The challenge: Tackling operational, customer experience and growth issues
Our client is a healthcare business and data automation company. Manual processing and lack of skilled resources created long cycle times, leading to poor customer experience and growth. Over the course of more than a decade, the client identified various areas of its business that could benefit from efficiency and productivity improvements.
- Faxed purchase order (PO) processing: Every day, the client received nearly 22,000 Purchase Orders (POs) from hospitals in the US, the UK and EU – in multiple languages and formats. Processing this large volume of POs within a tight turnaround time (TAT) of 30 minutes/PO was a major challenge. What’s more, the lack of standardized keywords – the client’s 300 supplier divisions used nearly 8500 keywords – resulted in inconsistencies.
- Hospital and supplier onboarding: Rapidly processing hospital and supplier requests to add, delete or amend information was a top priority for our client.
- Content services: 3 Million uncleansed data points in the client’s database created inconsistencies, leading to 25% customer churn. This also led to one million duplicate data points being repeatedly touched manually, creating further variability in the database.
- Network monitoring: Uptick in total number of alerts, MTTA and MTTR, combined with a surge in technology incidents, led to end-customer dissatisfaction.
- Customer support: Hospitals and suppliers in the US, UK and EU submit tickets, requests, or concerns via Salesforce. The client struggled to meet its Operating Level Agreement (OLA) for response time as well as manage its huge case backlog – with the number of escalated cases hitting an alarming high of 1,800/day.
The solution: Leveraging a combination of automation and skilled resources to boost efficiency and productivity
Firstsource has a long-standing strategic relationship with the client – spanning 14 years. During this collaborative journey, our team implemented several innovative solutions leveraging the combined power of our proprietary workflow platform Sympraxis® and skilled domain resources, to create value across the business.
- Faxed PO processing: To optimize resources as well as costs, we carefully analyzed the process, designed the right-fit automation solution, and forecasted volumes to sync staffing levels. We mobilized Sympraxis® to automate data extraction and minimize manual intervention.
- Hospital and supplier onboarding: Our team handles hospital and supplier onboarding requests across the US, UK and EU and completes the registration process within predetermined TAT – 1 hour / 4 hours / 12 hours / 24 hrs – depending on the sensitivity of emails and guidelines.
- Content services: Experienced Firstsource resources with Life Sciences background help attribute and classify medical equipment products catalog received from hospitals. The team assigns more than 21 attributes and HCPCS codes to medical equipment, based on the latest information available on the manufacturer’s or supplier’s website.
- Medical device profile creation: Using data collated from manufacturer’s website and FDA databases, Firstsource resources with a Biomedical Engineering background and knowledge of clinical data created product profiles with multiple attributes of an implant. The product profiles are now used by physicians to compare similar products across brands.
- Invoice processing: Our team scans multiple-format paper invoices, raised by medical manufacturers and suppliers, at Firstsource’s onshore facility in Salt Lake City. The data is then captured and converted into an electronic format at our offshore facilities, using our proprietary platform Sympraxis®. The solution uses multiple integrated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engines to ensure high quality.
- Network monitoring center: We monitor the client’s cloud infrastructure, application performance, network, website, and servers in the US and the EU – round the clock – and tag issues, enabling rapid resolution.
- Customer support: We triage over 500 cases a day, rapidly resolving them in under 15 minutes. The turnaround time for resolving emails ranges from 1 hour to 24 hours, depending on case priority.
- Credentialing support: Credentialing applicants register in the client system and upload supporting documentation. Our team handles 125 different document types, reviews applications, verifies documents, and approves / rejects them based on guidelines.
- Managed services: Our services span contract price management, email follow-up, and outbound calling.
- Contract price management and purchase order confirmation:
- Analyzing contracts to identify contractual price mismatch between hospitals and manufacturers/suppliers and alerting them to any exceptions
- Following up with suppliers via email and phone calls (outbound) for purchase order confirmation.
The results: Delivering exponential impact across business lines
The annualized value of the benefits delivered to the client – across multiple areas of business – translates to $20 Mn in savings. We continue to support the client across operational processes, driving continuous improvements and better decision making.
PO processing
- 10X volume growth fueled by non-English language support
- 30-minute TAT adherence for PO processing
- Reduced onboarding time of new suppliers
Invoice processing
- 85% acceleration in TAT of rejected invoices
- Reduced number of rejected invoices by redacting and processing PHI data from paper invoices using our proprietary platform Sympraxis
- Accelerated hospital onboarding timelines
Content management
- 100% of hospitals moved above 85% discerned rated
- 100% manufacturer duplicate volume automated
- 95% improvement in customer satisfaction
- Increased customer retention
Network monitoring
- 50% reduction in alerts for on-premises systems
- Reduction in overall incidents, pager alerts and cycle time of alerts
- Lower risk of IT failure due to end-to-end remote monitoring
- Superior incident avoidance, enabling client to focus on high value activities
Credentialing
- 90% reduction in document verification cycle time
- 15% increase in volume handled in just three months
- Delivered 100% of volume during health crisis, backed by Covid-19 training
- Real time document upload and new DMT
Managed services
- Seamlessly migrated from Salesforce/Order Center to new platform, backed by Firstsource’s rigorous testing and training practices
- Eliminated customer impact by proactively identifying and fixing bugs in the portal or implementing a workaround solution
- Increased cost savings propelled by new platform migration
- Enhanced AHT and increased number of cases handled the same day, elevating customer satisfaction and helping the client onboard new hospitals
As a strategic partner, Firstsource continues to expand both the scope and volume of the engagement, helping the client stay ahead of the curve.
