Ever wondered why some healthcare call centers perform well while others struggle to find their feet in the industry? Maybe they are following good strategies or must have highly competent staff. In short, it could be anything that is clicking for a specific call center. And, we couldn’t know what exactly it is, could we? Fear not; we still can learn about the healthcare call center best practices to level up with the best in the business. So, without further ado, let’s begin with discussing 10 of them in the coming paragraphs.
You should consider investing in a decent customer relationship management solution because it will help unify the process of patient dealing. Such a system will also inform call center agents about the staff members, which can help them address customer concerns meaningfully.
Patients may be more comfortable reaching out to a clinic on their favorite channel. Instead of telephone, they may like to contact on a renowned social media platform, such as Facebook and Instagram. Or they may choose to email for an appointment scheduling or rescheduling. It means that you have to ensure your availability on multiple channels. You can also use chatbots for such purposes.
As a healthcare call center, you must adhere to the rules and regulations set out by HIPAA and other governing bodies to avoid fines or strict actions. Ensure your agents adhere to HIPAA procedures when interacting with patients on the phone. Failure to do so will also harm your BPO’s reputation in the long run.
You must spend time finding agents with excellent interpersonal skills who can also stay calm under stressful situations. The best you can do is to hire people with healthcare work experience. You should also focus on continuing such agents’ professional development to ensure they stay consistent with the trend. One of the best call center practices!
If an agent knows about the patient’s calling, he can better address his concerns. Yes, knowing a patient may not be possible if he’s calling the first time. But there sure is a list of customers who usually counts on the clinic. Obtaining good information about them will allow the call center or hospital call center agents to tailor these calls according to the patient’s liking.
Yes, efficiency may only sometimes work, and sometimes you must combine it with empathy. Your agent must understand what the patient is going through. Sharing the feelings of a caller will also make him feel valued, which will open up ways for a strong long-term relationship. Hence, empathy alongside efficiency is an important skill your staff must have.
It is very important to protect the patient’s information. Must not share it with anyone except when the patient approves. Ensure that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive details about patients.
Yes, the law may allow you to disclose patient information in exceptional cases. You can also acquire the patient consent to use contact information for sharing news or marketing stuff related to the medical clinic.
Yes, talking to each patient in his tone helps, but you don’t need it for routine inquiries, scheduling, rescheduling, and more such tasks. Hence, it will be much better to automate such calls with the interactive voice response system (IVR) or any other software. Such software can also route patient calls to an agent available when required. Hence, if one patient wants to talk to a customer support representative directly, he can easily proceed by pressing a button.
Being patient with patients on the phone is crucial for medical call center agents. Because most of the time, a caller needs clarification about what he needs. At that moment, he needs someone to understand what he wants to convey. No doubt, a call center agent cannot exactly specify what a patient is going through. But he can make some effort to get a fair idea of what the patient wants to say. The agent must put anger or frustration aside when taking such difficult calls.
You should avoid keeping the patient wait for a long, or he’ll hang up the call and may never reach out again. Make sure your agent answers all the patient’s queries quickly. Or if it is taking time, the agent can call him when the issue is resolved.
There are a lot of factors that make a healthcare call center fit the list of the best in the business. Ranging from the ability to use the technology to go with automation and agent training, all count. Speaking of which, this blog post focuses on discussing 10 such important factors that are also healthcare call center best practices.
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