5 benefits to recording contact center calls 

For modern hospitals, call recording should be prioritized as a must-have. Call recording in your healthcare contact center provides agents with the tools they need to deliver top-notch customer service every time they’re on the phone, helps advance regulatory compliance, elevates hospital reputation, and much more. Let’s examine five benefits to recording calls in your contact center: 

1. Enhanced patient experience 

In the era of consumerism, hospitals know they must keep patients satisfied to remain the care provider of choice. Calling in to schedule an appointment or check in on a loved one should be a hassle-free process that gives patients the information they need and leaves a positive impression. Call recording can help ensure that your hospital’s patients are receiving top-notch customer service every time. Contact center supervisors can use recordings to get examples of calls for performance grading and to help educate agents on how to handle certain scenarios. Without these recorded conversations, it’s often difficult to provide proper training to improve interactions with patients and families. 

2. Improving productivity  

When you don’t know what you don’t know, how can you improve? You risk having unproductive agents in your contact center if they aren’t empowered to play back their conversations and learn from them. Call recording enables you to develop scripts from previous calls, so operators are prepared to efficiently address the most common requests. Call recording includes screen capture in addition to audio, which can also be reviewed for opportunities to improve efficiency. For example, if it takes an agent a long time to execute a particular task, your contact center could implement a shortcut so they can accomplish it with a few keystrokes. Routinely viewing these recordings shines a light on blind spots and helps fill gaps for maximum productivity. It also contributes to agent empowerment as you’re actively providing them with the right tools necessary for them to succeed at their jobs. 

3. Misunderstanding the customer voice 

The contact center is perhaps the No. 1 underutilized resource for understanding your customers. Most large organizations field hundreds or even thousands of calls per day. You’re missing out on a treasure trove of data if you don’t have call recording installed in your contact center. Call recording can help you better understand your customers’ needs by answering questions such as: 

• Why are they going to your hospital? 
• What types of information are routinely sought? Is there a way to better provide this information in other formats? 
• Are they getting the information/help they’re seeking in a timely fashion? 
• Are they satisfied/dissatisfied? Why? 

4. Poor liability management 

Communication issues are often at the core of critical failures and sentinel events. An analysis by The Joint Commission revealed that communication failures were the root cause of over 70 percent of sentinel events. Hospital contact centers have a role here as well, as they do so much more than answer incoming calls—many have a direct role in patient care with responsibility for launching critical codes, issuing emergency notifications, and more. In the event of a malpractice case or dispute resolution involving telecommunications, call recording allows you to revisit the communication in question. 

As you can see, not having call recording in your hospital contact center leaves you exposed to potential issues and also closes doors for tremendous opportunities to develop more efficient agents and improve the patient experience. Take customer service to the next level and arm your hospital with the technology tools to effectively meet the demands of the industry today: Contact us to learn more and see a demo. 

5. Adhering to regulatory policies 

Hospital contact centers are bound by the same regulatory laws as the patient care units. They also have to comply with HIPAA and other patient privacy rules and regulations. Recording and storing all telecommunication interactions ensures you’re ready if your organization undergoes a HIPAA audit. Recordings can also help show compliance with medical record regulations. 

Want to learn more? Read the essential guide on hospital contact centers.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2018 and has been updated for relevancy and accuracy.