Medco University

Becoming the Best of the Best

The room is silent except for a voice
announcing graduate names. You stare ahead, waiting for your name to be called. Then it finally happens. You walk toward the podium with your left hand extended and your right hand poised for a handshake. The diploma hits your hand, and with a quick smile, handshake, and a photograph, you have now graduated and are ready to face the next chapter in your life.

​The scenario above happens thousands of times each year across the United States at high schools and colleges. MedCo is proud to say it also takes place here at MedCo. This ceremony is where Patient Account Resolution Specialists graduate from their training curriculum and leave the classroom to move onto the call center floor.

​MedCo is an Extended Business Office provider that works exclusively in the healthcare sector. A great deal of MedCo’s business is tailored to hospital’s revenue cycles, and more specifically Early Out self pay collections. As an Early Out solution partner, MedCo represents themselves  as extension of the healthcare provider. After 23 years in business, one thing remains certain – PAR Specialists must be the Best of the Best to represent our valued healthcare clients. Uptain states,

         “In prior years we’ve invested a lot of time and thousands of
           dollars in  training people, only to out  find they were not a good
​           fit for the job once they started working in our call center. We started
           scrutinizing our hiring and began a LEAN initiative around our hiring
           process.” 

The result is an award-winning process that has benefited both MedCo and the  clients  we represent.

MedCo University is the name of both the training facility and proprietary curriculum designed to prepare PAR Specialists for their career at MedCo. This curriculum is the result of 23 years of best practices. This includes modules on customer service, phone etiquette, de-escalation techniques, HIPAA and PCI compliance, collection tactics, and more. In conjunction, this includes training on how to operate MedCo’s proprietary CMS system, and our client-specific processes. Training is delivered by MedCo’s full time staff trainer. Each class spends four weeks at MedCo University. This training period cements education with role play and live call observation to ensure a smooth transition from classroom to call center floor. Owner and CEO Joe Uptain stated,

         “Our training process was successful, but our retention rate was not. We
           continually had to  schedule classes to support the higher turnover rate
           associated with this industry."

In need of a solution, Uptain turned to his Human Resources manager Savannah Horlick.
​
Horlick researched many programs with an emphasis on employee retention. MedCo’s goal was to identify quality candidates, who could not only excel at MedCo University, but successfully transfer into the call center. In turn, they will continue to remain and flourish at MedCo through the rest of their tenure.

Much focus was put into the identification of characteristics and skills needed for successful candidates. The original three-step interview process was rebuilt into a comprehensive recruitment strategy, including a restructure of pay rates and benefits in order to attract and keep the best customer service talent the local area has to offer.

Ultimately the result is higher quality candidates, who make successful graduates, and in turn provide excellent representation for MedCo’s clients. With every new class, the CEO makes sure to address the students and welcome them on board. He congratulates them for being chosen over hundreds of other candidates, and reminds them that they were selected  because they are truly The Best of the Best.
 

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