News Release

Spok Survey Finds Hospital Contact Centers Are Important to Patient Experience, but Face Challenges in Staff Retention

More than 300 healthcare professionals offer insight into the state of healthcare contact centers.

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (October 22, 2019) – Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK) and a leader in healthcare communications, today released the results of its second annual survey on hospital contact centers. The survey explores key challenges, strategies, trends, and the importance of the contact center in the patient experience. Respondents included more than 300 healthcare professionals from hospitals and health systems around the country.

“The contact center continues to face significant change,” said Vincent D. Kelly, president and chief executive officer of Spok Holdings, Inc. “As healthcare organizations continue to implement value-based care models, the rate of change will not slow down. There is an opportunity to employ technology that can consolidate tools, replace outdated solutions with more efficient systems and increase staff satisfaction in the process.”

The survey shows 71% of respondents believe the hospital’s contact center proactively contributes to the patient experience—41% reporting it contributes “a great deal” and 30% reporting it contributes “considerably.” Only 3% reported no contribution.

Respondents were also surveyed on the most impactful challenges faced by the hospital’s contact center. Nearly a quarter of the respondents (23%) cited recruitment and retention of staff as the key challenge, followed by agents who don’t have the information necessary to proactively engage with patients (16%), and inefficient processes (16%). Other challenges included operating in a silo (14%), lack of the right tools and technology (9%), unable to show value (9%), and poor network reliability and uptime (5%).

When asked how to improve contact center operations, participants often pointed to a more robust strategy that includes a plan for staff retention, consolidation of tools, and better technology that improves collaboration.

For a more in-depth look at this year’s survey results click here to read the full report.