Today, two-thirds of hospitals and other healthcare providers in the United States use in-house and outsourced medical call centers. The growing popularity of healthcare call centers stems from their numerous benefits.
The healthcare sector has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. In addition to the introduction of virtual patient care and telehealth services, there has been a massive change in patient behavior. Patients today increasingly have a consumer-aligned mentality, sometimes demanding higher-quality healthcare experiences. Therefore, healthcare facilities today are adopting a value-based approach that focuses on preventive care and patient wellness.
To survive and thrive in this new situation, healthcare providers must enhance their operational and clinical performance to improve their return on investment. That is why, today, more and more healthcare providers are opting to outsource certain operations to HIPAA-compliant healthcare call centers. Patient communication is one such area. Besides improving patient satisfaction, it can also help healthcare providers improve patient management:
What is patient management?
Patient management involves activities healthcare providers use to meet patients’ growing expectations. It focuses on building strong patient relationships, not just treating illnesses. Effective patient communication is key to this approach, strengthening the bond between patients and providers.
How can outsourcing patient communication help healthcare providers to manage their patients better?
As the adage goes, communication is the key to every relationship. The patient-provider relationship is no exception. To prioritize patient wellness, a healthcare provider must prioritize communication and follow-up. A healthcare call center can help these providers and practices implement advanced follow-ups, which have proven to achieve the highest success rates.
With the changing patient mentality, healthcare providers must strive to deliver a superior patient experience in every interaction. However, as interaction volume rises and expectations change, it is challenging to do so with an internal patient helpdesk. Therefore, providers can only ensure patient satisfaction in most interactions by engaging patient communication experts to enhance their communication.
Why is outsourcing patient communication imperative for healthcare providers’ success?
Many thriving healthcare facilities, from modest group practices to multi-hospital operations, are partnering with healthcare call centers to improve administrative efficiency in the current healthcare climate. Outsourcing healthcare call center services for patient communication enables them to do more with less and focus on delivering high-quality patient care.
What healthcare call center services related to patient communication can be outsourced?
Patient communication is the key to patient satisfaction and a superior patient experience. Most of these communication services can be outsourced to a healthcare call center specializing in patient management. Some of the vital patient communication services that can be outsourced include:
Customer Services
- Inquiry handling: Handling patient inquiries around the clock is challenging for healthcare providers. On the other hand, outsourcing inquiry handling to a healthcare call center can ensure that all patient calls get answered and their queries are resolved quickly. For example, if a patient has questions about their healthcare claim processing or whether a particular treatment is covered under their policy, a healthcare call center agent can promptly answer their questions and deliver a superior experience. Also, inquiry handling is often the first interaction between a healthcare provider and their patients. Outsourcing this communication to a professional team of patient communication experts ensures a better experience. After all, a first impression can create a lasting impression.
- Appointment setting: Outsourcing appointment-setting services to a healthcare BPO can help a medical facility streamline scheduling and make it more manageable. In addition to scheduling patient appointments, a call center can offer appointment rescheduling services.
- Appointment and prescription reminder: Reminding patients of their appointments and prescription refill dates is essential to communication. With this service, patients are reminded to attend their appointments and prescription refills; if they cannot, appointments can be rescheduled. A patient appointment scheduling call center can help healthcare providers with reminder communications and rescheduling.
- Claim management: In addition to verifying and validating all insurance information, a healthcare call center specializing in claims processing can communicate the claim submission and approval amount to the patient for a hassle-free billing experience.
Campaigns
- Awareness campaign: As modern healthcare facilities focus on patient wellness, they can use a healthcare BPO to run an awareness campaign that keeps patients informed about precautions and prevention methods to help prevent disease. Besides improving patient satisfaction, it can also strengthen patient-medical facility relationships in the long run.
- Post-care communication: Post-care communication is essential to ensure a long-term patient-business relationship. Once the patient is released from the hospital or medical facility, the healthcare provider must receive regular updates regarding their health and recovery. They can hire a HIPAA-compliant healthcare call center with outbound capabilities for patient care communications. Professional services from these healthcare BPOs can help improve patient-provider relationships and the patient experience.
- Post-care survey: Medical facilities must focus on patient experience in addition to providing proper care. Hospitals and other medical facilities can conduct a post-care survey to learn patients’ experiences and opinions on the care provided during their stay. Such a survey can offer insights into the patient’s pain points and areas of improvement. Again, hiring a healthcare call center to do these surveys can be efficient and cost-effective.
Why is it better to outsource to a HIPAA-compliant healthcare call center?
A HIPAA-compliant healthcare call center adheres to HIPAA regulations and takes patient information security seriously. These call centers have strict information security protocols to prevent healthcare data breaches and HIPAA compliance violations. By hiring these call centers, healthcare providers can reduce the risk of HIPAA compliance violations and the associated fines.
Ending note:
To sum it all up, high-quality patient communication is the key to business success for most healthcare providers. Therefore, hiring a HIPAA-compliant healthcare call center with adequate experience in patient care management is essential. A multichannel, multilingual BPO partner can help medical facilities offer better patient communication and enhance patient experience and satisfaction. In an age of evolving patient expectations, partnering with a multichannel, multilingual, HIPAA-compliant healthcare BPO like Fusion CX as a call center partner can help medical facilities enhance patient communication and, subsequently, patient management practices.
