BOSTON, March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts ("Blue Cross") is the proud recipient of four awards from SQM Group, a market leader in North America for helping call centers improve first call resolution and customer experience.
"Our service team never ceases to amaze me," said Rich Lynch, chief operating officer at Blue Cross. "Their dedication to our members combined with their commitment to innovation and continuous process improvement result in Blue Cross providing a consistently exceptional consumer experience."
Blue Cross' Member, Account, and Provider Service team will receive two World Class Call Center certifications and two Customer Experience Best Practice awards. One of the best practice awards was created this year to specifically to recognize innovations the company implemented to ensure it meets its first call resolution (FCR) goals.
FCR is a key benchmark for customer service centers and measures the percentage of customer issues or concerns that are solved during the customer's first contact with the service center.
Best Practice Awards
The FCR Measurement Best Practice award recognizes the innovative ways Blue Cross combines internal data and direct feedback from members and shares that with the plan's FCR governance team to improve performance on this key metric. The governance team is made up of stakeholders from across the company and is responsible for monitoring and responding to issues that may prevent service associates from resolving an issue in the first contact.
"SQM is incredibly proud to announce Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts as winner of our inaugural First Call Resolution Measurement Best Practice award," said Nader Ghattas, SQM Group's chief customer experience officer. "This award represents a commitment to drive an enterprise-wide accountability to First Call Resolution through a validated best practice of how FCR is measured and its importance at all levels of the organization."
Blue Cross also received SQM Group's Customer Service Representative Training Best Practice award, which recognized the company's ability to pivot from an in-person to an all-virtual training program in response to pandemic driven office closures.
"This has been one of the most challenging years in our history," said Ryan O'Donnell, vice president of member, account, and provider service at Blue Cross. "Yet our team was able to quickly adapt, evolve and develop training and measurement solutions to ensure that we continued to meet the needs of our customers and members."
World Class Call Center Certification
Blue Cross' retail sales and retention team, which assists individuals with finding the right health plan, and the company's contact center partnership with Express Scripts International, which serves members with the Blue Cross pharmacy benefit, were both certified as world class call centers for FCR.
The certification is presented to organizations that achieve a FCR rate of 80% for three straight months. The retail sales and retention team has earned world class certification for five years in a row, while Express Scripts Blue Cross partnership has been recognized as world class for the last three years.
The SQM Group's virtual award ceremony will take place May 20.
About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (bluecrossma.org) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are committed to the relentless pursuit of quality, affordable and equitable health care with an unparalleled consumer experience. Consistent with our promise to always put our members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
