Healthcare Telephony in the Age of COVID-19

Lessons Learned and What’s to Come

COVID-19 has produced a lot of “lessons learned” for healthcare systems around the world. From the fragility of our supply chain to the limits of our medical knowledge on treatment of a novel viral infection. Fortunately, the medical community, industry, and government all rolled up their sleeves to contribute knowledge, skills, supplies, and support to frontline caregivers.

At Syllable, we believed that our technology, an AI-powered cloud-based call center solution could play a role in helping healthcare providers respond to the unprecedented number of requests for information and care during a time when on-site care resources were unavailable or in short supply. Syllable has answered the call. We have analyzed millions of phone calls on the frontline and gain a better understanding of healthcare’s challenges everyday.

Rapidly Evolving Needs in Time of Crisis: What to Expect During the Vaccination Phase

When the pandemic started, our user research showed that patients and consumers were clamoring for information. “What were the symptoms of COVID-19?” “How do I protect my family?” “Who is at highest risk of serious infection?”

In a matter of weeks, the types of questions shifted to symptom checking and treatment recommendations. “I have a fever, is it COVID-19?” “I have a cough, how long should I quarantine?” “I am ‘at risk’ and just started to feel nauseous, should I see my doctor?”

Over the next 3–4 months, the requests of our AI turned to care finding, then testing, and finally, as the pandemic waned briefly, appointment finding for less urgent health concerns. But now, with the impending release of several vaccines targeting the novel coronavirus, health systems will find themselves not only having to deal with the logistical challenges of procuring, distributing and administering the vaccine, but they will have to also deal with the simultaneous challenge of managing the expectations of 200 million Americans who will be asking “Who do I call to get in line for the vaccine?”

And they will call! Our research covering major health systems across the US has shown clearly and repeatedly, that 8 out of 9 Americans prefer to interact with their healthcare provider of choice via an “analog” technology, the phone. Only 15% of patients and consumers primarily interact with their healthcare providers in a digital manner.

The Analog-Digital Mismatch

For health systems that have responded to this analog-digital mismatch by building expensive call centers, this is a perfect storm that carries the real possibility of progressive service disruptions. Call centers are essential services for millions of patients, and consumers need hospitals and medical groups to be available when they inquire about obtaining the vaccine.

Current healthcare telecommunications technology is not elastic and cannot scale quickly, if at all. Consequently,

• Access to routine care will suffer. Wait times will increase, abandonment rates will increase, and patients will give up trying to connect with their providers. We have already seen widespread call abandonment during the initial months of COVID. We are now in the midst of a surge which puts call centers at risk as essential infrastructure for hospital operations.
• Increased call volumes will negatively impact the patient experience, trust, and confidence that patients have in healthcare systems.

Health systems must act now to add elasticity and resiliency to their most utilized front-door to care, the call center. AI and the cloud can provide that reservoir of capacity in a flexible and affordable way, that can scale up or down with need. Soon, 200 million Americans will begin calling their health systems for information on the vaccine. Those that perform well will be rewarded, those that fail to perform will be adding insult to injury.