U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs improves benefit utilization by increasing trust in the phone channel

The phone is a critical communication channel to enable trusted constituent experiences. Research shows close to 80% of consumers prefer the phone channel when communicating with enterprises.¹ However, 80% also block calls if they don’t know who’s calling.²

In fact, Veterans served by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were missing important calls about their benefits due to:

• Inaccurate spam tagging
• Call blocking, mislabeling or labeling as “unknown Caller”
• Suspected fraud on millions of outbound calls annually

These missed connections led to degraded Veteran experiences, and increased call volumes and costs for the VA. The overall impact was less effective benefit utilization and care delivery.

The VA needed to quickly connect with more Veterans to enable timely access to well-deserved benefits and services. 

With the implementation of BCD and CNO, the VA reached more Veterans in moments that mattered.

In the first six months after implementation, the VA saw improved outbound phone response performance. Mitigating spam tagging on 13% of total call volume (almost 7 million outbound calls), the agency increased answer rates. Operational efficiency improved as the overall number of outbound calls decreased by roughly 35% in one program alone.

The VA noted increases in contact rate across programs — averaging a 20% lift in answered calls. Veterans were willing to answer the phone when they trusted who was calling. Even patients with no previous successful contact attempts were reached about important care alerts.

In addition to reaching more Veterans faster, the VA noted call recipients stayed engaged in phone conversations longer, reinforcing the value of the channel to register beneficiaries and deliver patient care.

With the success of Trusted Call Solutions, the VA expanded BCD and CNO to support additional service programs. 

1,2 The Call Conundrum, TransUnion, 2024