2024 has brought a few significant changes in the healthcare sector globally. Two years back, the global pandemic improved people’s knowledge of illness and forced the industry to optimize communication between patients and healthcare professionals. Thousands of healthcare call center workers were also closely involved in this change. Healthcare providers and the BPO company for the healthcare industry where they decided to outsource healthcare call center services were partners fighting this challenge.
Call centers for healthcare are crucial for managing the surge in hospital admissions, facilitating patient-provider connections, and setting up vaccination appointments. The healthcare business uses critical call center metrics on a daily basis, and these indicators are covered in this article.
What Are The Differences Between Healthcare and Other Call Centers?
Call centers for healthcare provide a vital link between patients and physicians, transferring crucial information back and forth between the two parties. They are there to provide patients with vital information regarding appointments, test results, medicines, and more. Furthermore, there are three key ways that healthcare call centers vary from regular contact centers:
Strict Compliance with Regulations:
Healthcare contact centers are required by federal and state rules to adhere to a certain set of criteria that safeguard patient privacy. So, outsource healthcare call center services to a healthcare BPO or BPM service provider with the necessary certifications (HIPPA) and knowledge to offer compliant and satisfactory services to patients and healthcare customers.
Moreover, patients are reluctant to comply with a contact center agent they do not trust. Therefore, an agent’s ability to establish trust and enduring connections is crucial. In fact, in healthcare call centers, interpersonal ties are a crucial quality factor. So, a top BPO company for the healthcare industry must possess skilled and empathetic agents who can satisfy the needs and build a connection with the individual.
Well-being and Health:
While relationships are vital in any sector, the healthcare business places a premium on trust, as each patient’s health is vital to the organization. Agents in a contact center for healthcare frequently deal with situations that might change patients’ lives. When call center agents from healthcare facilities make phone calls, the line must be answered since the conversations may include sensitive, urgent matters involving patients and their families.
When a business decides to outsource healthcare call center services, customer care, or any patient or healthcare customer-facing tasks, it should carefully consider the team and agents who will be responsible for these activities. A reputed healthcare BPO or CXM service provider promises experienced and skilled talents to handle these tasks with optimum care and sensitivity.
Increased Call Volumes:
Many countries have different regulations and procedures for health insurance. Health insurance and healthcare providers must offer 24/7 services to patients and any individuals in need. The population and the number of people aging in any country are increasing. Also, there are sudden surges in diseases or new diseases. Also, the number of healthcare and health insurance providers is also increasing. So, more and more people are trying to contact the call centers or contact centers for diverse types of queries and to find resolutions to the troubles they are facing while accessing healthcare industry services. Outsource healthcare call center services or contact center operations to enable representatives to give individuals needing 24-hour assistance nonstop.
The Most Important Call Center Metrics for Healthcare
Healthcare call centers employ special measures to gauge quality since they are not like regular contact centers. The top metrics for healthcare call centers are shown below:
- Average Response Time
- Average Abandonment Rate
- Average Call Time
- First Call Resolution
- Customer Satisfaction Rate
Let’s examine each of these indicators and their effects on the healthcare sector while you make a decision to outsource healthcare call center services.
1. The First Call Resolution
This statistic measures how well a patient can fix their issue with an agent within a single contact or call. This is one of the best standards for healthcare call centers because it clearly indicates whether patients’ requirements are being addressed. Having a high score first call resolution rate is challenging since it calls for agents to be both highly effective and empathetic while conversing with their healthcare consumers.
2. The Average Rate of Abandonment
It calculates the proportion of patients and their families or those caring for them hanging up the phone before speaking with an agent. Typically, a high average abandonment rate suggests that patients have given up trying to speak with an agent due to frustration stemming from lengthy wait periods. Reduce your average reaction time as much as possible before attempting to lower this parameter and outsource healthcare call center services to a healthcare BPO with fast and responsive teams and technologies. Often, longer and more complex IVRs lead to a high rate of call abandonment, so an intelligent IVR can help reduce it.
3. The Average Response Time
This metric is directly connected to the abandonment rate. However, it actually represents the average time it takes for an agent to reply to a patient’s or their family’s or any other healthcare consumer’s call or effort to contact through any other channel or medium. Measuring response time is crucial because it provides insight into what an agent can do to lower the average abandonment rate. Generally, the faster agents answer calls, the lower the likelihood that the call will be abandoned.
4. The Average Call Time
Call durations are a useful indicator of how well agents assist patients in finding the answers to their questions, and when you outsource healthcare call center services to experienced healthcare BPOs, this metric can be significantly improved. A low average call time is ideal in all call centers. However, one must remember low call times are most beneficial in healthcare call centers if patients are fully content that their requirements are being addressed.
The agents must be empathetic and address the patient’s issues quickly. Listening, understanding, and responding well in healthcare is critical for patients and healthcare consumers. Post-call surveys are a proven method for evaluating patient satisfaction levels post-call or after receiving services from healthcare providers or contact centers.
5. The Customer Satisfaction Rates
It is an exclusive benchmark for the healthcare call center sector that involves direct input from the patient or any other healthcare consumer. A post-call survey measures this by gathering patient feedback and input about their experience during service deliveries and customer interactions with healthcare providers and contact centers. So, healthcare providers and contact centers who outsource healthcare call center services must ensure a mechanism is in place to collect data and measure CSAT and other critical metrics, such as FCR.
These statistics are important since they offer the most precise way to evaluate a representative’s capacity to give attentive, skilled, and empathetic customer care in this industry. Additionally, it assists call or contact centers in locating possible areas for improvement and training needs for agents or the team.
Final Words
Before you decide to outsource healthcare call center services, these healthcare companies must consider what objectives they need to meet. A common reason for outsourcing is to reduce workforce expenses and operational overhead. The same is true for the healthcare industry. Call center representatives directly affect the entire cost of the healthcare company. For instance, the American healthcare system is predicted to lose $150 billion annually due to missed appointments. It will show why appointment scheduling call centers for healthcare providers and professionals for simply arranging and remaining appointments make sense.
These numbers will decrease depending on how well a healthcare contact center connects with and meets the requirements of patients or healthcare consumers, and the metrics such as CSAT, FCR, or AHT will improve. Moreover, contact centers may improve patient satisfaction and retention rates by utilizing the information offered by these five healthcare contact center metrics with the help of an experienced BPO company for the healthcare industry. Healthcare service providers and contact center solutions must pay careful attention to each of these measures so that they can best decide the course to enhance their overall performance and patient experience.
