How An Enterprise Behavioral Healthcare Network Cut Costs and Answered More Calls with CTM

Overview

In 2024, the global North America behavioral health market was valued at USD 134.66 billion; in the U.S. alone,  that number is projected to reach $165.38 billion by 2034. This provider, like many, was ready to improve their approach to navigating high call volumes and growing demand for their treatment services.

To manage these issues, this BHC provider turned to CallTrackingMetrics (CTM).  They focused on:

1. Updating their call flows and collecting data to keep with their growth trajectory
2. Introducing new management and  assistance for intake coordinators

Since adopting CTM, they have experienced a measurable impact: 

• Reduced dependence on costly third-party answering services and 
• A smoother handling of thousands of monthly inquiries through custom call flows, reporting tools, and system integrations. 

Let’s find out exactly how CTM helped them improve efficiency and continue sustainable growth.

Problem: “How can we manage thousands of unique treatment inquiries and outbound calls per month across our network?”

When this BHC provider began considering CTM as a solutions provider, local facilities across their network were fielding thousands of incoming calls and inquiries a month. This, in addition to making a huge number of outbound calls to respond to inquiries, complete intake processes, and reach new and existing clients. 

What their marketing and call management teams realized they needed as they grew was a customized build for their call flow – and they had the case for it. 

With such a large and growing network focused on providing high-quality, local care to those in need, creating a call flow that could be replicated, modified, and customized to match their facilities’  volume and company mission was critical.

Several call tracking providers they approached rejected their proposed build as unnecessary and overcomplicated. 

But not CTM. 

This BHC provider’s Vice President (VP) of Admissions, was a leading voice in the turn to CTM.

“We chose to work with CallTrackingMetrics because they, more than anyone, understood what we wanted to do, which was very unique. 

Some other folks we talked to said, ‘Oh, you don’t want to do it that way,” but CTM was like…’Actually, let’s hear why you want to do it that way.’

Solution: Custom Call Flows for Streamlined Admission and Referrals

For them, it wasn’t just about streamlining admissions; many incoming calls needed to be routed to different teams that could provide help. Not only that, but the custom system had to be able to support the weight of so many calls and hectic routing.

And when a caller in crisis picks up “a phone that feels like it weighs 1,000 pounds,” you can be sure abandoned and rollover calls could leave those in need without help or resources. Connecting a caller to a provider within seconds versus sending them to voicemail can save a life.   

The BHC provider’s corporate admissions manager neatly sums up their their needs at the time: 

“We needed the reliability that, when clients and their loved ones are calling in, they’re getting to the right place — not going to voicemail. While callers are connected through many different locations, ultimately, they are connected with someone who can help.”

-VP of Admissions

Results: 50% Fewer Missed Calls

All of this thanks to this BHC provider’s unique vision and CTM’s dedication to creating a custom solution that works. 

As the VP of Admissions noted, “We saw the return. I mean, wow, if you answer the phone and show up and talk to people, we’re able to live up to our promise.”

Problem: “Our call overflow is managed by expensive third-party answering services.”

Third-party answering services are a common solution to behavioral healthcare facilities’ call overflow. There is high demand in the U.S. for mental and behavioral healthcare services, but not enough providers. 

Which, as you can imagine, means a massive number of calls to treatment centers. To accommodate those callers, often in crisis, treatment centers rely on specialty third-party answering services, like WellReceived, Rollover Rep, AbsentAnswer, and Telemed. 

These services fill a crucial niche, offering answering services from trained agents capable of providing empathetic care to after-hours and overflow callers in crisis. These agents can walk them through the early admissions process before relaying that patient profile back to the facility to continue intake steps.

“Like almost all healthcare providers, we have calls that, no matter how well we’re staffed, we rely on an answering service. We pay for those calls. They’re not answered by our team. And even though we work with great partners, it’s never ideal compared to talking to someone on our team.”

-VP of Admissions

When a center has to rely too heavily on a third-party answering service, they lose some of that important first-touch in the relationship-building process. Additionally, a center’s staff will always be more thoroughly trained and able to answer treatment and facility-specific questions better than a third-party service. 

Lastly, answering services come at a premium. Though they are highly necessary, the ideal scenario – both economically and from a healthcare standpoint – would be to reduce any center’s dependence on third-party providers and to keep as many calls as possible in-house.

