A doctor’s visit is not most people’s favorite errand but an inevitable one. Leaving home or work can be both time-consuming and stressful especially when you’re so sick that you can’t even wear proper clothes. Healthcare was all about going the doctor, tell him how you feel and getting the right diagnosis and prescription to make it all go away. But now, it can be easier than that.

The article Call Centers – Filling the Gaps in the Patient Care Continuum by Daniella Koren discussed there can be a way on how patients can be accommodated and engaged to be active on their care and that is by using a nurse-staffed call center.

According to the article, the idea of a call center like this can help a patient in three ways. Firstly, when a person asks about his condition, a staff can evaluate whether his/her situation demands urgency. Secondly, the call center can function as a reminder to the patient once he leaves the office about the doctor’s instructions and also to give clarifications if there are more questions. Lastly, helping these patients keep track of their treatment such as prescription or recommendations.

Though call centers are often used in outbound telemarketing or customer services mainly in consumer electronics, it is important to know that it is a medium of communication operated by a wide network that can be of service when it comes to information dissemination. Healthcare is a necessity and using different mediums to further its services can only mean good health for everybody.

Care Coordination with technology as tool

According the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Care coordination involves deliberately organizing patient care activities and sharing information among all of the participants concerned with a patient’s care to achieve safer and effective care. Through this, the patient’s needs and preferences are known ahead of time, and communicated to key persons to provide safe, appropriate and effective care to the patient. Using technology as a tool, the concept can be put to use.

It is basically the most useful way to communicate with the patient. It is used in many hospitals not only in US but also here, in the Philippines. Like an advance order in McDonald’s, care coordination in partnership with the IT-BPO sector is a faster way in dealing with any patient regardless the condition he or she is in.

With the help of technology, the right manpower, the right management, and the right program and softwares, care coordination can be applied in call centers to reach optimum results. While care coordination centers in hospitals in the US are more personal, tied up with technology, it is more efficient and accurate. Also, with the benefits of the BPO industry, it can be less expensive not compromising the quality of work the manpower delivers.

Reaching the global market

In a case study by Judith Strother entitled, Call Centers in Health Care: Effect on Patient Satisfaction, the conclusion of the study states that customers are very satisfied with the service they get from healthcare call centers in Central Florida. Furthermore, it states that with its continuous effort to keep up with the latest technology and the continuous challenge to train and equip agents to become 100 percent adept in the service they are providing, the business can eventually and inevitably grow globally.