Healthcare, like most of today’s markets, has become a highly dynamic business space. Healthcare companies have now turned to having call centers back up their customer service to address their ever-growing business demands. By leveraging the many capabilities of outsourcing customer support, healthcare providers can easily bridge the gaps between their business and their patients, gaining a competitive advantage in a volatile market.
While outsourcing could bring solutions to address key industry pain points, it does not always guarantee success. Choosing the right outsourcing partner is just as important for businesses to get the most out of their outsourcing needs. One way companies could make more informed decisions in outsourcing is by analyzing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Understanding the importance of KPIs in your business strategy is the key to ensuring continuous success. By having a good grasp of the KPIs relevant to your business, you can assess performance and make necessary improvements and changes in your business process. But what exactly are the KPIs in healthcare to watch out for?
Understanding KPIs for Non-Licensed Healthcare Call Centers
KPIs are quantitative metrics that help measure a business’ performance against its set targets, business objectives, and even its industry competitors. There are several types of KPIs to consider depending on which aspect of the business you would want to monitor. Customer-focused KPIs, for example, focus on customer satisfaction and retention, giving customer service teams a better understanding of the state of the company’s overall customer experience.
In the case of the healthcare business, there are 2 types of healthcare KPIs to consider, with some KPIs only applying to either licensed or non-licensed healthcare staff. As the names suggest, KPIs for licensed healthcare staff focus on metrics used by agents who are authorized to discuss healthcare policies with existing members and potential clients. Relevant metrics often include successful referrals, client acquisition, and retention rates. In contrast, non-licensed staff performance metrics deal with the customer experience of a healthcare service, particularly in 4 key areas:
- Patient Experience
- Operational Efficiency
- Compliance and Accuracy, and
- Cost-Effectiveness
Patient Experience KPIs, typically measured through surveys, determine how effective healthcare services are at meeting patient needs and expectations. [4] These include First Call Resolution Rate, Net Promoter Score (NPS), Average Handle Time (AHT), and Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Operational Efficiency KPIs, however, help identify what needs improving in your operation strategy. Some examples of Operational Efficiency KPIs include Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Adherence, Call Abandonment Rate, Occupancy Rate, and agent productivity metrics. Tools measuring adherence to standard internal protocols and business regulations fall under Compliance and Accuracy, typically including KPIs such as Data Accuracy Rate, Compliance with HIPAA and other regulations, Error Rate, and Training Completion Rate. Lastly, Cost-Effectiveness KPIs help measure a project’s efficiency based on cost performance. This includes metrics like Cost per Call (CPC), Return on Investment, Agent Churn Rate, and Revenue generated from calls.
Utilizing KPIs Effectively
Having a clear sense of direction in reaching your target is important. Applying the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals to your call center success metrics enables you to set a clear, organized strategy that ensures growth overall. With this framework in mind, you will be able to define what your goals are, measure them effectively, utilize team members, determine the purpose of your goal, and set a target completion date. This balanced approach would be more effective instead of relying heavily on specific KPIs because it would give you the full picture of how your business is performing, enabling you to inspire action, measure expectations, utilize decision-makers, and determine what you want to achieve.
Excellent data collection and analysis are just as vital as understanding the KPIs relevant to your business. Choosing a reliable tool to help you gather the data you need is essential to helping you visualize your KPI metrics effectively, so pay close attention to key features, weigh out the pros and cons, and look for user feedback. Lastly, a partnership’s success also depends on openly communicating your business needs and constantly collaborating to ensure overall improvement.
Grow Your Healthcare Call Center with Us!
Ensuring a non-licensed healthcare call center’s success would involve developing a robust KPI framework that would require you to determine the metrics relevant to your business and utilize the right platforms to get you the data that you need. Also, partnering and proactively collaborating with the right outsourcing provider to continuously optimize your call center operations sets you up for a higher chance of growth.
ClearSource has years of experience partnering with leaders in the healthcare space to deliver exceptional solutions that support patients throughout the customer journey. Schedule a discovery call now with Kate and learn more about what makes us the right outsourcing partner to grow your healthcare support operations today.
