Essential Call Center Metrics and KPIs to Track for Success Written by Jeff Tormey on August 2, 2021. Posted in Connect. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator and it is a metric that you establish to measure a certain aspect of success. In this case, the KPIs will describe call center performance metrics. Why are KPIs and metrics important? KPIs are important because they assign a numerical value to objectively measure performance. Management and other stakeholders can use the call center metrics to objectively measure performance. Based on current and past performance, goals can be assigned. Managers can make important decisions to design plans to improve or maintain performance. The plans can then be evaluated after their implementation using the same KPIs and metrics. What Are the Top Healthcare Call Center Metrics and KPIs to Track? 1. Agent Turnover Rate Recruitment and training of agents are generally more expensive than retaining experienced agents. The agent turnover rate is a call center metric that measures the percentage of agents who abandon their position. If this metric is high, it will negatively impact customer satisfaction and overall team morale. 2. Percentage of Calls Blocked If a patient calls a healthcare call center and receives a busy tone, this is considered a blocked call. This KPI measures the percentage of calls that are blocked. A call is typically blocked when there are no agents available to answer and all of the virtual waiting rooms are filled. Learning how to track a call to return a previously blocked call can help turn this metric around. 3. Average Waiting Time This is a KPI that should be kept as small as possible, it measures the average wait time a patient spends on the phone before speaking to an agent. This indicator will help management determine how to schedule agents and the optimal number of agents to maintain on staff. If patients are kept waiting for too long, customer satisfaction will be negatively impacted. 4. Average Handle Time This KPI measures the average amount of time an agent spends on the call helping the patient. This KPI does not necessarily have to be as short as possible as it will depend on the objective of the call. This KPI is related to caller satisfaction but is also used to determine staff performance and the number of callers needed to fulfill the call center’s demand. 5. Occupancy Rate This rate measures the workload vs. capability of the agents. For example, if an agent spends an average of 20 hours per 40-hour workweek on live calls or completing the work derived from the calls, the occupancy rate would be 50%. Call center managers should generally aim for an occupancy rate that is as close to 100% as possible without overwhelming the agents. 6. Customer Satisfaction All KPIs ultimately lead to this global KPI which measures the ultimate goal of making customers happy with the work of the call center. This metric is typically determined by surveying a sample of customers to determine how satisfied or unsatisfied they were by the work of the call center in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. For more information on improving your healthcare call center metrics, read the following: What Can Hospital Call Center Best Practices Tell You About Its Quality?
What Is Medical Digital Marketing? Written by Jeff Tormey on July 22, 2021. Posted in Other. Our world has gone digital. Unfortunately, many medical practices are lagging behind. Even doctors on the cutting edge of their fields find themselves struggling to understand the scale and scope needed for their digital presence. Medical digital marketing is perhaps the most complex aspect of all. And it is indispensable. The right approach ensures that you reach patients searching for medical information online and that your message is tailored so that they are receptive to it. But what is this nebulous “medical digital marketing,” and what does it mean for you? Let’s take a look. Online Medical Marketing: The Basics Think about traditional marketing methods: signs outside your place of business, brochures, and radio spots. Online medical marketing takes the spirit behind these approaches—creating a brand and getting your message out—and moves them to the digital sphere. Your sign transforms into your Google My Business page. Your brochures into your website. Your radio spots into social media advertisements. Medical web marketing is fairly similar to marketing for any other type of business, though there are key differences, as you’d expect from any industry. The ultimate goal is to meet patients where they are and reel them in. Why Is Medical Internet Marketing So Important? It used to be that when people needed a doctor or were interested in a specific procedure, they’d as around for recommendations, or even just go into the phonebook and start calling practices. Now, they hop online to find practices nearby and reviews. The healthcare industry is extremely competitive, and if you really work on your online presence, you will be able to claim a larger share of the market. Plus, all the efforts you make will work to improve your reputation and establish yourself and your practice as an authority. Essential Elements of Digital Medical Marketing We suggest that all medical practice incorporate the following elements into their digital marketing: • A visually attractive website that is easy to navigate and answers essential questions • Video content that is short, well composed, and engaging • Social media pages on at least three platforms • Mobile marketing • An email list with frequent, relevant content If this sounds like a lot to take on in house, don’t worry; .Sequence Health has you covered. We keep up with the healthcare digital marketing trends and predictions, ensuring your content is always up to date and relevant to your audience.
