection because patients could better understand what they were paying and resolve any questions more quickly because of online, real-time statement access and an improved experience if they needed to contact the call center.

With new technology such as e-delivery, you can improve the call center experience and save money. Avoid dedicating resources towards a hospital or clinic at the expense of call center operations. Beautiful facilities can be undermined by call center representatives who aren’t helpful and informed.

4. Monitoring, Feedback & Marketing

Monitoring a statistically valid sample of calls against clear metrics will go a long way towards identifying which representatives need more coaching, and more importantly, making sure your patients are getting what they need.

Whether your metrics are quantitative (e.g., how quickly the call is answered) or qualitative (was the patient’s problem resolved on the first call), make sure they all tie back to quality and the patient experience. Strike the proper balance with marketing to patients and gathering information, as these activities can give your call center a more meaningful role within your organization.

Lastly, view your call center representatives as key players in your organization. They have their fingers on the pulse of your patients’ thoughts, experiences, and frustrations. Solicit their feedback regularly. They will know they are valued and you’ll gain valuable insights.

How does your patient service center rates?

Hiring

þ Have you defined what differentiates top performers from your bottom performers?

þ Are your interview questions designed to identify those differentiated skills in candidates?

þ Do new call center representatives know exactly what is expected of them?

Training and Tools

þ Is your training delivered in a manner that supports adults with different learning styles?

þ Do you balance a cost-effective eLearning approach with classroom training?

þ Are “real life” examples an integral part of your training program?

þ Do representatives have access to the same information as patients, such as statements?

þ Are strong controls in place to communicate policy and procedure changes to your representatives?

Patient Expectations

þ Do you understand your patient population demographics and what they want from you?

þ Do you offer patients direct access to information they want, such as electronic health records, online patient statements and up-to-date outstanding balances due?

Metrics and Monitoring

þ Do you measure key metrics, such as Time to Answer, Call Duration, and First Call Resolution?

þ Do you have the internal processes in place to ensure continual service improvement for your patients?

þ Is your call center team able to provide direct feedback on patient satisfaction and needs?

Add up your “yes” responses:

10 – 13 Excellent! You have a great handle on delivering an excellent patient experience today, as well as ensuring that your team is able to adapt to new situations in the future.

8 – 9 Solid results. You have taken steps to deliver an excellent patient experience now. Keep moving forward!

6 – 7 Good start. You are on the right track to call center excellence. Take time to recognize your achievements and make steady progress.

0 – 5 Room for improvement. You’ve taken the quiz and have a guide for the future. Make sure you are starting at the top: If you have the right people on board and train them properly, you will feel immediate improvement that will allow you to tackle the remaining items.