The healthcare landscape has evolved beyond the conventional process-driven approach. It has begun building upon data blocks to deliver better patient experiences and positive outcomes.
Patient care is no longer limited to stunted in-hospital doctor-patient interactions marred by a lack of personalization and severe time constraints. It has grown beyond in-person visits to include pre-and post-appointment communication customized to the patient’s needs.
Integrated systems and unified CX solutions, are enabling healthcare providers to consolidate complete patient information on a single screen, something healthcare agents struggle with.
Unified data keeps agents informed and enable them to deliver personalized patient experiences. Let’s learn why does that even matter.
Benefits of Building Personalized Patient Experiences?
⦾ Improved Health Outcomes
Long-term health outcomes rely on follow-up care, such as ensuring medication adherence, timely follow-ups, and successive appointments. According to a McKinsey report, over 30% of readmissions can be avoided with carefully mapped out patient engagement. Several US studies show personalized attention reduces mortality among patients with chronic diseases. Healthcare providers can actively engage with patients and chart a robust follow-up course by investing in contact centers.
⦾ Increased Agent Efficiency
The healthcare front-office staff play several integral roles, like handling calls, setting up appointments, assisting patients, and helping doctors. The heavy burden can take a toll on efficiency. Service providers can reduce the risk of burnout by establishing appropriate interaction routing and data unification – that ensures queries are resolved seamlessly and more efficiently.
⦾ Higher Patient Satisfaction
One bad digital experience can compel half of all patients to consider switching service providers. High acquisition costs mean hospitals lose valuable opportunities when they cannot retain their existing members and patients. But with a contact center integrated with the right tools to engage patients and construct customized journeys, healthcare systems can focus on providing the best care without worrying about customer service.
⦾ Lower Costs and Higher Revenue
Consulting firm Kaufman Hall said that more than half of all US hospitals lost money in 2022. Cratered bottom lines can impact the quality of care. Fragile healthcare systems can destabilize, leading to costly breakdowns. But with increased patient engagement using an omnichannel contact center, hospitals can save operating costs and maximize revenue opportunities. Moreover, care providers can minimize reimbursements and readmission costs. Better patient outcomes also lead to referral earnings that are vital to the profits.
| Also Read: Patient and Member Experience in Healthcare – Trends in 2023 |
Which Healthcare Software Integrations for Contact Centers Help Improve Patient Experience?
Delivering high-quality customer service requires intelligent contact center integrations that can collate patient data, medical history, health records, and past communications.
⦾ EMR Integration
EMRs, or electronic medical records, are digitized versions of patient charts that track diagnoses and treatment plans delivered by different practitioners. Integrating it into the contact center software helps enhance the overall quality of care. Agents can pull up EMR records to check in with customers, screen patients, and schedule preventive checkups. Contact Centers can add Cerner or Epic EMR integrations to their software to streamline patient journeys.
⦾ EHR Integration
EHR, or electronic health records, provide a more comprehensive view of the patient’s overall health and medical history than EMR. EHR are meant to be interoperable by promoting seamless collaboration between different practices. EHR systems can transfer data in real-time, allowing authorized users to pull up relevant information immediately.
Integrating EHR with the contact center opens up avenues of streamlined workflows, self-service options, and data management. Instead of compelling patients to explain their medical situation from the beginning, agents can pull up data from the EHR system and engage the patient constructively.
Triage and handling times can be effectively brought down, along with boosting first-call resolution (FCR) rates. Contact centers can easily incorporate Epic EHR and Cerner EHR integrations into their systems.
⦾ Omnichannel Communication Integration
Engagement strategies need to account for differences in consumer preferences for communication channels. Today, patients expect service providers to be available on their preferred communication channels which includes – email, digital messaging, web chat, and even social channels.
Hence, it’s important to not just be available on digital channels but also deliver consistent and connected experience every time patients interact. Omnichannel integrations empower your agents with an integrated view of interactions received from all the channels. This enables them to quickly understand the context from past interactions or resume from where the last conversation was left off.
| Also Read: Real-World Contact Center Lessons to Improve Patient Experience |
Wrapping up
Patient expectations rapidly evolve, leaving little time for healthcare providers to pivot. While advancements in medicine have led to better health outcomes, healthcare centers are hard-pressed to deliver high-quality personalized care. By choosing the right healthcare software integrations for contact centers, healthcare providers can reduce their burden while elevating customer service.
NovelVox, a robust AI-powered contact center solution provider, enables you to enhance the performance of your healthcare call center by providing agents with required patient information at their fingertips. It integrates seamlessly with all leading healthcare software providers, ensuring zero downtime and data loss. Contact us today to learn about NovelVox and its feature-rich healthcare contact center solution.
