Atrium Health: Key Service and the Role of the Customer Service Department

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Atrium Health is committed to the improvement of people’s wellbeing by providing high-quality care to all patients irrespective of their backgrounds. Primary care is one of the key services of the organization in question that introduced a new model of primary care delivery in 2017 (“E14: Proactive Health Part 2,” n.d.). The program Proactive Health implies the provision of healthcare services with an emphasis on wellness and lifestyle management (Atrium Health, 2019). The project involves bridging the customer and a healthcare team through regular visits and mobile-based communication. The customer receives reports and updates, as well as reminders and messages, which facilitates the communication process and helps the person to remain aware of the state of their health. The health team includes a physician, a health advocate, nursing staff, and a dietitian. This paper is concerned with possible failure points in the process of care delivery and ways to address them.

Service Delivery

In order to identify potential failure points, it is necessary to consider the process of this service provision. The customer subscribes online or can call the Customer Care Department (see Figure 1). The customer communicates with a care manager to clarify some points and order the service. Care manager provides detailed information regarding the program options (standard or premium), types of communication channels, and other relevant data. This healthcare professional then initiates the creation of the health team using the existing software and makes sure that no issues arise. If some problems occur, the care manager contacts the corresponding department (IT specialists, Financial Department, or medical staff) to address the issues. The customer is in close contact with their health team, but they can also contact Customer Care to receive consultations or solve issues that may emerge.

Figure 1. Service delivery process.

Contact Point Failures

It is noteworthy that Atrium Health employs a sophisticated information system (IS) that ensures the proper work of the project. The use of effective IS is pivotal for the delivery of high-quality service, and communication is one of the central aspects contributing to improved patient outcomes and patient satisfaction (Nelson & Staggers, 2016). Atrium Health acknowledges the benefits of technology and employs technological advances and personalized approach. The service delivery process can be characterized by precision and user-friendliness. Nevertheless, certain contact point failures are still possible and need to be addressed.

It is clear that the position of care manager can be regarded as a data hub that, in a way, defines the further development of customer-staff relationships. At the same time, this can be a serious contact failure point. Customers report about technical or financial issues to this professional who then addresses the corresponding departments trying to solve the problem. However, this can lead to the loss of time or an ineffective solution, which has a negative impact on customer satisfaction. The introduction of standard protocols, reports, and guidelines incorporated into the information system will improve the situation. Healthcare employees are often overwhelmed with tasks, which results in errors or low-quality services delivery (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2017). Therefore, it is important to make sure that many operations will be automatized or directed to specialists who have the necessary skills to deal with the issue. All problems customers address will be solved quickly, so no negative emotions regarding the provided services will not be evoked.

Another significant contact failure point is also related to the care manager’s responsibility. Once the customer is in contact with the healthcare team, they lose their link with the care manager until an issue occurs. However, it can be much more effective to address the customer asking for their feedback. The leaders of the project stress that they utilize the post-factum approach meaning that they asked patients about things they liked or disliked during the initial stages of the program (“E14: Proactive Health Part 2,” n.d.). Care manager could contact customers (through the mobile-based platform or by phone) asking to give feedback or suggest any possible improvements. Osei-Frimpong, Wilson, and Lemke (2018) state that value co-creation has become one of the characteristic features of the contemporary business world. Organizations that empower their customers to co-create manage to develop their competitive advantage. Thus, it is necessary to introduce a communication channel between care managers and customers.

The third contact failure point to be discussed is associated with an online subscription. The role of the care manager in this service delivery process seems redundant as the customer can be contacted by the health team directly. The customer can (and does) provide the necessary information when subscribing, and the health team is the one that identifies all the details regarding the customer’s health and ways to improve their health status. Instead of being called by the care manager, the customer who subscribed can be sent an invitation for the first introductory visit. Clearly, the system should incorporate health team’s schedules to make sure that the optimal time is chosen.

Revisited Brand Positioning Statement

The new brand positioning statement can be formulated as follows:

Proactive Health is a program that enables customers to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle and improve their health status by providing 24/7 support and care. Customers receive services before they understand they need them, which is essential for modern people who have little time to spare but want to be healthy and fit during their lifetime.

This statement reveals the two major aspects that create the highest value for the customers. These components are health and time as people want to be healthy but invest as little time as possible in this sphere. People skip regular visits to doctors due to the lack of time as health is not the priority of many, which is especially true for young adults.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is possible to note that Proactive Health is a program that can be regarded as the future of primary care. Customers receive healthcare services that are personalized and easily accessed. Healthcare staff and customers are in close contact, which leads to positive patient outcomes and customer satisfaction. However, service delivery care is still associated with certain downsides. The identified contact failure points are mainly related to the role of the care manager. Thus, some of the functions can be automatized while such responsibility as feedback collection should be introduced. These changes will help to improve the provision of care and make the program more competitive. The use of advanced information systems is the primary condition that will ensure the creation of value for customers. The central elements of the program to focus on when positioning the improved service are health and time. Customers should be informed about an opportunity to improve their health while spending less time on this essential aspect of human life.

References

Atrium Health. (2019). A new kind of healthcare experience. Web.

(n.d.). Web.

Nelson, R., & Staggers, N. (2016). Health informatics: An interprofessional approach (2nd ed.). Saint Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Osei-Frimpong, K., Wilson, A., & Lemke, F. (2018). Patient co-creation activities in healthcare service delivery at the micro level: The influence of online access to healthcare information. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126, 14-27. Web.

Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2017). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care management (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

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