Healthcare contact centers operate on the front lines of the patient experience, but they rarely get the recognition they deserve. But when Ed Marx, former CIO at Cleveland Clinic, Texas Health Resources, University Hospitals and Parkview Medical Center, took the stage at #HCCT26, he wanted to put their careers in the spotlight. 

“Think about the bands that have stood the test of time,” Marx says. “The Rolling Stones, The Foo Fighters, U2. Ask Bono or Mick Jagger what makes those bands last decades, and they’ll tell you the same thing: it’s the rhythm section. No one knows the drummer’s or bassist’s name unless you’re a hardcore fan. But if it weren’t for that rhythm section, the bands would not still exist.” 

In healthcare, he says the rhythm section is the contact center. Clinicians and scientific medical breakthroughs get the media spotlight, but the people who are answering the calls, triaging concerns and coordinating care across departments and facilities — they’re what makes the music happen. 

As a patient, caregiver and health system leader, he wanted our audience to know that strong technology platforms aren’t enough to improve the contact center. And neither is great leadership. What it takes is an enterprise-level impact is alignment. It’s when vision, relationships, leadership, shared goals and business integration all work in sync. Let’s take a look at how to achieve that. 

Share your vision 

Every transformation Marx led began with transparency about where things stood. When he arrived at University Hospitals of Cleveland as CIO, IT ranked last in internal satisfaction surveys, below the mail room. Yikes! 

“How could I make a difference? How can we better serve our clinicians, our customers, our patients and their families? I knew it was the contact center. That’s where it all starts. That’s the first line,” Marx says. 

Marx built dashboards accessible to anyone across the health system, tracking metrics for both IT and the contact center. Then, he communicated about where they were and where they were going. 

“I would say, ‘Here’s where we are today. We’re at a C, but our goal is to be an A,” Marx says. “This is how we’re going to bridge that gap. What that shows is authenticity and transparency. People trust you. And they’ll be more forgiving when you make mistakes.”

Build intentional relationships

Marx never held IT leadership meetings in the IT department. He held them in clinical departments, in finance, in supply chain. He told his team not to announce that they worked in IT. The goal was to embed, to learn and to build relationships before anyone needed to ask for something. He encouraged leaders to move their regular meetings to different departments, invite those department heads to join and let connections happen organically.

Marx is also a big fan of the handwritten thank-you card. Each week, he spent five minutes identifying someone who had lived the organization’s values that week, write them a specific, personalized note and have the whole team sign it. 

“When I’m rounding and working my way through people’s offices, you will see all those thank-you cards,” Marx says. “People keep them. It means something.” 

Try “reverse rounding” 

Most contact center and IT leaders understand the value of going out into clinical areas to observe and learn. But Marx brought physicians and CMIOs into the contact center to work a full shift, once a month. He calls this “reverse rounding.” 

He also spent one day a week as an anesthesia tech in the OR, arriving at 5 a.m. and working a full shift before returning to his executive responsibilities. 

“I have to be in contact with the people I serve,” Marx says. “I can’t just know it mentally. I need to work with them and understand it.” 

Embrace shared performance objectives with other teams

At Texas Health Resources, during a major EHR and ERP transition, Marx tied IT and contact center performance metrics directly to bonus structures shared with medical staff leadership. The contact center was fully staffed and resourced to help physicians navigate the change. 

“I got the call from the SVP over medical staff who told me the number one ranked division by the medical staff was IT,” Marx says. “That’s because we had shared performance incentives. His team was working with the medical staff because their bonuses all rode on it.”

Marx says it’s important to expand the definition of success beyond contact center metrics. 

“Don’t just have an objective for first call resolution or how fast you answer phones,” Marx says. “Make a metric with your organizational partners. Because if you just do it in a vacuum, it won’t stick.” 

Step away from your hospital contact center

He encouraged leaders to identify organizations in their own cities known for exceptional customer service and visit them.

“They’ll love to host you,” Marx says. “We’re too insular in healthcare. Yes, we can learn from each other, but we need to see what’s going on outside of our industry, too.” 

It’s also important to ask other C-suite leaders how they feel about your department. At Cleveland Clinic each Wednesday, he encouraged leaders to meet him at a hotel lobby bar and anyone could show up and tell him how to improve IT.

“Even if no one shows, the fact that you’re willing to do it separates you from everyone else,” Marx says. 

He wrapped up his keynote by returning to his own story. During a Team USA triathlon, Marx suffered a heart attack in the final two miles. He finished the race, then collapsed. Three separate contact centers (the host hospital, the ambulance dispatch and Cleveland Clinic), coordinated in real-time to save his life and preserve his heart muscle.

“The life you’re saving might be your own,” Marx says. “You are the first touch. You are that voice.”