5 medical call center services
It's no secret that medical call centers do more than just serve as an after-hours or overflow service for busy providers and office staff. The best call centers have clinical and non-clinical agents who can quickly and easily answer patient questions, schedule appointments, make referrals, and communicate with your patients.
However, few healthcare organizations take full advantage of the range of medical call center services, failing to capture their maximum value and enhance the personalized, human touch that can contribute to an excellent patient experience. Here are five lesser-known call center services and best practices you can leverage to improve patient engagement and increase revenue.
1. PCP Recapture
Every day, patients visit their care centers with urgent services. One in four reports not having a primary care physician (PCP). However, few health systems contact patients to refer them to a PCP in a timely manner.
When doctors retire early or change practices, patients often don't know where to turn. Connecting patients with a family doctor promotes healthy behaviors, improves patient satisfaction, and increases retention and utilization of healthcare system resources.
Recommendation
Use a medical call center to follow up within a week (or less). Make an outbound call within 24 to 72 hours of a patient's visit to request a medical referral or schedule an appointment.
2. Answer your patients' questions through an open enrollment hotline
Partner with large companies in your area to help answer their employees' questions, find doctors who meet your needs, schedule checkups, and strengthen relationships during annual benefits enrollment. Employers will appreciate the support, and employees will appreciate the personalized attention.
Recommendation
It offers a multilingual telephone support service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, where qualified and attentive agents can answer questions and offer a personalized experience.
3. Answer your patients' questions after an online health risk assessment.
Patient self-service and online research have become commonplace. But when patients take their tests, questionnaires, or health risk assessments online to see if they are at risk for diabetes or other conditions, what happens next? Some patients hesitate to get in touch, and their treatment teams rarely have extra time to follow up, as they prioritize in-person care.
Healthcare call centers employ specialized clinical teams or agents who are trained nurses to call patients, ask and answer questions, and recommend next steps. Use a medical call center to conduct outbound campaigns to thank your patients for their time and ensure they reach the right provider. Some patients may simply need to be connected with a healthcare advisor, while others may have higher-risk or more acute needs requiring a more immediate response.
Recommendation
Stratify the risk of your patients and prioritize outreach activities accordingly.
4. Patient portal and telehealth assistance
Patient use of and familiarity with your healthcare system's portal has always been important, but its importance skyrocketed during the pandemic. Patient portals are the gateway to scheduling, billing, test results, and telehealth services. Some systems now require patients to be portal users to take advantage of hybrid care. And if your organization introduces a new EHR, expect an increase in call volume, as clinics are often overwhelmed with calls when switching portals.
Healthcare systems want patients to work through their patient portal, but they don't always have the support or resources to answer questions and resolve issues. It's like offering a software service without a customer service team. As more emphasis is placed on the patient portal, support must also be increased. Offer a multilingual hotline to guide patients through setting up the portal, help them navigate the system, and demonstrate its value as a communication tool.
Recommendation
After the calls, send an informative email and a link to an explanatory video for future reference.
5. Medical call centers can support health and wellness campaigns
When health centers close and elective procedures are suspended, many patients cancel preventative appointments such as mammograms, cardiac checkups, and others. Now is the time to reach out to your patients, express your concern for their health, and remind them that their doctors and hospitals are reopening. You can also share information about health campaigns, enroll patients in classes or checkups, and promote additional services that help improve their overall health and well-being.
Use a series of text messages, emails, and phone calls to ensure patients know you offer both telehealth and in-person appointments for services they may have missed. Medical call centers can help schedule patient appointments directly into the EHR or by working directly with their practice staff. Clients who have conducted outbound appointment scheduling campaigns have seen a conversion rate of patients called to scheduled appointments of up to 201% of total appointments.
Medical call centers offer extensive support to patients.
Outsourcing one or more of these services to the medical call center can improve patient satisfaction and engagement, while also helping to increase patient access and revenue.
Fountain: Medical call center
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