In recent years, remote work has experienced a significant surge in popularity, driven primarily by advancements in technology and the changing landscape of work culture. As we embrace this transformative way of working, it’s essential to recognize the unexpected yet undeniable positive impact contracting with a remote healthcare call center can have on the environment and on climate change.
Since American Health Connection’s industry leading transition to remote and virtual healthcare call centers in 2009, we have found that the synergy between our remote call center and climate change mitigation is an unintended, but remarkable development that we are proud of and one that continues to offer promising path towards a greener and more profitable future.
Understanding The Call Center Climate Change Connection
Before explaining more about how our virtual healthcare call center climate change strategy is a more cost effective and carbon neutral option for your business, consider what a 2022 report by McKinsey Sustainability found to be the biggest contributors to CO2 emissions:
- 30% of CO2 emissions from electricity and heat generation
- 30% of CO2 emissions from production of steel, cement, chemicals, oil/gas/coal
- 19% of CO2 emissions from transportation
- 14% of CO2 emissions from forestry and land use
- 6% of CO2 emissions from heating and cooling buildings
- 1% of CO2 emissions from agriculture
Looking at the data above, like most healthcare organizations, your organization is probably contributing significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from transportation of your employees and the fuels and resources required to power, heat, and cool your office space.
This is where AHC’s virtual call center model of operation becomes an advantage – not only in terms of call center climate change responsibility, but also in financial savings for you and your business. All of our highly-trained call center attendants use our secure and proprietary call center technology to meet the needs of your patients and your organization while working remotely and from their own homes.
Working from home means reduced greenhouse gas emissions from reduced travel and a reduced carbon footprint for your organization, as a result of a reduction in the need for call center office space and related utilities.
Here are a number of other climate friendly benefits our clients have experienced after contracting with American Health Connection:
Reduced Carbon Footprint
One of the most direct and tangible benefits of utilizing our remote call center climate change model is the reduction of carbon emissions. As mentioned above, traditional office settings involve daily commutes for employees, which result in a substantial carbon footprint due to the widespread use of fossil fuels.
However, our remote call center eliminates or greatly reduces the need for commuting, resulting in fewer cars on the road and fewer emissions being released into the atmosphere.
According to many estimates, widespread remote work similar to our model in other industries could lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global efforts to combat climate change.
Decreased Energy Consumption
Another advantage of remote work is the decreased energy consumption associated with running large office buildings needed for traditional call centers and front office staffing. Offices require electricity for lighting, heating, cooling, and powering electronic equipment. By allowing employees to work from home, companies can significantly lower their energy consumption and subsequently reduce the current strain on our energy grids, leading to a decrease in overall energy production and associated emissions.
Less Paper Waste and Resource Consumption
The digital nature of remote work reduces the need for excessive paper usage. Traditional office settings often involve printing out documents, reports, and memos, leading to high levels of paper waste. Our remote call center climate change model uses only the most advanced and secure methods of sharing digital documents and digital information, which not only saves trees but also reduces energy and water consumption associated with paper production – and further reduces overhead and costs for your healthcare organization.
Promotion of Sustainable Lifestyles
AHC encourages all of our call center employees to create their own personalized green work environments, providing an opportunity to incorporate sustainable practices into their daily routines while reducing traditional call center climate change impacts. With flexible schedules, employees can take advantage of natural light and adjust heating or cooling according to their preferences, leading to lower energy usage while taking personal responsibility to make their own remote call center climate change impacts.
Additionally, we’ve found the freedom for our employees to cook or prepare meals at home can promote healthier eating habits and reduce reliance on energy-intensive fast food chains.
Preservation of Green Spaces
As our remote call center continues to gain traction in the healthcare industry, we’ve noticed that many of our partners naturally start to reassess the need for their current high rent front office and call center spaces.
This could potentially lead to the repurposing of office buildings into green spaces, community centers, or sustainable housing. By reducing the pressure on urban areas, we can promote the preservation of existing green spaces, improve urban air quality, and enhance the overall well-being of the community.
Global Collaboration and Reduced Business Travel
Our remote call center has facilitated the adoption of virtual meetings, webinars, and conferences, reducing the necessity for frequent business travel. This change not only saves time and money for your organization but also decreases the carbon emissions associated with air travel.
As our virtual call center teams collaborate seamlessly across time zones without the need for physical presence, healthcare organizations are discovering that there are more sustainable ways to conduct their operations.
As you can see, the unexpected silver lining in American Health Connections’s remote call center climate change model is its potential to contribute significantly to climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation. By reducing carbon emissions, energy consumption, paper waste, and business travel, our secure virtual call center services offer a unique opportunity to align your work practices with environmental goals and cost savings.
Embracing this flexible work culture has led AHC’s commitment toward a more sustainable future, where both people and the planet thrive. As we continue to explore the possibilities of remote work, let’s remember the positive impact it can have on our environment and work collectively to maximize its benefits.
Realizing Additional Benefits of a Climate-Friendly Remove Call Center
Additionally, here are some more benefits that our clients experience after working with our remote healthcare call center:
Cost Savings:
Healthcare organizations that use AHC’s remote call center services save on overhead costs such as office space, utilities, and equipment when they don’t need to maintain a physical call center location; they also save on the human resources costs associated with maintaining an in-person call center, including recruiting, retention, and on-boarding cost and the cost of salary and benefits for front office or in-person call center staff.
Access to a Larger, More Diverse Talent Pool:
Our remote healthcare call centers allow us to hire talented call center agents from a wider geographic area (anywhere in the world, really!). We’ve found that this allows us to access and hire a much more diverse and skilled workforce.
Flexibility, Scalability, and Business Continuity:
One of our clients’ most reported benefits is our remote call centers ability to maintain business operations after hours, weekends, and even during unexpected disruptions, such as natural disasters or health crises. Being available whenever you or your patients need us is an AHC staple that provides tremendous customer service without the staffing costs required to provide the same level of care.
We pride ourselves on being able to scale our virtual call center operations up or down based on the unique needs of your healthcare organization and without concerns about physical space constraints.
AHC’s virtual call centers offer our employees the flexibility to create their own schedules, which has lead to increased job satisfaction, better work-life balance, and improved retention and recruitment.
Fully Customizable AHC’s Virtual Call Center Protects the Environment and Increases Communication, Efficiency, and Revenue
American Health Connection’s Virtual Call Center model gives your organization the opportunity to provide the flexible, comprehensive, real-time care and engagement that your patients expect and appreciate while also protecting the environment from the dangerous effects of climate change
As the focus of healthcare rapidly shifts to value-based care, your organization’s personal engagement with your patients has never been more essential to the success of your healthcare practice.
AHC offers the healthcare industry’s only all-inclusive, cloud-based, full-service, virtual central scheduling and patient communications services.
Our comprehensive medical answering service solutions are specifically designed to significantly improve scheduling and registration workflow, maximize client resource utilization, and reduce costs while also monitoring patient health outcomes and ensuring a strong relationship between practitioner and patient.
Are you ready to dramatically improve scheduling and registration workflow, enhance patient and physician satisfaction, maximize client resource utilization, reduce costs and help mitigate the damaging effects of greenhouse gasses ?
You have come to the right place.
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