VA working to improve call center responses

VA working to improve call center responses
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 29, 2012 13:00:43 EST
The Veterans Affairs Department has implemented new call center procedures to make sure more veterans get through to someone who can help them.

Questioned during a Wednesday hearing on long-standing complaints about getting help with benefits by phone, Allison Hickey, VA undersecretary for benefits, said two initiatives are under way to make improvements.

Since December, VA has offered people placed on hold the opportunity to get a call back rather than remaining on hold, Hickey said. This can be a call returned immediately or a scheduled call if a veteran is unable to wait by a phone, she said. Ninety-two percent of people choose a call back, and the number of so-called “dropped calls,” when a caller hangs up before anyone answers, has been reduced by 30 percent, she said.

In a second initiative deployed just this week, Hickey said the people answering phones have been given access to more information. There are 13 different VA databases available on the computer desktops of call center staff, improving the odds that they can find an answer for a veteran, she said.
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