The typical healthcare customer service experience probably sounds familiar: A customer calls their insurer, navigates a labyrinth of menus and is promptly placed on hold. After a long wait, the customer gets someone on the phone, who transfers them to someone else, who transfers them to someone else, who transfers them back to the original person. It’s a toss-up whether the customer actually gets the help they need.
Consumers aren’t happy dealing with this type of service, but many didn’t see any other option. Until the pandemic hit.
The pandemic turned shaky customer service from an inconvenience to a deal breaker. Patients need accurate health information faster than ever, and many don’t believe their current providers or health insurers are rising to the challenge. In fact, 58% of healthcare customers said they had higher customer service expectations of healthcare providers in 2021 than they did in 2020.
Ultimately, customers don’t want to get lost in the shuffle. They want a personalized experience that lets them access health information, schedule appointments and handle claims in a timely manner. By leveraging the power of AI, healthcare organizations can simplify this personalization process to keep patients satisfied and informed about their health.
Healthcare customer service models are too disjointed
The margin for error in healthcare customer service is disappearing. Research from last year found that 84% of healthcare customers said it was important to have their customer service issues solved quickly and accurately. The bad news for healthcare providers and insurers is that many of their current customer service systems contribute to these issues.
For instance, many insurers have developed online portals that allow customers to directly communicate with them and access plan information. While these portals offer tremendous upside, they aren’t a catch-all solution for every customer service need. In many cases, customers need more immediate help than a portal can provide. Or they might prefer another method of communication, like Medicare patients over 65, who prefer talking on the phone about their plans.
These customers often must navigate a confusing interactive voice response system and be placed on hold before they can talk to someone. When they do, they’re often met with a representative who doesn’t know how to guide them, doesn’t have access to their health information or needs to email someone to double-check something first. Customer expectations have risen too much for this type of friction to occur.
Phone calls and online portals each play a role in the customer journey. However, if these offerings aren’t connected, your customers will become confused and start looking for a more flexible organization that can accommodate their preferences.
Conversation intelligence can optimize your customer service interactions
For healthcare call center workers, handling a mass of patients with unique needs can be daunting. Many are fighting a losing battle — they’re stretched too thin to make each call as efficient as it could be. This is where AI can help.
AI software can present relevant information to representatives in real time instead of making them comb through online records. Consider a situation when a customer calls to see whether they’ll be covered for a visit to a chiropractor. The software evaluates the conversation and pulls up relevant details of their plan for easy reference. Intuitive AI can reduce call times and free up representatives to focus on what’s really important: being an engaged and empathetic listener.
AI can also help fill in skill gaps for newer representatives. Think of the last time you trained a new employee on the ins and outs of their job. It takes time to prepare them to complete a task, and just as much time to review their performance afterward. Now imagine how much of that time could be saved by having a digital coach guide them through the process instead.
Developing an omnichannel approach to healthcare operations
Much of the desire for flexibility in care and customer service options can be attributed to an increased number of telehealth services becoming eligible for reimbursement at the beginning of the pandemic.
In the past, telehealth visits were only available for people in rural areas, and doctors still had to be in-office for appointments. Eliminating this hurdle empowered customers to receive care on their terms. The classic phrase, “The doctor will see you now” may need to change to “The patient will see you now.”
Convenience was king even before the pandemic — a 2019 study found that 51% of patients report convenience and access to care as the most important factors when choosing a provider, with only 35% listing quality of care as their top consideration.
Personalized customer service interactions and convenience go hand in hand. Consider a customer who’s deciding on a new healthcare plan. Instead of being pigeonholed into filling out a physical form, they’re free to speak to someone on the phone or fill out an online questionnaire. From there, conversation intelligence AI can help the insurance representative quickly identify the best plan for the customer and direct them to the sign-up process.
Here’s another example, this time for an in-person doctor’s visit: In the past, patients anticipating lab results could do nothing but wait until their appointment. Now, through an online portal, patients can access their lab results and communicate with their doctor before they even step in the room. Increased access to medical information allows patients to advocate for themselves and ask better questions during their visit.
As customers become more empowered to take control of the way their treatment is delivered, providers must meet them where they are and seamlessly integrate their options using the power of AI.
Increasingly complex problems don’t need complex solutions
Traditional healthcare customer service models weren’t built with our digital world — or a pandemic — in mind. Customer expectations have changed, and the price of not changing your systems along with them is high.
The research shows that healthcare customers want convenience and timeliness before anything else. Developing seamless customer experiences through conversation intelligence AI offers a simple solution. It gives representatives the ability to develop empathetic relationships with patients that aren’t bogged down by inefficiencies. And ultimately, conversation intelligence AI allows your organization to better serve its patients and get them the help they need.
