Is There Anybody Out There?

Monday’s Boston Globe reported that Massachusetts residents by the thousands are waiting for somebody—anybody—to pick up the phone and answer their questions about Commonwealth Care, the government-subsidized insurance program managed by the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector.  By state law, all Massachusetts citizens must show proof of health insurance coverage by December 31, 2007 or face tax penalties. 

Call center operations have been outsourced by the state to a private company under a two-year, $13.2M contract.  Amid the rush to enroll before the year end deadline, call volume to the phone center is surging, with less than hale and hearty results.  According to the Globe, in the last week of September, the call center received 13,000 calls; 2,860 (22 percent) were abandoned by callers due to excessively long wait times.  The state’s contract with the call center dictates that no more than 3 percent of calls each month may be left unanswered; in September 2007, 15 percent of calls languished.

As states and hospital systems work to improve the U.S. healthcare system through “customer-centric” service offerings such as online patient portals and 24-hour call center support, has enough attention been paid to investments in technology infrastructure and procedures for holding vendors accountable in order to achieve stated (or mandated) goals?

“Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone…”