Evolving Medical Information Call Centers through Performance Measurement and Process Improvement

Summary

Reinvent Your Medical Information Call Centers:

• Are your call loads decreasing because customers seek information via new avenues?
• Do you face info-sharing competition within your own organization?
• What new areas demand medical information expertise?

Evolving Medical Information Call Centers addresses these questions - and more - to give your company the boost needed to correct your call centers' mistakes and evolve the group into new territories. Our study contains real-world data and best practices from top pharmaceutical companies' medical information call center operations.

With customers able to find product information on the Internet or from other sources -- and with internal teams encroaching on territory previously owned by medical information groups -- call center leaders now face a number of potentially function-changing challenges.

Top teams combat the evolving landscape by tightening their own ships - which means enacting performance metrics and process improvements to become more efficient and to strengthen customer relationships. Additionally, medical information call centers continue to move into new areas, adding tasks where their skill sets translate well.

Cutting Edge Information developed this research to help medical information call center leaders in their improvement efforts. The report makes its case in three easy-to-navigate chapters:

• Medical Information Structures, Headcounts and Budgets - As the first major point of contact between patients and doctors and the company, call centers set the tone between customers and the firm. For medical information teams to deliver the highest quality service, they must be structured well and own sufficient headcounts and budgets. This chapter investigates structure and staffing choices while determining how these influence call center budgets.
• Call Center Performance Measurement - Surprisingly, metrics tracking is a largely under-utilized practice in medical information call centers. In this threatening environment, however, the first step toward improvement is tracking and measuring call center metrics. This chapter examines what measures companies currently track -- and which ones all centers should be tracking. Benchmarks help call centers compare themselves against centers at top pharma companies.
• Call Center Process Improvement - Pharmaceutical companies that focus on making their call centers efficient, available and easy to navigate will earn customer raves. To ensure that customers have good experiences, medical information leaders build sound processes into their call centers. This chapter provides details of call center processes such as answering systems.

Companies Included in this Report:

Abbott/ American Academy of CME
Amgen/ Bayer
Bristol-Myers Squibb/ Boehringer-Ingelheim
Burson-Marsteller/ Cephalon
Dey/ Gilead Sciences
Johnson & Johnson/ Novartis
Pfizer/ Procter & Gamble
Sanofi-Aventis

Contents

• The report's three chapters include structure, budget, staffing and performance metrics:
• Chapter 1: Medical Information Structures, Headcounts and Budgets
  • Percentage of companies with centralized structure
  • Ratiof internal vs. outsourced call centers
  • Percentage of outsourced call center operations in US vs ex-US
  • Call center staffing
  • Levels of education represented in call centers
  • Mix of education levels represented in call centers
  • Medical information budgets
  • Source of medical information budgets
  • Percentage of budget allocated tsalaries
  • Brand-level medical information spending
• Chapter 2: Call Center Performance Measurement: Tracking Key
• Metrics
  • Call center metrics tracked
  • Average total number of inbound and outbound calls per center
  • Average total number of calls per FTE (monthly and annually)
  • Ratiof inbound vs. outbound calls
  • Expected vs. actual turn-around time
  • Percentage actual turn-around time exceeds expected
  • Average on-hold times
  • Average abandonment rates
  • Customer satisfaction rating
  • Cost per call
  • Number of written responses disseminated annually
• Chapter 3: Call Center Process Improvement
  • Sources of medical information inquiries
  • Percentages of companies with IVR systems in place
  • Days and hours individual call centers are open each week
  • Percentage of companies with medical information personnel available during business hours
  • Utilization of external medical experts
  • After-hours availability of medical information specialists
  • Ratiof written tverbal responses
  • Percentage of companies with specific types of written documents available
  • Ratiof response delivery (fax, e-mail, mail)
  • Percentage of departments offering written material on investigational products
  • Percentage of companies with websites for FAQs and/or standard letters
  • Stakeholder feedback mechanisms