When you think of positive customer service experiences, which companies come to mind? Regardless of how you answered that question, chances are it’s not a healthcare organization. A study published in the Journal of Medical Practice Management suggests that the overwhelming majority of patient complaints are related to customer service, not the physicians’ or clinicians’ expertise.

But is important for businesses of all types and sizes, especially healthcare providers, to continually monitor, refine, and improve their patients’ customer service experiences. As Kathy Torpie, from The Beryl Institute’s Global Patient and Family Advisory Council says,

“Healthcare is not like other businesses, and patients are unlike other kinds of customers Patients sometimes have to make important, often complex, decisions in a short time frame. The goods they are purchasing are a return to health. And the services they seek often require unimaginable levels of trust in their service provider.”

Call center performance drives patient satisfaction

The interpersonal and communication skills required to insure that “customers” feel cared-for drive patient satisfaction and loyalty. A 2020 Reviews in Urology study found that patients desire timely, convenient, and efficient care when they call to schedule an appointment, request a medication refill or test result, or report a bothersome symptom. The telephone call experience significantly influences patient satisfaction—a frequently referenced metric for healthcare providers and organizational performance.

The report went on to conclude: “The central role of telephone communication with patients draws parallels to other service-oriented industries, where the call-center experience is a key driver of service selection and customer retention.”

Live up to patient expectations in today’s environment

Is someone available to answer your phones not just Monday through Friday, but after-hours and on weekends? Or, have temporary and ongoing labor shortages become more frequent and harder to resolve, causing you to lag behind the competition? These days, many healthcare providers feel like their backs are up against the wall. But help is available. Professionally staffed healthcare call centers can provide important solutions 24/7 to help medical-focused businesses improve their ability to serve patients in a timely and efficient manner.

Don’t go it alone

Obviously, pain, illness, and more acute medical emergencies occur at all hours, whether a provider’s team is in the office or not. Outsourcing a professional answering service can provide frontline phone answering and appointment scheduling day or night, curating calls and relieving healthcare providers from the burden of responding to every call, text or email personally. Other call center advantages include:

  • Resolving staff scheduling headaches
  • Developing affordable custom scripts that reflect each healthcare provider’s needs and brand voice
  • Insuring compliance with complex patient privacy laws and regulations, like HIPAA (for more information about HIPAA compliance, check out our previous article here)
  • Reporting agent feedback and performance

 

With targeted, systematic, and stop-gap contributions from professional answering services, continual healthcare customer service improvement is not only possible, but well within your control. Interested in learning more? Contact us today or learn more about medical answering services by visiting our website.