How to Choose a HIPAA-Compliant Contact Center Solution

In the evolving landscape of healthcare communication, secure patient texting has emerged as a vital tool for healthcare call centers. This technology not only simplifies communication for staff but also ensures compliance with stringent HIPAA regulations, safeguarding patient information. Here, we explore the benefits of a secure texting solution and what to look for when selecting a solution for your healthcare or payor contact center.

What are the Benefits of Choosing a HIPAA-Compliant Contact Center Solution

Simplify Operations/Enhance Agent Satisfaction

QliqSOFT is seeing implementation of secure patient texting in healthcare call centers leading to significant improvements in operational efficiency. By reducing the volume of inbound and outbound phone calls, call centers can manage their workload more effectively, allowing staff to focus on more complex tasks that require personal interaction. This efficiency not only saves time but also reduces operational costs and staff burnout, contributing to a better bottom line for healthcare organizations. 

Secure texting is streamlining workflows by enabling healthcare providers to communicate directly with patients and other care team members. This capability is particularly beneficial in scenarios such as around patient procedures and even patient discharges, where secure messaging can reduce wait times and expedite the discharge process, as evidenced by studies showing a 50-minute reduction in patient discharge times.

Contact centers are increasingly playing a role in scheduling patients to close gaps in care. Combining secure texting with patient self-capture of data and/or E-signatures organizations can save significant amount of agent time by eliminating agent time entering data and enabling them to more quickly schedule the appointment using the captured data.

Organizations are starting to reduce the need for the agent to answer questions about complex or extensive patient-facing policies and information to using RAG or Retrieval-Augmented Generation. QliqSOFT uses RAG  Large Language Models (LLMs) to access and integrate internal data sources and generate patient responses to questions posed to a digital knowledge agent. This reduces or eliminates the need for the patient to talk to an agent while providing convenience to the patient.

Enhance Patient Experience

With chronic staffing shortages, the average call center hold time is roughly 4.4 minutes; most people are willing to wait 2-3 minutes on hold before getting upset. Fifty-seven percent of customers find long hold times to be a frustrating part of the service experience. Even more concerning, 80% of customers will switch to a competitor after more than one unpleasant experience with a business.

Patient expectations for convenience are rising. Meeting those expectations is good for patients and the bottom line. Ninety-three percent of customers say they would make repeated purchases with a business that provides excellent customer service.

From an organizational perspective, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by between 25% and 95%, converting your contact center from a cost center to instead driving revenue.

Secure patient texting significantly improves the patient's experience by facilitating convenient and efficient communication between healthcare providers and patients. This method allows healthcare call centers to quickly relay critical information, such as appointment reminders, test results, and medication instructions, directly to patients' mobile devices. By reducing the need for back-and-forth phone calls, secure texting ensures that patients receive necessary information promptly, enhancing their overall healthcare experience.

Secure texting is also useful for inbound communications. It allows patients to avoid the frustration of long hold times and supports convenient asynchronous conversations. Moreover, secure texting supports patient engagement and retention by providing a convenient communication channel that patients increasingly prefer. This ease of communication helps keep patients informed and engaged in their healthcare journey, leading to better health outcomes.

Flexible and Scalable

Secure patient texting solutions offer flexibility and scalability, making them suitable for healthcare organizations of all sizes. Whether it is a large hospital system or a single physician practice, secure texting platforms can meet many communication needs. This adaptability allows healthcare organizations to start with basic staff-to-patient secure texting and gradually embrace population-level outreach. Population-level outreach includes conversational AI chatbots, for example to educate patients on gaps in care and the importance of scheduling a preventive health appointment as they mature - an important strategy to succeed in value-based care.

What Should You Look for in a Patient Texting Solution?

Capabilities

Expect more than just texting. You will gain efficiency by switching from a call to a secure text, but the real benefits and savings add up when you can:

• Save staff time by embedding secure texting within your contact center solution workflow.
• Enable convenient patient self-service using AI knowledge agents.
• Capture key patient data and e-signatures outside of the staff-patient interaction.
• Enable agents to hand off to a conversational assistant to manage routine needs.
• Switch from outbound calls to send automated population level texts with information and education to engage previously disengaged patients.
• Text staff and patients from within the same application.
• Support robust role-based access ensures that staff only see patient data that they need while managers can see more.

Security

One of the most critical aspects of secure patient texting is its ability to maintain data security and compliance with regulations such as HIPAA. Secure texting platforms, such as QliqSOFT's secure text messaging platform, use end to end encryption technologies to protect sensitive patient information during transmission, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access the data. 

Secure data storage and access controls and robust audit logs and reporting keep data safe. This level of security is crucial in preventing data breaches and maintaining patient confidentiality. When combined with HIPAA-secure forms, organizations can move beyond using call centers to send appointment reminders to now capture important patient information, consents and more to streamline patient visits.

Healthcare call centers can further enhance security by implementing features such as auto-deleting messages, administrative controls, and secure access protocols. These measures provide peace of mind to both healthcare providers and patients, knowing that HIPAA-secure texting protects patient information from unauthorized access.

Conclusion

The value of secure patient texting for healthcare call centers cannot be overstated. By enhancing the patient experience, improving operational efficiency, ensuring data security, and offering flexibility, secure texting is a powerful tool that addresses the communication challenges faced by modern healthcare organizations. As the healthcare industry continues to embrace digital transformation, secure patient texting will undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping the future of two-way patient-provider communication.