Best Practices for Healthcare Advertising on Instagram Written by Jeff Tormey on July 15, 2021. Posted in Manage, Other. One of our top 10 healthcare marketing tips in 2020 was to embrace social media. This hasn’t changed in 2021. And one of the best ways to get into social is through healthcare Instagram advertising. Why Instagram? For many healthcare companies, bridging the gap between themselves and prospective patients is difficult. We are in an age where people are quite skeptical of medical providers or jaded based on poor experiences. Success on social media relies on your ability to get past that skepticism and connect with people. Instagram is all about the personal connection. Medical Instagram accounts help people see practices as families, and see healthcare as something warm and welcoming. Of course, your success depends upon doing it right. Tips for Instagram Medical Accounts With any social media effort, you need to engage in best practices. But what are those for Instagram healthcare pages? We suggest the following. Be Personable, Not Personal Your professional Instagram account should read professional, but warm and accessible. This is very different from the tone of a personal page. While you want patients to feel like they are getting to know you, never forget your professionalism. Use Your Profile Info Your Instagram business profile should have all the information a patient might need to work with you. This includes your hours, location, phone number, and services you offer. Be sure to set up the contact button as well. Follow Other Healthcare Accounts You want to become part of the Instagram healthcare community, and part of that is following other accounts. Target those that are in your sphere and don’t be afraid to engage with those accounts. It’s a great way to learn from others. Vary Your Content A lot of medical practices fall into the trap of creating Instagram medical accounts that are just one infographic after the other. You need to switch up your content if you have any hope of garnering engagement. Some types of posts to include are: • Quick videos explaining relevant topics • Before and after treatment photos (get permission) • Inspirational quotes related to healthcare • Commentary on notable medical news • Explanations of new research• Tips and tricks for wellness Figure Out Those Hashtags Finally, one of the only ways to get discovered on Instagram is through hashtags, so make sure you are using the right ones—and verify what they are actually about to avoid embarrassing situations. For more information about the best healthcare advertising practices, contact Sequence Health. Also if you want to know what makes advertising via Instagram so effective. Read on our detailed blog about “Instagram Marketing for Doctors”
5 Important Healthcare Call Center Metrics Written by Jeff Tormey on July 1, 2021. Posted in Connect. When you invest in patient engagement solutions, you want to know that they are doing more than just taking tasks off your hands; you want to feel confident that they work. To evaluate this, you need to know what metrics to look at. Every industry has different metrics to look at. This means that when evaluating healthcare call center metrics, you won’t be looking at the same things as for an online retailer. So, what should you be keeping an eye on? 5 Essential Call Center Metrics in Healthcare 1. First-Call Resolution: In any industry, customers get frustrated when they have to call multiple times to resolve an issue. But in the healthcare industry, getting the runaround isn’t just frustrating; it is downright dangerous. Before outsourcing your phone service, make sure the company’s healthcare call center metrics reflect a very high resolution of concerns with the first call. 2. Agent Efficiency: This metric of healthcare call centers measures how quickly agents are able to resolve questions and concerns. Patients don’t want to spend an hour getting an issue taken care of, and depending on the situation, they flat out can’t wait that long. Look for a good average time from answering the phone to call completion. 3. Response Time: We’ve all been there: stuck on hold, waiting for an agent to get on the line. Most of us have a few horror stories about 30-45 minute waits. Once again, this is unacceptable and risky in the medical field. Ensure the companies you consider have solid healthcare call center metrics for response time. 4. Customer Satisfaction: How happy are customers when they get off the phone with a given call center’s agents? Any quality call center should be able to provide data from surveys completed at the end of each call. You want to get as close as you can to every patient being happy with their experience. 5. Customer Retention: This one is harder to measure, but call centers should start their contract by evaluating how well a practice is retaining patients, then reassess this on a regular basis to determine how their work has impacted retention. Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed at the idea of getting and assessing metrics for multiple call center companies? Turn to Sequence Health. We offer a full slate of solutions related to patient engagement and experience that will help you better meet the needs of your clients.
