Improving Customer Satisfaction with the Automated Phone System

MMDHD assembled the QI team with the mindset that all members would have a different insight and therefore have many different vantage points from which to address the problem from both customer service and technical points of view. The team members assembled committed their time and efforts on a weekly basis over the full duration of the QI project. A Pareto chart was developed to identify key problematic issues as stated by the clients in the customer satisfaction surveys to which the QI team used as a starting point to address these issues and concerns. MMDHD decided to use flowcharts to depict the phone system throughout the district. Each branch office has a similar auto attendant setup. The baseline data were obtained from a checksheet that was developed for use by MMDHD's Public Health Representatives (PHRs) to further determine the root causes for misrouted calls dealing with MMDHD’s phone system. After analyzing the baseline data the following actions were recommended: • Clarify phone menu options • Expand phone menu options • Expand call groups • Educate staff on the phone system and its capabilities • Standardize the auto attendant throughout district MMDHD Predictions: (1) IF MMDHD expands the menu options for the Family Planning, WIC, and Immunization programs by separating callers who want to schedule an appointment from those callers who want to speak to someone to ask a question or clarify information… THEN this should accomplish two things: (a) remove calls from the central scheduling queue that were not intended to go there, and (b) provide the caller with a more direct route to the program/service they need. (2) IF MMDHD enlarges the call group size in the branch office by routing the “timed-out” calls and the “all other” calls to a single call group where two people are available to take calls (rather than one person for each) . . . THEN the larger single call group should enhance coverage to the client. (3) IF MMDHD increases the number of times the phone menu options cycle (from once to twice) before the caller is timed out . . . THEN the caller will have sufficient opportunity to hear the menu options and correctly make a selection. (4) IF MMDHD clarifies the Environmental Health (EH) menu script to more clearly identify EH-specific programs . . . THEN callers wanting EH-related services are more likely to select this menu option, and non-EH (CHED) callers will be less likely to select this menu option. (5) IF MMDHD adds to its phone menu the Mid-Michigan Health Plan (MMHP) as a menu option . . . THEN callers in need of this service will have a means of reaching the program staff directly. MMDHD tested its theory by implementing two separate rapid cycle improvements (RCIs) and multiple data collection periods. RCI #1 (1) Expand CHED menu options to a two-tier system (schedule an appointment or questions). (2) Create new call group that captures “all others” and “timed out” auto attendant options. RCI #2 (1) Refine EH menu message for callers. (2) Add MMHP to main menu options. (3) Allow main menu options to cycle twice, rather than once. After the RCIs were analyzed and the outcomes proved positive, the changes were standardized and implemented districtwide on all three branch office auto attendants. A final data collection was then administered, and the data were compiled and analyzed to ensure the results were sustained.

MMDHD will continue to monitor the newly formatted telephone system and auto attendant. Client satisfaction surveys will be analyzed on a quarterly basis to identify the impact of these changes on overall improvement in customer satisfaction.