Healthcare is an ever-evolving industry. Moreover, it is one of those industries that need a constant stream of seamless communication. Undoubtedly, effortless and reliable communication plays a pivotal role in the healthcare industry to ensure efficient patient care, streamlined healthcare functions, and improved overall advantages for a healthcare organization, healthcare practitioner, and even patients. One transformative tool making waves in this industry is the omnichannel call center solution. To meet the requirements of modern-era patient care, the healthcare industry is persistently investing in technology. The traditional approach to communication in the healthcare industry is undergoing a transformative shift. Moreover, with a growing emphasis on adopting advanced technologies to enhance connectivity and collaboration, the healthcare industry is ready to adopt better communication tools.
The role of this software is critical. Definitely, it revolutionizes communication and patient care for any healthcare organization such as a hospital, clinic, laboratory, research center, and more. Within the healthcare sector, powerful offerings of this software help in enhancing patient engagement, optimizing internal communication among healthcare professionals, reducing communication costs, and several other advantages are contributing to the increasing adoption of omnichannel solutions.
In this blog post, we are going to uncover several other important aspects to define the pivotal role of one of the best VoIP contact center solutions with omnichannel communication support in the healthcare industry.
So, let’s explore how enterprise and open source contact center software solutions are reshaping healthcare organizations to deliver care and manage operations flawlessly.
1. What is an Omnichannel Call Center System?
Let’s first understand what a call center solution is. It is a comprehensive communication tool that consists of a wide range of features, automation capabilities, and reporting functionalities to augment different operations. It can improve results for sales, customer care, marketing, and several other types of campaigns.
An omnichannel call center software system is a comprehensive call center platform that integrates unified communication channels within a single platform. Moreover, it maps all interactions across channels. Additionally, it presents them in a unified way to give the required context to the agent or customer care representative to deliver more informed and personalized services. For example, this solution will have the following communication channels integrated into the software:
- Phone calls,
- Chat
- SMS
- Social media
- Video chat
- This solution enables patients and the patient care team to switch effortlessly across touchpoints without losing context.
2. Must have Functionalities in the Healthcare Software
Healthcare software is an exclusively built solution, unlike traditional VoIP contact center solutions. Definitely, it will have all the standard features of this software to make communication with patients richer and better. Moreover, it will have a range of exclusive features that are designed for the healthcare industry.
For example, this solution will support omni channel communication and context mapping. Moreover, it will provide basic call center features like auto dialers, automated call distributors, call script, Soundboard Avatars, disposition bucket, dashboard, barge-in, whisper, call controls, and many more. In addition to these features, the healthcare specific software will have certain must have features, which are briefly explained hereunder.
HIPAA Compliance
A call center software solution will store some information about patients to make communication seamless and personalized. Therefore, it falls under the category of tools that must follow HIPAA compliance. HIPAA is a short form of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Certainly, it defines rules to protect the interest of patients by keeping their sensitive information confidential and protected from any commercial use. There are some predefined standards that your software must follow to become HIPAA compliant.
Omnichannel and Comprehensive
Undoubtedly, a healthcare organization is using an omnichannel solution because it aims to provide patient care across all major touchpoints. Therefore, it must have all communication channels integrated within the software that are required by the healthcare professional or organization. Moreover, it must support the integration of local tools for communication such as any internal communication tool used in an organization to build the most comprehensive communication tool.
Flexible for Third party Integration
A healthcare organization uses multiple tools such as a medical record system, medical billing system, and more. Patient care executives need to access this information across all communication channels to provide seamless care and services. Therefore, call center VoIP software must have the ability to integrate these solutions within the software. So that the patient care team can provide better and quicker care and responses to their patients and their family members.
Automation
Undoubtedly, automation is the key to saving resources and increasing efficiency. Moreover, it also elevates returns. Therefore, your healthcare software for managing patient care must have automation features. You can look for AI-driven automation as it is more reliable, better, and faster. However, you can also settle with common automation features in different solutions supporting call center campaigns.
These are the must have functionalities in the software that is going to serve the healthcare industry. Possibly, the healthcare organization might have its own set of custom feature requirements such as integration of its IP PBX solution or click-to-dial functionality. The software provider must have the strength to accommodate these custom requirements.
3. Top Reasons to Adopt this Solution in the Healthcare Industry
Unquestionably, you must use an exclusive call center software solution for your healthcare organization. However, if you are seeking concrete reasons to do so, then here are the top reasons for you.
3.1 Better Management of Increasing Call Volume
If your hospital, pathology lab, or other healthcare organization is focusing on quality service and excellent care, then you are likely to receive more patient cases. Certainly, these are new and repeat patients adding up to your financial advantages. However, to keep up with better patient care, you need to have a system that can manage this increasing need for attending patient calls. Interestingly, this is more likely to happen right before the patient visits you or schedules a medical appointment. Therefore, you must have a reliable system to manage patient calls.