Why Customer Complaints Are Good For Your Business Written by Jeff Tormey on June 30, 2021. Posted in Connect. Patients have always shared their medical practice experiences with friends and family. Now, they share them with the entire world. Patient and customer complaints can easily reach an audience of thousands through your Google My Business page and other sites, such as Yelp. This can be pretty bad for your practice. However, we also think that—with the right approach—getting and handling customer complaints can ultimately enhance your practice. There Will Always Be Complaints First, let’s get this fact out of the way: there is nothing you can do, no approach you can take, that will prevent 100% of patient complaints. There will always be someone who comes in with unrealistic expectations, or who is just having a bad day and decides that Yelp is the place to let off some steam. And, if we are being honest, you too will have bad days where your service just isn’t what you want it to be, and patients will rightly complain about that. But it is important to remember that complaints aren’t just negatives; they are also tools for improving your practice. Complaints Highlight Problems To be fair, not always. Sometimes, patients are upset about things outside your control. But in many cases, they highlight problems you do have control over. When you listen to feedback, it helps you see things you might otherwise be blind to. They say knowledge is power, and they’re right. The better you understand where your practice is failing, the better you will be at making targeted changes. And in many cases, making these changes and validating the patient can turn them into a dedicated part of your practice. Not quite convinced that complaints are good for growth? Here are a few things to consider. • Complaints Are a Reality Check: It is easy to believe all is well and good if no one is telling you anything different. • Healthcare Call Centers Can Help Manage Them: If you don’t have the bandwidth to process negative feedback directly, you can outsource complaints to a specialized call center. • You Learn About Your Patients: It is easy to assume that since you know your field, you know what patients want and need, but we promise, there are some gaps in your knowledge. • They Open Other Lines of Conversation: Patient engagement solutions can cover a lot, but listening to and validating a complaint will do far more in getting a patient to open up. Ready to make more out of your customer feedback, both positive and negative? Our healthcare internet marketing can help. Contact us to learn more.
What Is Insurance Verification and Eligibility? Written by Jeff Tormey on June 29, 2021. Posted in Manage. As a medical provider, you need to be prepared to work directly with insurance providers to help patients maximize their benefits and cover the cost of treatment. Insurance verification and determining eligibility is central to this. But how do you do insurance verification and navigating the often convoluted water of eligibility? Here is what you should know. What Is Insurance Verification and Eligibility? Insurance verification refers to checking the status of a given patient’s insurance coverage as well as verifying their eligibility for having a given service covered. Once you have completed the medical insurance verification process, you should know the following: • If the patient’s policy is active. • When the policy expires. • If you are in-network. • If the given procedure is covered under their benefits. • If it is, how much of it is covered. Insurance verification is one of the first steps to take with any patient and should be done before any services are rendered. If not, you can put the patient in a position where they have to pay out of pocket but don’t have room in their budget to do so. What Is the Insurance Verification Process Like? This depends on the route you take. The easiest method is to outsource this task to insurance verification services companies. These are HIPAA-compliant providers who contact insurance providers on your behalf using the information the patient provided. If you have clients input this information through the medical patient portal, the entire process requires almost no work on your end. If you don’t outsource it, you will need to contact the insurance company directly. If you are confident that the insurance policy is valid and active, you also might be able to find information online. For this, you look for the specific tier of policy from the given provider and see if there is any information online about coverage and limits. Ultimately, this method is lengthy and difficult, often requiring at least once employee pretty much dedicated to the verification task. We strongly suggest outsourcing this to save both time and money. In fact, we can help. At Sequence Health, we offer a wide variety of services, including healthcare engagement solutions and insurance verification. With us at your side, you can grow your practice, increase productivity, and ensure your patients are always pleased with their experience. To learn more, schedule your free consultation.
