It was a cold and rainy morning in 2018 when I saw what customer service really looked like. I pulled into the drive-through at Chick-Fil-A for an order of chicken minis and a cup of coffee.
As I pulled up to the screen, I was greeted by a young lady who was bundled up from head to toe. She held a tablet in her shivering hands and a bright smile was on her face. “Good Morning! What can I get for you?” I was surprised by how positive she was considering how cold she must have been.
The same scene would repeat itself as I pulled up to the window to get my food and not one—but two—friendly faces met me. One employee was inside the restaurant and one was standing outside the drive-through window on the curb. “Thank you for coming!” the young man said as he handed me my bag. Right at that moment a gust of icy wind cut across our faces. I rolled up my window even more impressed.
I thought to myself – “These people are dedicated.”
But it wasn’t over. Only a few feet away at the end of the lane, the third and final encounter with an employee took place. This young lady also had a friendly bundled-up face. She was standing outside next to a table of condiments – ketchup, jams, sauces, etc. “Would you like some ketchup?,” she said. “My pleasure,” she continued.
From start to finish, an event as simple as getting my breakfast reminded me that I was a valued customer. Valuable enough to have multiple employees outside in the cold with a smile and an aim to please.
I reflect on this rainy morning each time I’m in a meeting at Texas Children’s Health Plan and our senior leaders use the phrase “customer obsessed.” I think to myself, I know exactly what that looks like.
Building a customer obsessed culture at The Health Plan
The work that we do at Texas Children’s Health Plan is much more important than hot breakfast and coffee –it’s health care. It’s health care for families who are low-income and dealing with all the challenges that come with living at, or around, the poverty line. Our members and their families are our customers.
But one of the things that raises the expectations for Health Plan employees is that we have more than one kind of customer. In addition to our members as customers, our providers are also our customers. (Our providers are the physicians, specialists, therapists and other medical professionals that take care of our members.) And finally, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (known as HHSC) is our third customer. The HHSC provides financing to our organization for every member that we serve.
So in our efforts to become customer obsessed, there are several projects taking place to help us meet that goal. Just a few of these are:
- A provider onboarding flowchart, which helps to navigate the start of a provider’s relationship with us
- A newly launched “Strike Team”, which operates like a special ops task force to deal with high-level provider issues.
- The re-configuration of Q-Next, one of our databases that informs our claims process.
- A brand new claims processing dashboard project that provides real-time information on how we are managing our claims.
- Intense and hands-on customer service training for our Member Services and Provider Services call center employees.
- The revitalization of our Healthy Rewards Program, formerly known as Value Added Services. Our Healthy Rewards Program provides members with access to family-oriented activities and incentives.
- The introduction of Epic Tapestry, an electronic medical record system that will eliminate the need for multiple databases and duplication of many processes.
- And many others!
Putting the needs of our customers first is the number one priority at The Health Plan and we are off to a strong start. Detailed stories about each of these efforts will be featured in Connect in coming weeks. Are you a Texas Children’s employee who is involved in helping The Health Plan become customer-obsessed? I’d love to hear from you! Send me a note at eehayes1@texaschildrens.org.
Erika Alvarez (pictured above) is one of the highest performing Member Services Representatives. She goes above and beyond to meet the needs of Texas Children’s Health Plan members.
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To read all about “Hayes on The Health Plan” and the top 10 things you should know about Texas Children’s Health Plan, read more at https://texaschildrensnews.org/hayes-on-the-health-plan/.