Innovative digital solutions to meet public health needs

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For more than 70 years, the Centers for Disease Control has been the nation’s leading science-based, data-driven, service organization protecting public health. The CDC’s mission is to help families, businesses and communities fight disease in all forms by providing reliable and consistent health information. To accomplish its objectives, the CDC works with strong, well-resourced public health leaders that provide capabilities at national, state and local levels to shield our nation against dangerous health threats.

In April 2021, Maximus entered into a critical partnership with the White House, US Digital Services and the CDC to meet the exponentially increasing need for COVID-19 vaccination information for the American public. Understanding specific community options for vaccines is critical for public health and particularly important for underserved populations. As such, the rapid establishment of a CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Assistance Hotline (CDC-VAX) was a top national priority.

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Services provided

  • Implementation of a coaching tool for supervisors and CSRs 
  • Service recovery through digital automation
  • Call containment with IVA implementation
  • Qualitative research providing continuous employee and customer feedback

Success achieved

  • Reduced call-related costs by $6M
  • Operated with a 99% Average Customer Satisfaction Score
  • Delivered 2.5M SMS Texts & 550,000+ WhatsApp Messages 
  • Maximus Intelligent Voice Assistant (IVA) delivered 81% call containment and processed
  • Reduced IVR abandonment rate from 37% to 16%
  • Scaled to 20,000+ remote contact center agents within first six weeks

Delivering omnichannel solutions for an improved citizen experience

Challenge

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US Citizens required immediate access to information about vaccines and about where they could get them. The CDC required scalable digital and telephony solutions with the ability to handle hundreds of thousands of calls and millions of texts per hour — and with a short development timeframe. To accomplish this, it was crucial for the agency to have a proven public health services partner with extensive experience in building modern data and systems surveillance support at the federal, state, and local level.

Approach

The CDC engaged Maximus to provide an integrated, efficient, and cost-effective omnichannel solution for this monumental public health services challenge. The Maximus team swiftly assessed the CDC’s objectives and designed a suite of information management support services that met all technical and security standards. The team used innovative technology solutions such as Amazon WorkSpaces to provide at peak 20,00 customer service representatives (CSRs) secure access to Maximus systems. They also leveraged a customized, automated intelligent voice assistant (IVA) — that addressed the public’s evolving need for a variety of communication channels. Maximus enabled the CDC customer service representatives (CSRs) to provide real-time citizen support and enhanced customer experience through a variety of channels, including WhatsApp and SMS messages. We understand the need to provide channels of communication digitally enhanced to enable the public to communicate on their terms.

Our extensive information technology services experience, research expertise, and modernization knowledge allowed the CDC to:

  • Provide targeted vaccine location information within specific community parameters.
  • Schedule more than 10,000 vaccine appointments (June 2021 – May 2022) for individuals requiring assistance in connecting with providers in or near their community.
  • Connect customers with ride-share options and free childcare.
  • Manage the distribution of free COVID-19 test kits through the US Postal Service.

The CDC Vax program was successful because of the innovative and transformative customer service solutions provided to the CDC, rapidly empowering them to support the public during a global health crisis.

"Your influence prevails and will continue to make our services better." — CDC-INFO Operations Leadership

Results

The strategic partnership of the US White House Digital Service, CDC, and Maximus resulted in the implementation of a CDC Vaccination Assistance Hotline that equipped the agency to serve the public’s substantial need for COVID-19 information — both at the state and local levels. The nation’s critical health needs were met by transformative care and streamlined healthcare operations.

With thorough project plans presented in an actionable format for CDC leadership, comprehensive technical and digital solutions, we provided the technical expertise, exceptional support levels, and industry-leading customer experience center digital solutions that directly resulted in an enhanced citizen experience. Our partnership approach included a laser focus on federal agencies needs as an extension of the important citizens we serve and the impact we have on their lives.