Aug 13 2007
A recent analysis of more than 2,000 calls to hospital switchboards revealed that nearly 60 percent of attempts to obtain a physician referral were not initially successful.
A new white paper from The Beryl Institute, "Moments of Truth: Hospital Switchboards a Bottom-Line Issue," investigates what happens during calls to the switchboards of 341 hospitals and medical centers across the country and provides tips for improving switchboard customer service.
As customer service increasingly becomes a differentiating factor between hospitals, consumers expect a more customer-centric experience or likely will take their business elsewhere. This white paper complements the findings in two other papers from The Beryl Institute earlier this year: "Ready or Not, Customer Service is Coming to Healthcare," which outlined the challenges hospitals will face as consumers place higher service demands on their healthcare providers, and "It's Not Just a Call, It's a Customer," an analysis of more than 300,000 calls showing that 75 percent of callers who don't get through on the first try will not call back a second time.
"Our findings are consistently showing a demand for greater attention to customer service," said Paul Spiegelman, executive director of The Beryl Institute. "Building relationships with patients begins long before they walk through the doors of the hospital. A phone call is often the first point of contact and, thus, can be the most important."
Founded in 2006, The Beryl Institute is dedicated to improving customer service in healthcare by defining best practices around all touch points in the continuum of a consumer's healthcare experience. The Beryl Institute is the research and educational arm of The Beryl Companies, which for 22 years has been the leading provider of outsourced customer interaction services in healthcare.
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