Findings show pre-assessment of call center CSR applicants
improves process integrity and business outcomes
Chicago, IL, August 17, 2009 – Vangent, Inc., a leading provider of enrollment and information management solutions and services for health plans, has published new research on the administration of pre-employment behavioral and mental ability assessments to determine call center representative (CSR) reliability and trainability. Vangent’s study focused on assessment and performance data for 146 CSR applicants in its health plan call centers handling enrollment for Medicare plans. Researchers found that the administration of pre-employment assessments favorably impacts CSR training outcomes and on-the-job performance.
Findings from the research show a strong correlation between high scores on the Thurstone Test of Mental Alertness (TMA™) and high performance on Medicare and plan-specific knowledge exams. Preliminary analysis also reveals higher quality monitor scores are correlated with higher scores on a combination of the TMA and selected behavioral measures (i.e., integrity, service, and turnover).
With the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) imposing strict guidelines on health plans for telesales and marketing, and stringent penalties for noncompliance, call centers handling enrollment for Medicare plans must ensure that all CSRs uphold the highest ethical standards and possess the skill set to understand general Medicare knowledge and complex plan benefit designs in order to accurately answer questions from beneficiaries. Subsequently, when a beneficiary wants to enroll in a plan by phone, the CSR must accurately complete the enrollment form and effortlessly relay critical information required by Medicare for the enrollment.
“The Medicare market is more competitive than ever, and health plans should strongly consider the use of proven pre-employment assessments to help staff their call centers with CSRs who not only provide outstanding customer service, but who also are capable of answering complicated beneficiary questions in an accurate and concise manner,” said Dr. John Jones, Vangent’s Vice President and Chief Scientist. “Wrong hires not only reduce a health plan’s opportunity to achieve enrollment goals and meet CMS-required service levels, but they also make the plan vulnerable to unfavorable outcomes centered around CMS mystery shopping.”
Click here to download a complimentary copy of the research paper. For more information about Vangent’s recruitment and assessment solutions for health plan CSRs and licensed agents, visit www.vangent.com/informis or call 703-292-3251.
About Vangent, Inc.
Vangent’s Health Solutions practice has more than 20 years’ experience managing award-winning customer interaction management contact centers for Federal agencies, the commercial healthcare market, as well as state and local governments, both domestic and international. It has a proven track record of successfully designing, building, implementing and operating customer service centers, Web-based self-services, and underlying information technologies such as data warehousing in a variety of Federal and commercial healthcare settings. For more information, visit www.vangent.com/informis.
Vangent, Inc. is a global provider of consulting, systems integration, human capital management, and business process outsourcing services to the U.S. Federal and international governments, higher education institutions, and corporations. Vangent's 7,000 employees support clients including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the U.S. Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor; and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, as well as Fortune 500 companies. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the company has offices throughout the U.S. and in the U.K., Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina. For more information, visit www.vangent.com.
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