4 common challenges for hospital contact centers in 2024 

Contact centers serve as a critical communication bridge between healthcare facilities and their communities, playing an indispensable role when creating ideal patient experiences. Despite the technological advancements that have revolutionized these workplaces in recent years, many hospital contact center challenges directly impact employees’ abilities to be productive and fulfill the needs of the caller on the other line.  

By acknowledging the contact center operational challenges that you may face in 2024, your healthcare organization is one step closer to finding the best solutions and maintaining your essential communication channel.  

High call volumes 

High call volumes are one of the most pressing challenges for hospital contact centers across the country, often resulting in extended waiting times and higher abandonment rates.  

By adopting new technology that evenly distributes calls and includes self-service options for simpler requests, employees can get through these high volumes at a much quicker pace.  

With the help of predictive analytics, hospitals can alleviate these contact center management challenges by forecasting any spikes in call volume and schedule accordingly to this increased demand. 

To learn more about how contact center technology plays a pivotal role in handling high call volumes during national disasters, learn more about our success story with Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge.  

Staff recruiting and retention  

While dealing with budget constraints, hospitals often struggle to attract and retain the best employees for their contact centers. Poorly trained employees often are unable to fulfil complex questions for the caller on the other line, resulting in lowered staff productivity and patient dissatisfaction.  

Investing in better employee benefits, such as remote work flexibility or commuter perks, along with more comprehensive programs that include culturally sensitive training allows healthcare organizations to provide high-quality communication experiences and overcome these contact center operational challenges.  

Evolving patient expectations 

Patient expectations towards their health care experiences and accessibility of their personal information were already shifting before March 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic truly tested how clinical data systems were delivering on these standards.  

To meet these demands, hospitals need to move away from traditional approaches and embrace digital transformation. Adopting new communication channels will allow employees to navigate these contact center challenges with more ease.  

Disorganized software systems

In the face of mergers and acquisitions, hospital contact centers may have incompatible software systems that create more barriers in communication, leading to lost productivity and potential dissatisfaction from callers on the other line.  

These challenges for hospital contact centers are further exacerbated when one system experiences technical difficulties, affecting the rest of the healthcare organization’s communication infrastructure.  

By consolidating disorganized software systems into a centralized solution, contact center employees can dedicate more of their time towards delivering exceptional patient experiences.  

A hospital’s ability to navigate contact center management challenges largely depends on having multi-faceted strategies. With emerging technologies, comprehensive training, and patient-centric approaches, your healthcare organization can pave the way for continued success in 2024.