While a common reason to outsource healthcare call center services is to increase quality, an even more likely motivation is to save money. And saving money doesn’t have to mean sacrificing quality. When you outsource to the right call center vendor you can save money without forfeiting excellence.
Here’s why. Outsource call centers that specialize in healthcare enjoy:
Greater Economy of Scale: Outsource healthcare call centers serve multiple clients, which mean their business is far larger than your in house operation. With this increased size comes greater efficiencies in terms of agent scheduling, staff supervision, telephony efficacy, management control, resource utilization, and agent hiring, training, and onboarding. As an organization grows in scope, it realizes increased efficiencies and can slash costs.
Improved Competencies: Outsource healthcare call centers exact laser focus on handling medical related interactions with patients. It’s all they do. They exist to process health-related communications, so they will naturally do it well. (If they don’t, they won’t stay in business.) Because of their increased scale, they can multiply the effectiveness of their hiring, training, supervision, and advanced education to parlay it into greater service ability. They become specialists, your specialists.
Leveraged Buying Power: Outsource healthcare call centers exercise more buying power with sellers. Because of their increased scope, they purchase more. Buying more—from computers and headsets, to desks and chairs, to telephone and internet access—means better pricing than you could ever expect to obtain on your own. This savings in expenditures means they can provide you with more cost-effective service.
Tighter Vendor Relationships: Outsource healthcare call centers enjoy close working relationships with their vendors, particularly with their primary call center system provider. Your outsource call center is likely one of their vendor’s larger customers, and the vendor will do all that’s possible to maintain that relationship. This results in many money-saving advantages, such as greater discounts, premier pricing, and service specials.
Summary: Outsource healthcare call centers have many advantages that individual call centers can’t achieve, including greater economies of scale, improved competencies, leveraged buying power, and tighter vendor relationships. This allows outsource call centers to operate at a lower cost structure and pass the savings on to their clients.
When you select the right outsource healthcare call center, you will save money while you maintain—or even improve—quality.
Janet Livingston is the president of Call Center Sales Pro, a premier sales and marketing service provider for the call center industry and who offers a healthcare call center matchmaking service. Contact Janet at contactus@callcenter-salespro.com or call 800-901-7706.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is a freelance writer from Southwest Michigan.