An omnichannel call center VoIP software will help you diversify this traffic across multiple communication channels. Moreover, you can auto attend several calls. Additionally, you can deliver the required answers to patients without involving the receptionist. Definitely, this helps in effortlessly managing increasing call volume.
3.2 Provide Round-the-clock Patient Care
The healthcare industry is one of the most dynamic industries. Moreover, it is common to receive patient calls or interactions during odd hours. Ideally, it can bother doctors if they share their direct numbers because patients may call them for trivia. However, an omnichannel solution can manage these calls automatically to improve patient care standards. Moreover, it will not involve a doctor or hospital staff until and unless it is an emergency case.
3.3 Improve your Patient Care Strategy
The omnichannel solution will ensure that your hospital or clinic phone line doesn’t ring busy tones while your patients are trying to reach you. It will auto attend all calls and greet them. Moreover, it will help in resolving common questions and letting patients take common actions. For example, they can check the visiting hours of their preferred doctors. Furthermore, they can schedule healthcare appointments automatically. These and several other features in this software will help you improve patient care standards. Additionally, it will result in improved patient satisfaction.
3.4 Reduce Operational Expenses
Omnichannel solutions use VoIP technology to manage calls and other forms of interactions. Therefore, it helps in reducing communication expenses. Moreover, it will reduce the intervention of staff in managing interactions with patients. Therefore, it will further save money on the workforce. Moreover, there are several other benefits of using this technology to lower operational costs.
3.5 Improve Patient Satisfaction
Elevating your patient care standards and practices will help you improve patient satisfaction. The stated software will bridge communication related obstacles to offer improved patient experience. Moreover, it also provides several other benefits to patients, so that they can feel valued. For example, the software schedules an automated callback for patients to give reminders for upcoming medical appointments.
4. Crucial Role of an Oomnichannel Solution in the Healthcare Industry
Many hospitals consider this as an overhead projector. However, it is a strategic investment that can give a competitive edge to your healthcare center. Let’s get familiar with its crucial role in the healthcare industry.
4.1 Register New Patients and Book a Medical Appointment
The first interaction of a patient with the healthcare professional is automated with this system. Moreover, this solution removes time restrictions. Now, patients can use an IVR system integrated into the software to identify available slots of their favorite doctors and book a medical appointment seamlessly.
4.2 Provide Telemedicine and Telehealth to Patients
There are several obstacles to quality healthcare services. For example, underdeveloped countries don’t have quality healthcare facilities in nearby areas. Moreover, in developed countries, people are so busy that it becomes a hassle to book an appointment and visit a doctor. As a result, people’s health is compromised heavily across the globe. An omnichannel open source contact center software makes quality healthcare accessible for everyone with its telehealth programs and telemedicine use cases.
4.3 Facilitate Patients by Connecting them to the Right Doctors and Counselors
Often, a patient needs to visit doctors and stay in a queue for a small thing. For example, they just need to discuss their healthcare report and know whether there is any change in medication or not. This is very inconvenient for many patients. Thanks to the intervention of the omnichannel solution, it makes it automated and remote to discuss these small things, which don’t need any physical examination of the patient.
The benefit of this solution in improving patient satisfaction is inevitable. We recommend you read our blog post specifically covering ways this software improves relationships with patients.
4.4 Facilitate Patients with Remote Reports
One added use case of this software is in the pathology laboratories. Patients need to wait for emails, which may land up in spam, or keep on calling the lab for reports. However, with the omnichannel system, everything is streamlined. The system will send updates to patients via his or her preferred communication channel. Moreover, the system can also send a digital copy via the preferred channel of the patient. For example, the software will send updates and final reports via WhatsApp if he prefers WhatsApp communication.
4.5 Follow-up on Patient Experience
Certainly, healthcare is a competitive industry. We cannot ignore or overlook competition. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the right way to keep patients feeling valued and cared for. The omnichannel software for the healthcare industry does this job brilliantly. For example, it will run an automated campaign to collect feedback from patients on their visit with the doctor.
4.6 Pay Medical Bills Remotely
Healthcare organizations can send soft copies of medical bills to patients and their family members. Moreover, they can send reminders to pay bills with the secure payment processing link to make sure patients pay their dues on time to empower the healthcare industry.
Concluding Note
In conclusion, the role of omnichannel software in the healthcare industry is commendable. Significantly, it improves several aspects associated with patient care directly or indirectly. Moreover, this solution helps in improving the efficiency of patient care to deliver a more delightful experience. Additionally, this software performs an outstanding job in saving existing resources to use them effectively; providing remote healthcare services; and managing several tough jobs flawlessly.
In short, acquiring the right software for your healthcare industry will bestow a plethora of advantages for you. Moreover, it will give you early adopter advantages to build a more competitive brand in this fiercely competitive industry. Lastly, we cannot ignore the impressive returns available for healthcare organizations. We provide a tailored omnichannel call center solution to the healthcare industry. To book a free consultation call, contact us now.