CDC Vaccine Order Management Contact Center (VOMCC)

Mission critical role in furthering the CDC’s vaccine order access and response process

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). For more than 70 years, the CDC has put science into action to help families, businesses, and communities fight disease and stay strong. Using a secure, web-based information technology (IT) system, the CDC manages the vaccine supply chain through its Vaccine Tracking System (VTrckS). This system fully integrates the vaccine supply chain from purchasing and ordering to more than 64 participating state, local, and territorial health departments (referred to as “immunization awardees”), more than 44,000 health care providers, six vaccine manufacturers, and a centralized CDC distributor. The quantity of publicly funded vaccinations ordered and distributed through VTrckS reaches nearly two million people in the US each year.

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Image of COVID-19 vaccine viles

Services provided

  • Supported a tiered operational structure ideal for contact center needs
  • Provided support activities using multiple communication channels
  • Developed expert training process including initial and ongoing refresher training

Success achieved

  • Received high overall services scores including: 97% overall Contact Center Quality Score, 99% Front Office and Checkpoint Quality Score, 100% one business date response time to customer emails, 95% 10 second or less call answer time
  • Managed more than 1,488 inbound calls, 4,013 outbound calls, 6,660 inbound emails, and 9,650 outbound emails from March 2021 – March 2022
  • Onboarded more than 200 new users to SAMS and VTrckS systems

To protect the nation’s public health, CDC relied on Maximus to support the optimization of the vaccine order and fulfillment process by providing improved access and response

Challenge:

The COVID-19 pandemic required the CDC to rapidly address its ability to provide access to its vaccine ordering system. Advancing how the CDC distributes federally funded vaccines to new, commercial, and federal (C&F) partners and the US communities they serve became a critical priority. The government designated VTrckS, as the COVID-19 vaccine ordering system.

Up until improvements were made to the vaccine order process, gaining access to VTrckS, through the Secure Access Management System (SAMS) could take from three to six weeks or more, depending on the level of attention each proposed user gave to the process. The successful completion of this onboarding process depends heavily on how accurate and rapid the designated user’s response was to each step in the process. Incorrect or delayed information could become a significant barrier to fulfillment. In order to meet its primary mission objective and protect the public’s health to the best of its ability, the CDC needed a partner who could support the optimization of the onboarding process, ensure quality information intake and tracking, and reduce the access time to the SAMS and VTrckS systems. Our experience in digitally enabled, data and human-centered designed solutions became a critical part of the answer for the CDC.

Approach:

The CDC consulted with Maximus, a long-trusted contact center operations partner and the existing contractor for the Vaccine Order Management Contact Center (VOMCC), for the best way to direct customers needing COVID-19 vaccine order support through the VTrckS system and functionality. The Maximus team recommended two approaches – (1) a previously suggested hand-holding process to onboard new system users while reducing user error and access request repetition during onboarding of new C&F partners and (2) a unique call menu option specific to COVID-19 vaccine ordering support. Additionally, Maximus team leaders paid acute attention to detail which allowed the CDC to identify and resolve issues and implement a high standard of service.

Maximus delivered:

  • Informative and accurate reporting allowing for agile staff augmentation when surge volume dictated need
  • Comprehensive monitoring of burn rates and surge staffing hours to ensure prevention of cost overrun
  • Exceptional IT solutions including automated voice response (IVR), Call Routing (ACD), private network (PBX) phones, computer-based ticketing, email, and quality management recording

Results:

Since October 2020, the CDC and Maximus have successfully onboarded more than 200 new C&F partner users to SAMS and VTrckS. With Maximus’ thorough process, re-invitations due to errors were reduced to zero. Onboarding time was reduced to two weeks from up to six weeks or more. COVID-19 vaccines were made readily available across most communities through long-term care facilities, retail pharmacies, federally qualified health centers, and state and federal jurisdictions because of the VOMCC team’s unwavering persistence in reaching out to individual users for missing or incomplete information.

As a result, VOMCC’s CPARS evaluations continue to be exceptional, and CDC leadership expectations for developing, planning, and implementing an effective vaccine order management process through VTrckS were again exceeded. By successfully addressing any surge in call volume with innovative contact center solutions that advance the vaccine order and fulfillment process, Maximus plays a mission-critical role in ensuring the protection of the public’s health.