Implementing patient-centric routing strategies in healthcare contact centers to optimize agent assignment based on historical data, patient priority, and agent skill sets

Patient-centric routing is a way to send patient calls to the best contact center agents. Instead of answering calls in the order they come in or by chance, this method matches patients with agents who have skills and knowledge for their needs.

Key factors in patient-centric routing include:

• Historical Patient Data: Looking at previous calls, medical history, or communication preferences.
• Patient Priority: Considering how urgent the medical issue is, the type of appointment, or the patient’s status.
• Agent Skill Sets: Matching agents who have specific medical skills, languages, or administrative abilities.

This approach is important because patients have different needs. For example, calls about serious symptoms should get faster service than billing questions. Good routing cuts down waiting time, reduces call transfers, and lowers patient frustration. This helps patients get better care.

Leveraging Historical Patient Data to Personalize Routing

Many U.S. healthcare offices use electronic health records (EHR), which have a lot of patient information. When contact centers connect with these records, they can use past data to guide how they route calls.

For example, if a patient recently asked about diabetes care, the system might send their next call to an agent trained in chronic care. EHR systems like Epic, used by many doctors in the U.S., let contact centers access patient history during calls. This helps agents give more helpful and personalized answers quickly. Patients don’t need to repeat information, and issues get solved faster.

Using historical data also helps find patients who call often or who have special communication needs. This improves how care is provided, especially for patients with long-term or complex health needs.

The Role of Patient Priority in Routing Decisions

Every patient case is different. So contact centers need to use priority-based routing to handle urgent calls fast.

Patient priority can be based on things like:

• How urgent the medical issue is (for example, how severe symptoms are)
• Type of appointment (emergency vs. routine check-up)
• Patient status (such as VIP or high-risk)
• Past no-shows or how well patients follow medical advice

Systems like Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) help by sending calls from urgent patients to agents quickly. This cuts down waiting times and missed calls. Other industries show that smart routing can lower wait times from minutes to under a minute. In healthcare, this means patients get faster care and fewer problems from late communication.

Matching Agents’ Skill Sets to Patient Needs

An important part of patient-centric routing is making sure agents have the right skills for the patient’s questions. Skills-based routing connects patients to agents with abilities like:

• Medical knowledge in special areas like heart health or diabetes
• Language skills to help patients who speak different languages
• Administrative skills for billing, insurance, or scheduling
• Soft skills like listening and solving problems

For example, Cisco’s Webex Contact Center helps agents handle calls, chats, emails, and messages in one place. It matches agents to patients based on the patient’s needs and the agent’s skill level. This improves first-time problem-solving and lowers the chance agents feel tired or stressed. Some AI tools even watch for signs of agent fatigue and suggest breaks or schedule changes.

AI and Workflow Automation: Enhancing Routing Efficiency and Patient Support

AI-Driven Patient Routing and Assistance

Artificial intelligence (AI) helps make routing faster and smarter. AI systems can look at caller information and predict which agent is best. They can understand what patients say by voice or text better than before.

AI can also do simple tasks like scheduling appointments or checking symptoms on its own. This lets human agents focus on harder problems.

For example, Cisco’s Webex AI Agent can answer patient questions anytime on channels they like. If the AI can’t help, it shifts the call to a human agent and passes all needed information. This stops patients from repeating themselves and keeps the conversation smooth.

Automated Workflow Management

Automation tools let contact centers create rules that decide how calls and messages are handled. These rules can include:

• Routing by agent skills
• Prioritizing patients by data
• Choosing the communication channel
• Managing queues and sending calls to supervisors if needed

Automation also helps with things like sending appointment reminders or notifying patients after a hospital stay. This keeps patients on track with their care.

Integrating Multi-Channel Communication for Better Access and Engagement

Patients today want to use their favorite ways to talk with healthcare, like phone calls, texts, emails, chat, or social media.

Webex Contact Center supports many channels, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Apple Messages for Business, and regular email besides phone calls.

This helps make care easier to reach, especially in a country with many kinds of patients. For example, a busy parent might prefer text reminders, while an older patient might want a phone call. Agents can see all channels in one screen to avoid missing details. The system also adjusts routing by channel and urgency.

Skills-based routing works across all channels by matching agent skills with the communication method. Priority comes from patient data and live inputs and helps decide who gets help first. This lowers wait times and keeps calls from being abandoned.

Real-Time Monitoring and Analytics for Continuous Improvement

Healthcare leaders need to know how their contact centers are doing to improve care and operations.

Modern routing systems offer live data on things like:

• Number of calls and wait times
• Length of queues and how often calls are dropped
• Agent use of skills and performance
• Patient satisfaction scores through automated voice analysis

Cisco’s Webex Contact Center rates every voice call for patient satisfaction. This is important because surveys usually get few responses. The system uses this information to help coaches improve agents and make routing better. It also sends live transcripts to agents, so they can take fewer notes and communicate more clearly with patients.

Addressing Workforce Wellbeing with Technology

Agent wellbeing is a concern in U.S. healthcare contact centers. Burnout can come from emotional stress and heavy workloads.

New contact center tools can watch agents in real time and suggest when they should take breaks or change schedules. Keeping agents healthy helps them do better work, which helps patients too.

The Importance of System Integration in the U.S. Healthcare Context

U.S. healthcare providers face challenges when connecting routing systems. Rules like HIPAA protect patient privacy. Plus, many different patient types and insurance rules make things complex.

Integrating contact centers with EHR systems like Epic lets agents access patient data safely and quickly. The new Webex Contact Center and Epic integration combines smart routing with shared patient records and communication tools. This reduces paperwork for agents and speeds up care for patients.

For administrators, strong system connections help guide patients smoothly through care—from first contact to recovery—in one organized setup.

Summary

Healthcare contact centers in the United States get many benefits from routing that focuses on patients. Using past patient data, priority levels, and agent skills creates smoother and more personal experiences.

Tools like AI routing, automation, and support for many communication channels improve how patients and agents connect. Real-time data and agent wellbeing features help centers work better and keep patients happier.

Systems that connect with records like Epic make these efforts even stronger. Patient-focused contact centers are an important part of today’s healthcare operations.