Unified Agent Desktop: Effective Tool for Healthcare Contact Center to Improve Patient Satisfaction

Gone are those days, when people used to stand in the queue and wait for their turn just to get the healthcare bills or to receive the test reports. Now patients are accustomed to facilities like accessing their medical records and bills anytime, managing insurance claims, researching their medical conditions, and more. When they don’t get the conveniences they expect, they instantly look for providers who can offer them all.

Whereas just a decade ago, patients used to visit the same healthcare experts, like dentists, physicians, orthopaedics, etc., for years for their health issues. But, now they shop for healthcare services just like they make other purchases.

So to offer optimum patient satisfaction, healthcare providers leave no stone unturned to be on the top of the competitors’ list. They use advanced tools and technologies that improve patient satisfaction by providing the best healthcare services.

Why is Patient Satisfaction So Important?

According to a report by American Health Connection, “Positive customer service experiences result in roughly 150% more customer spending when compared to the amount spent after a negative experience, meaning positive customer experiences are likely to generate significantly more revenue for your organization”. This data clearly states that patients’ expectations from healthcare providers are getting higher and the only way to retain them and boost the business is to offer excellent patient satisfaction.

Patient satisfaction directly impacts the overall quality of healthcare service delivery and patient outcomes. It is important because of the following reasons.

• Satisfied patients trust the healthcare experts, stick to the suggested treatment plans, and attend follow-up appointments.
• They are more likely to recommend the healthcare center and its services to others.
• Improved patient experience allows healthcare providers to accomplish their financial objectives.
• Loyal customers/patients are less price-sensitive and don’t switch to other service providers easily. This increases the revenue of the healthcare center/hospital.

Satisfied patients mean more brand loyalty, revenue generation, and overall business growth. So to keep the patients happy, healthcare providers use advanced EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems like EPIC. This tool not only helps in compiling patients’ records but also assists the customer support team in helping patients effectively based on the queries.

Challenges Healthcare Industry Face While Delivering High-Quality Patient Satisfaction

The healthcare industry faces numerous challenges while handling patients’ queries and offering optimum customer service. This can be understood through a use case that reflects the issues faced by patients and customer support agents.

When a patient connects with the agent via call or message to get a solution to their queries, such as – what is the current bill amount due for payment? The patient seeks an instant answer because he might be waiting to clear all the dues to get the patient discharged.

In this scenario, the agent also wants to offer a quick response but circumstances like multiple screen toggling, difficulty in fetching transaction history, etc., lead to a late response that frustrates the patient and also consumes a lot of the agent’s time in performing a simple task.

Challenges Faced by Patients While Interacting with Customer Support Team

Long Wait Time

Customers need an instant response but sometimes they have to wait for a long time listening to the same IVR message, “All our agents are busy on another call. Please wait, while we connect you to the available agent soon.” This can be frustrating and results in a poor patient experience. They might never come back or they will show their frustration to the agent they connect with.

Data Silos

Data silos are one of the reasons that cause hindrances in offering optimum patient satisfaction. Agents don’t have a customer’s contact history and other data in one place which leads to slow responses, multiple agent transfers, and more, due to which agents can’t truly understand the patient’s needs and fail to provide appropriate solutions. This puts a negative impression on the patients.

Unsatisfying Patient Experience

Improving patient experience is complex in the healthcare industry because of diverse patients’ needs. Patient experience is a compilation of multiple services like, medical treatments, appointment scheduling, billing, follow-up calls, etc. Challenges such as unclear understanding of patient data, long waiting times, etc., open doors for disappointing patient experiences.

Challenges Faced by Healthcare Contact Center Agents

Multiple Screen Shuffling

Agents have to work on multiple platforms to perform different tasks, such as calling, messaging, data handling, and more. Working on numerous tools at a time is quite challenging as they have to toggle between different screens which consumes a lot of time and effort. It hampers the quality of customer service and deteriorates customer satisfaction.

Lack of Advanced Tools

As mentioned, healthcare agents have to perform various tasks using different tools, like CRM, EHRs, and other mobile devices to offer seamless customer assistance. These tools should be updated according to the latest technology to meet diverse patients’ needs because outdated tools increase communication gaps and delays in responses.

High Call Volumes

In the healthcare industry, if an organization is good at offering its services, it will receive numerous calls every day, and if patients are unsatisfied with the offerings then also agents have to handle multiple calls and inquiries. It becomes overwhelming for the customer support team to manage high call volumes, which leads to problems such as long wait times, missed calls, dissatisfaction, etc.

How Unified Agent Desktop Addresses These Challenges

Agents want to handle each call, SMS, or email skillfully because every interaction is unique and has an impact on the patient experience. Patients also look for better interaction and quick solutions but a lot of challenges come in between. There is one solution that can address them all and that is a Unified Agent Desktop. Agents use this tool and do contextual conversations with patients as they have all the required information compiled in one place. It enhances efficiency and improves overall customer experience in the following ways.

Unified View of Patients’ Data

The healthcare industry requires an array of patient information to offer uninterrupted services. From the patient’s location to contact information and even minor health details and billing records, everything should be there with the healthcare providers so that agents can offer the best assistance.

However, compiling all the information without any advanced tools is impossible. Therefore, providers rely on tools like Agent Accelerator – “A unified agent’s desktop” designed to provide seamless integration with hi-tech third-party healthcare applications like EPIC, Cerner, Aetna, Allscripts, TelmedIQ, and other cores. Agents can access instant patient information like the reason for the call, last appointment details, availability of healthcare experts, and more.

Personalized Patient Interaction

Everyone prefers to connect with companies that create a personal bond with the callers during the interactions. Even a small gesture of calling the first name while greeting the caller establishes a positive connection. The unified agent desktop provides patient details in a single pane of glass.

With compiled patient information, agents can offer personalized assistance and support and can engage well with the patients. They can remind them about their upcoming appointments, provide updates regarding the healthcare services, and more.

Seamless Multi-channel Interactions

In today’s time, reaching out to the healthcare customer support team has become easy for patients as brands are available on multiple platforms. This brand presence creates new expectations for customers. Callers want brands to know about every interaction and stay updated on their issues.

A unified agent desktop collects information, integrates, and analyzes data from various sources like social media, websites, email, chats, CRM, phone calls, SMS, and more. With all the information available on one screen agents get a complete picture of the caller’s details and interactions and offer a seamless conversation on different channels.

Improved Agent Productivity

Agents are happy when customers are satisfied because offering a better experience and satisfaction is one of their major goals. With consolidated information, agents get the clear intent of the conversation and required customer details that allow them to offer better service.

The unified view of patients’ data allows agents to solve their problems quickly which results in lesser Average Handling Time (ATH) and higher First Call Resolution (FCR). Agents meet their KPIs by reducing after-call work, offering quick assistance, and gaining positive feedback.

The aforementioned pointers show that a unified agent desktop optimizes the contact center, increases productivity, and improves customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Healthcare organizations always aim to keep their patients satisfied with their services, as patient satisfaction increases loyalty and boosts business growth. From the beginning of the interaction till the closing of the conversation, contact center agents provide support to customers across different channels. An optimized contact center can take patient satisfaction to the next level with efficient and strategic workflow.

To meet patient expectations, contact center agents should be trained and hold special knowledge of the domain. Tools offered by contact center support providers like NovelVox keep agents up-to-date with all the required information related to patients. Agents can access AI-driver hi-tech customer support solutions that help healthcare providers improve customer satisfaction and accomplish organizational goals.