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Company: Mayo Medical Laboratories, Rochester, MN
Company Description: Mayo Medical Laboratories is a global reference laboratory operating within Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. The practice was established in 1971 to advance the local delivery of laboratory medicine by providing clinical expertise and direct access to Mayo Clinic’s world-renowned staff/resources and has provided outreach support to hospitals for more than 35 years.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Awards Department Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year – Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries

Nomination Title: Mayo Medical Laboratories

    Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

“Hello, thank you for calling Mayo Laboratory Inquiry, how may I help you?”

Any time of day, any day of the year, Mayo Medical Laboratories’ Customer
Service Representatives are available to deliver vital laboratory results and
information to more than 4,000 reference laboratory clients domestically and in
more than 160 countries internationally. At any given time, a representative
could be delivering critical STAT testing results to a surgeon with a patient
in the operating room, explaining to a family practice physician how to order a
test to determine if a patient has cancer, or connecting a pathologist in the
Middle East to an oncologist at Mayo Clinic to discuss a difficult case.

At Mayo Medical Laboratories in Rochester, Minnesota, it is not just a phone
call. It is a patient.

To demonstrate that commitment to the needs of the patient, every call to Mayo
Laboratory Inquiry is “personally” answered by a customer service
representative. No automated call systems are used. Since July 2009, nearly one
million calls were answered by one of 60 Mayo Medical Laboratories’ customer
service representatives. More than 93 percent of those calls were answered
within 20 seconds, 99 percent within 60 seconds. Once answered, representatives
have access to more than 20 information sources, providing them the expertise
to answer the question 99 percent of the time, without ever transferring the
caller. If a call requires second-tier support, representatives can efficiently
conference the caller to a highly trained technical support team, laboratory
professionals, or one of nearly 1,500 physicians and scientists at Mayo Clinic.

To deliver the highest quality level of customer service, each representative
goes through a rigorous in-house training program. Initial training includes
orientation activities, based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute
templates, three months of one-on-one training, and in-depth review of policies
and procedures. To continually monitor and improve service levels, based on the
changing healthcare environment, all representatives are engaged in on-going
competency testing, all phone calls are recorded to validate service and
quality, and phantom calling is performed by an independent firm. The call
center management monitors real-time call activity and reviews historical
metrics/trends to identify potential Lean and Process Improvement Strategies.

Customers rate Mayo Laboratory Inquiry’s service level at 97 percent according
to quarterly anonymous survey data. Comments included:
• The service at Mayo is the gold standard, nobody comes close. Our main
referral company has an awful calling tree and we spend twice as much time
tracking things down. We love Mayo and are never transferred. They always find
what I need in a timely manner.
• Every time I call MLI, I am so impressed with the staff. They are friendly,
knowledgeable, and accommodating. They are able to answer even our most
difficult questions while maintaining the I-have-time-for-anything attitude.
• One of my pathologists I support needed to speak to a pathologist at Mayo
Clinic. He called MLI on Christmas Day and was discussing the case with the
pathologist within 20 minutes. He was a very happy customer.

    List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Mayo Medical Laboratories Welcome Center
http://www.mayomedicallaboratories.com/customer-service/welcome/index.html[

Mayo Clinic a Top U.S. Health System for Second Year in a Row
http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2010-sct/5851.html   

Mayo Clinic Named One of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" for Seventh
Consecutive Year
http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2010-rst/5599.html

Mayo Clinic named a "Best Hospital" by U.S. News & World Report for 21st
Straight Year
http://www.mayoclinic.org/feature-articles/honor-roll-2010.html

    Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated customer service organization:

Linda Spiten has over 25 years of experience in the laboratory setting.  She is
a medical technologist with a strong interest in microbiology.  She has
hospital supervisory experience and was instrumental in developing an outreach
program for a hospital laboratory.  Linda has spent the last 20 years working
in Mayo Medical Laboratories.

Sue Cloutier has over 25 years of experience in Customer Service.  She is
certified in the Center for Customer-Driven Quality from Purdue University and
has spent the last 19 years working for Mayo Medical Laboratories.