Healthcare call centers face unique challenges. The stakes are high and service providers (as well as their contact center outsourcing partners) are regularly involved in managing life or death situations. Unlike other industries, where interactions may be transactional or even leisurely, patient inquiries carry a significant emotional and informational weight. Mistakes cannot afford to be made, situations are sometimes complex, personal data needs to be protected, and emotions often run high. This perfect storm can result in a highly stressful healthcare call center environment where employee burnout is far too common and some patients leave their contact center interactions more stressed than when they started. 

Healing the healthcare call center is not just about improving technology or hiring more staff. It’s about transforming the entire experience through a patient-centric approach with a single cornerstone — empathy. Here’s our five-step model:

1. Recruit Staff for Soft Skills

Creating job descriptions and role requirements that emphasize a background in caregiving and empathic traits can help you hire agents that will support the type of patient experience you want. During the initial application and interview process, screening for character traits can help weed out those applicants who may have the technical skills to do the job but who struggle with empathy. And building interview questions around situational scenarios can be helpful in assessing the soft skills needed to provide an exceptional patient experience. It is always much easier to hire for character and train for skills than the other way around.

2. Train Employees with Empathy Top of Mind

Training contact center staff in empathetic communication can have a profoundly positive impact on the patient experience. Patients often feel vulnerable when reaching out, and a compassionate response can make all the difference in insuring that contact center agents get the information they need to most effectively support the patient. Scripts and protocols should include language that acknowledges and validates patient concerns. Training should go beyond technical skills to include soft skills like active listening, conflict resolution, and cultural competency. Regular refresher courses can help ensure that staff stay up-to-date with industry best practices. Virtual reality modules can support the training of healthcare call center agents by allowing them to experience what it’s like to have a hearing or visual impairment or other disability.  

3. Create a Culture of More Empowerment and Less Burnout

Reducing burnout requires a supportive workplace culture. Recognizing employees for exceptional performance boosts morale and encourages a commitment to excellence. But rather than tying such incentives to transactional metrics such as lower average handle time, consider tying them to success stories gleaned from patient feedback as well as to overall patient satisfaction scores.  

Further, providing agents with access to mental health resources can help them cope with the stress of their jobs, improve performance, and reduce attrition.

4. Streamline Communication Channels

Leading with empathy means appreciating that patients value convenience. Offering multiple ways to reach the contact center—via phone, email, chat, and text messaging—allows them to choose the channel that suits their needs best. Ensuring that these channels are integrated and provide consistent service is critical. For instance, a patient starting a conversation via chatbot should be able to transition to a phone call without repeating their information.

Proactive communication can prevent issues before they arise. For example, automated reminders for appointments or prescription refills reduce the need for patients to call in the first place.  Adding a quick check-in call or follow up email to the inbound contact workflow can leave a lasting positive impression and demonstrate a commitment to patient care.

Contact centers can also play a role in broader community outreach efforts, such as health education campaigns or support groups. This reinforces the organization’s dedication to patient well-being beyond individual interactions.

5. Optimize Technology

Technology is a powerful enabler for improving healthcare call centers. However, technology should enhance, not replace, the empathic human touch. For example, predictive analytics tools are showing promise as a way to anticipate patient needs before they reach out. Patient relationship management systems (PRMs) should be configured to enable agents to view medical history, appointment schedules, and billing information in one place. This reduces the time spent searching for data and improving the overall patient experience. A centralized knowledge base will equip agents with quick access to up-to-date information about common issues, procedures, and policies, reducing the need to escalate calls. The less time agents spend searching for answers, the more time they have available to apply their empathic soft skills.

The Future of Healthcare Call Centers

The journey to healing the healthcare call center will constantly evolve as technology changes and patient expectations continue to rise. Ultimately, a successful healthcare call center combines cutting-edge technology with a human touch centered on empathy. By focusing on patient-centered care, empowering staff, embracing innovation, and partnering with the right inbound contact center provider, healthcare organizations can transform their contact centers into pillars of support, efficiency, and trust—healing not just their processes but the patient experience as a whole. For more information about how Advensus can support your healthcare call center, contact us.