It is no secret that patients today have options – they can always find another provider. 

Patient satisfaction in the healthcare industry is underrated. Patients need effective communication during every stage of the patient journey. 

Unfortunately, many healthcare call centers struggle to communicate effectively and conveniently with their patients. Communication breakdowns can result in costly delays and improper medical treatment. Communication gaps are often the result of outdated communication equipment, making it difficult for nurses and physicians to get the correct information at the right time and limiting their ability to help patients.

The healthcare call centers face unique challenges and requirements, including complex compliance standards, complicated workflow integrations, and high call volumes from individuals who often need empathetic agents. 

Fortunately, some of these best practices can help a healthcare call center overcome these challenges and increase patient satisfaction while reducing costs and ultimately growing the business.

Make the switch to digital

These days, contact center patient experience can be custom-fit to your organization’s needs. Choosing a contact center platform that integrates with your Electronic Health Records (EHR) is key to a successful contact center experience for both the patient and the agent. 

The most challenging part is transitioning and migrating that old on-premises legacy system to the cloud’s more modern platform, and getting buy-in can be like pulling teeth. 

Many healthcare organizations are delaying the transition to more modern systems ROI on old legacy systems. You’re not alone if you deal with political barriers and doubtful stakeholders, including doctors, staff, and leadership. Understanding the benefits and features of a modern contact center and the strategy tips below will help you build a solid case for making the transition.

Use the data you do have wisely for the most relevant interactions

Some of the most common communication failures happen when a patient gets handed over from one medical caregiver to another who is not made aware of the patient’s condition. The cause might be the patient’s medical data isn’t updated or shared with the right people. 

But with the right contact center software, you can assist medical staff in making appointments, handling documents, sharing prescription information, and performing other patient-related activities. Integrating in real-time with EHR can make more informed communications between your patients and agents with the right platform. 

Meet patients where they are

One size doesn’t fit all; the healthcare industry serves a remarkably diverse population, so it must support customers using multiple channels. Patients want to communicate through their preferred channels. Customer demographics can play a part in this, too. Elderly patients might prefer to contact you on the phone, while millennials prefer to reach out via an app or chatbot.

The goal is for agents to engage with new and existing patients via their preferred channel.

By offering patients the option to communicate with your call center through multiple channels, you increase the convenience and improve the patient experience. Options like video chat provide more accessible ways to demonstrate medical procedures that might be harder to convey over an ordinary phone call.

Gather feedback & analyze key metrics

How do you know where to invest if you don’t track performance? Maybe you need more staffing or training. If you’re not following the right metrics, you are not making informed decisions. First-call resolution, average wait times, and abandonment rates are important metrics to monitor, no matter the industry. But customer experience is more than these metrics.

Don’t be afraid to steal some tips from the retail industry, and consider surveys or monitoring call quality. Surveys are a great way to improve call center training and patient interactions with your agents. Call monitoring can ensure your call center service standards are on par or patient inquiries are appropriately routed to agents. 

Track member feedback gathered through surveys to ensure the best reporting performance. Expand your call center capabilities with artificial intelligence by automating specific tasks like appointment reminders, offering test results, and health benefit verification. It will make the process efficient and free up agents’ time, allowing them to deal with critical issues requiring human skills and empathy.

You can also ask your agents for feedback. After all, they are closest to the patients, so they often have unique insights into what phrases work best to establish a rapport with callers and the type of terms callers understand the best. Your call center can evolve to be mutually beneficial to staff and patients by listening to feedback. 

Ensure patient data security

Make compliance a top priority in your contact center patient experience to avoid costly settlements and corrective actions. For healthcare providers, addressing compliance and maintaining patient data security is essential. 

HIPAA has been around for twenty years. It regulates the way member data is collected, utilized, and protected. Healthcare call center agents must learn to follow security protocols when interacting with members to be compliant. Livevox can simplify managing risk for HIPAA, TCPA, CTIA, CFPB, PCI, etc. Always be on top of quality and compliance, as 100% of interactions in your contact center can be automatically monitored, analyzed, and scored by advanced AI. Be promptly notified of regulatory risk, customer dissatisfaction, or anything important to your business. 

There are many ways to modernize health care contact centers. Some companies go for a web portal added to their on-premises contact center, while others completely transition from legacy to cloud. Livevox is here to help every step and offers a range of solutions that meet your specific needs, whether to mitigate risk or maximize your contact center’s focus on compliance.