1. Keep the “Patient” at the Center of the Discussions & Decisions.
  2. Develop Access and Scheduling Standards.
  3. Develop and/or Broaden Service Offerings.
    • Appointment Scheduling for new and return patients.
    • Appointment Reminder calls/texts.
    • Portal message management.
    • Referral Services.
    • Template Management
    • Schedgistration & Pre-Registration Services
  4. Optimize Performance of Existing Call Center Services
    • Invest in additional agent FTE, training and QA resources and space.
    • Standardize scheduling policies and procedures across practices.
    • Incorporate clinical resources (RNs) into the contact center.
    • Incorporate template oversight and access monitoring into the contact center.
    • Service offerings can be broadened and hours of operation extended to offer clients more value and offer patients more convenience.
  5. Create new hire ‘boot camp’ that includes soft skills training.
    • Develop competency-based testing for new hires and annual assessment of skills for all scheduling and registration staff.  Develop a competency assessment tool to document agent’s skills vs. expectations and complete at least annually and after new skill sets added.
  6. Implement a robust QA program to include live call monitoring and regular structured feedback to agents, registration related denial reviews and workflow redesign to address gaps.
  7. Create a comfortable workspace (space planning) for Contact Center employees.