The Ultimate Guide to Patient Experience Written by Jeff Tormey on June 26, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. The patient experience isn’t just about satisfaction; it encompasses all interactions patients have with healthcare as a whole. Unfortunately, patient experience statistics consistently show that that people find these interactions to be lacking. It is essential that all medical practices have a firm grasp on how to improve patient experience and what experiences matter to patients. Key Steps to Improving the Patient Experience If you aren’t sure where to get started, that is understandable. The topic is a complex one, and since people change, it will evolve with time. However, there are a few key steps you can take right now to help enhance the patient experience. Maximize Your Online Presence And by this, we don’t just mean have a website and social media. We mean you should ensure that your online presence offers maximize value. You want to create content that helps and empowers patients. Think about detailed explanations of service, patient guides, and online forms. Digitize Your Scheduling Many patients aren’t interested in talking to medical providers on the phone. They prefer texting, filling out forms, and pretty much any method that allows them to multitask while taking care of business. If your practice doesn’t yet have an online scheduling platform that allows patients to book, cancel, and set reminders, now is the time to make the switch. Train Staff in Customer Service We tend to think of customer service as a retail concept, but in truth, it is part of the patient experience. Your staff needs to be trained in how to make the patients feel comfortable, valued, and like they are empowered participants in their treatment. Improve the Waiting Room There are few places patients dislike being in more than the typical doctor’s office or hospital waiting room. Focus on improving it. Add better furniture, softer lighting, better entertainment options, and outlets for charging. Reduce Wait Times Ultimately, no waiting room will ever be so wonderful that patients are happy to spend all day in there. This means you need to do what you can to reduce wait times. A patient engagement company can help you digitize your paperwork processes to help move patients in and out faster. Follow Up With Patients The best way to know where you need to improve your patient experience is by asking your patients what they enjoyed and what they feel is lacking. You can usually do this through your patient tracking system if you have one. To discover more solutions for enhanced patient experience, contact Sequence Health.
The Benefits of an EHR Built for Innovation Written by Jeff Tormey on June 24, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. Electronic health records (EHRs)are at the forefront of digitized healthcare; despite this, many practices are struggling with making the switch. If yours is one such practice, it is essential that you get with the times and embrace EHRs built for innovation. Understanding Electronic Health Records Electronic health records, also known as electronic medical records, are the digital versions of the classic paper medical chart. They are updated and accessible in real time and can be shared with any number of authorized users, including the patients themselves. While they can be limited to just medical and treatment data, true EMR integration goes beyond that to give a holistic view of the patient’s status and care. Benefits of Electronic Health Records EHRs are one of the most essential solutions for healthcare practices to help them meet the evolving needs of digital-age patients. However, EHR integration isn’t just for the patient’s benefits; it has advantages all around. Fast and Reliable Record Checks Being able to quickly check patient records and get accurate information is beneficial to all parties involved. Doctors are able to work faster, make a more accurate diagnosis, and meet with more patients per day. Patients benefit from more targeted care and the ability to review and share their own files when needed. Confidence in Decision Making One of the most difficult aspects of healthcare for both patient and provider is making major medical decisions. It is easy to worry that you might be missing a key detail that could have a major impact on the results. When everything is right there in front of you, you feel more confident in moving forward. Read more: EMR vs. EHR: How Do These Two Terms Differ? Compliant Protection While this depends on the system you use, the correct ones should be compliant with patient privacy laws and other regulations. This allows you to confidently store and share information with the correct parties. Increased Efficiency as an Office Switching to electronic records won’t just speed things up for you as a doctor; it will increase efficiency throughout the practice. Much administrative work is related to filing paperwork, sending communications, and managing requests. With the right EHR platform, you can digitize all of that in a single place. Of course, making the switch is not without its challenges. To make it easier, work with the right healthcare advertising company: Sequence Health. We can connect you with high quality digital solutions that address needs on the patient and provider front—including EHR systems. Contact us today to learn how we can help streamline your healthcare operations.
