Use AI to assist agents in real time. Healthcare contact center agents are under a lot of pressure to help people who have questions or concerns regarding lab test results, finding the right specialist, prescriptions, deductibles, billing, and other important medical and insurance issues. These patients and plan members may be upset or even angry, which can unsettle inexperienced support agents and diminish both their effectiveness and ability to respond appropriately.
By employing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), natural language processing and other smart technologies, healthcare organizations can allow agents to quickly resolve patient and plan member issues by proactively providing agents with next best-action recommendations for each stage of a live call or digital chat. These tools also can conduct sentiment analysis to provide cues for agents to respond to patients and members in the most empathetic way based on contextual recommendations. This replaces the traditional “script” approach used by support centers with genuine human interaction that members value and increase the job satisfaction of healthcare agents.
Automate repetitive tasks. When agents are trying to help patients or members in real-time with issues related to their health or plan coverage, the last thing they need is to get bogged down with simple but necessary tasks, such as opening a new case or pulling up an existing account. Integrating automation in the contact center platform can ease the burden of manual tasks for agents, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks and on the person they’re trying to assist.
Offer self-help features for patients and members. Similarly, automation can be used by healthcare organizations to provide self-help options – such as the ability to confirm appointments – to patients and plan members. These types of tools not only streamline the support process for agents, they offer patients and members an opportunity to be self-sufficient, something that many consumers in the digital age highly value.
Give agents an integrated, user-friendly interface. A poorly designed interface can slow down and frustrate contact center agents as they try to navigate through multiple screens and apps while trying to help a patient or member in real time. Rather than being forced to bounce from screen to screen, agents should be furnished with easily navigable interfaces that integrate multichannel data.