Solution: Improved Agent Management and Reporting

For many organizations, small adjustments in team productivity management can have big rewards. For this BHC network, leveraging CTM’s Real-Time Agent Reports for management and a custom agent panel was instrumental in reducing overall dependence on third-party answering services.

CTM’s Real-Time Agent Reports gave their management a live look at everything happening in their call centers. Managers were, for the first time ever, able to see their agents’ activities in real time, in addition to key call stats like live calls in progress, available agents, and missed or queued calls. 

This reporting feature also offers a chart displaying recent inbound and outbound call activity, alongside a timeline for each team member’s current status. 

And with great data comes great change.

Results: Reduced Third-Party Answering Service Use by 60%

By strategically using CTM’s Real-Time Agent Reports and Activity Log, their network was able to reduce their reliance on third-party answering services by 60%. 

It’s a huge accomplishment not just from a budgeting perspective, but from a healthcare perspective as well. Now, when a caller contacts one of their facilities, they are more likely to reach an intake coordinator or specialist with deeper knowledge and ties to the treatments a caller is inquiring about. 

“The goal is always to catch that call as quickly as possible, because the staff that we have on site are always going to be the experts of that facility.”

-Operations Manager, Headquarters

Their  teams take great pride in the quality of that first-answer and what they can provide clients and their families. 

“The corporate team knows the strengths of our various programs and can speak to the nuances of each.”

Third-party answering services will likely always be an important part of any healthcare network’s budget, but reducing dependence on them is a great way to save money and improve outcomes. And for this BHC provider, that 60% reduction was no small achievement. 

Problem: “We don’t want to make important business decisions with incomplete data.”

What parts of our call flow slow down our response time?

How should we staff our call center over the holiday season? 

Without an all-in-one solution capable of: 

• Integrating with popular CRMs for simplified caller data and relationship management
• Optimizing call operations for better coordinator management and fewer missed calls
• Collecting accurate, aggregate data to make sound business decisions
• Customizing call flows and routing for higher call volumes.  
• Scaling a healthcare network interested in deep organizational insights

Solution: A Data-First Call Management & Marketing Attribution Platform

By turning to CTM, the provider successfully staunched the resource drain that comes from incomplete data. Using a variety of CTM’s tools, including a custom call flow, agent panel, Salesforce integration, and marketing attribution tools, they could focus on:

• Patient care

By connecting CTM with Salesforce, coordinators consolidate caller data in one place. Agents can connect the dots in a caller’s journey and more efficiently manage the evaluations, referrals, insurance information, and intake processes.

• Training & supporting employees

Using a suite of custom and built-in call management tools, their managers more easily support and train intake coordinators and team members. This, in turn, reduces turnover, burnout, and talent loss.

• Improving marketing

Running impactful, dedicated marketing campaigns requires frequent analysis and optimization. With better reporting and more resources, they can focus on channels that work to reach those in need of treatment. 

Results: Full Data to Support a Fast-Growing Network

Since adopting CTM, this enterprise BHC provider has been able to focus on streamlining their operations using CTM’s platform, custom call flows, and agent tools.  

They’ve broken their own records and show no signs of slowing down. 

From a call management perspective, integrating Salesforce with CTM allows intake coordinators to answer calls with greater confidence than ever before. For each returning patient, coordinators view important data points all in one place; for new callers, it’s easy to gather, add, and update information for robust patient profiles that support the client’s care throughout a treatment journey.

“Being able to provide our staff with the experience of having only one window up, our CRM, which includes call information and incoming call notification, is vital to our overall efficiency. CTM solved a lot of the problems we were having. Now, our marketing team once again has insight into what campaigns are doing well into the call attribution.”

This means that, from the very first call to the end of the treatment journey, the company’s coordinators and clinicians have everything they need to help treat the patient. 

In Conclusion

Since implementing CTM , this enterprise BHC provider has: 

• Lowered missed calls by 50%
• Reduced their use of expensive third-party answering services by 60%, and 
• Streamlined thousands of monthly inquiries using custom call flows and integrations. 

As the network continues to build up communities through mental  health care and substance use disorder treatment, we are seeing the powerful impact a data-centered, tech-friendly approach can have on healthcare outcomes in real time. 

Tech adoption is facilitating faster, better connections to treatment than ever before in an industry with clients in crisis. By partnering with CTM, this BHC network is investing in their long-term vision while providing life-saving care to those in need.

Ready to discover what CTM can offer your healthcare facility?

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