How Video Marketing Can Influence The Future Of Healthcare Written by Jeff Tormey on June 21, 2021. Posted in Connect, Manage. Video has long been used in healthcare; anyone who has sat through a training video in a back room knows that. However, medical video production has come a long way from those grainy VHS tapes. Modern approaches can help you reach patients, empower staff, and serve as healthcare engagement solutions. If the idea of engaging in video production is new to you, don’t feel overwhelmed. We are going to cover the basics so you can better understand how healthcare video marketing can help you. Video Is an Appealing Medium This is especially true when compared to long pieces of text. There is a misconception that people today read less than those in the past. In truth, they read more, but in different ways. Given how much we rely on text to communicate, many people constantly consume small snippets—not long-form educational pieces. Medical video production allows you to take pages of text and condense them into easy-to-consume videos that combine fun narration with engaging visuals. While they might take a little longer to produce than an essay, they will deliver the results you seek. Patients Want to Learn Modern patients aren’t interested in the outdated dynamic of an all-knowing doctor and an obedient client. They want to be informed and empowered when it comes to their healthcare. Videos are wonderful for this. You still get to control the narrative to a degree, helping patients get on board with the philosophy of medicine you follow, but they don’t feel as in the dark. You Can Prep for Procedures If you are a specialist, you likely have a limited number of procedures you perform, and before each of these, you need you patients and their support people to be informed on what to expect. Rather than spending a lot of time giving the same speeches over and over, you can create customized video guides for each procedure, communicating the information they need in a fun and friendly way. It is an amazing healthcare engagement solution. Be the Influencer You Wish Existed The idea of being both a medical provider and an influencer might seem a little strange, but there are quite a few who are not only making it work, but genuinely changing the face of healthcare while they do it. These doctors are getting patients excited about their own health and helping them come into the office feeling informed and ready to get to work. You can really put your practice on the map with the right content. The future of video marketing is bright. You just need the right approach. Sequence Health guides providers in their medical marketing strategies, including video-based and interactive content.
Strategies Empower Patients to Play an Active Role in Their Hospital Experience Written by Jeff Tormey on June 18, 2021. Posted in Manage. What is needed for successful treatment of hospital patients? There is a lot you can do. From having the right equipment to truly listening to the patient as they describe their symptoms and concerns, much of the results of care rest on your shoulders. However, patients also play an important role. They need to follow your instructions, be in tune with their body, and reach out when they feel something is wrong. Unfortunately, many do not do this. Why Is That? Ultimately, the reasons will vary between people. But for many, it comes down to a lack of patient empowerment. Many people just don’t feel like they can or should take charge of their healthcare, even under supervision. Luckily, this doesn’t mean that all is lost; nursing empowerment strategies can help. Here are some you might want to implement. Suggest Helpful Apps Many patients would like to be more empowered in their healthcare, but they don’t know where to start. Apps often offer quick and easy solutions. Suggest those that help them track their own health history, medications, and more. This will also help them better prepare for future hospital visits. Promote Quality Content Creators You don’t have to do all the hard work of educating your patients; there are plenty of content creators happy to do that for you. On your hospital’s social media pages, share content—especially videos and infographics—from quality content creators who you feel put out accurate information in an engaging manner. Don’t like any content creators? Become one yourself with healthcare educational videos. Treat Patients Like Partners You are the expert, but sometimes experts talk down to those around them without intending to. Many patients already feel intimidated by being in a hospital setting; to feel empowered, they need some encouragement. Make your patients feel like they are active partners in their treatment. This helps develop a sense of agency and encourages them to think more about their treatment and symptoms. Open Up Online Consultations Your hospital likely did this during the peak of COVID, but may have stopped. If so, get it going again. Empowering patients in healthcare means opening up multiple roads to treatment. Virtual consults feel less threatening and also increase the likelihood of a patient scheduling to clarify concerns that would otherwise be left to Dr. Google. Healthcare engagement solutions can help patients feel more involved and empowered. To discover more, talk to Sequence Health about the best healthcare advertising and patient support.