Exact Sciences Achieves 45 Percent Containment Rate

Exact Sciences is a leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests. Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, its flagship test, Cologuard®, screens for colo-rectal cancer by offering a convenient provider-prescribed, at-home screening option. Since its launch in 2014, more than 14 million people have used Cologuard to screen for colon cancer.

The company provides patient and provider support services via 1,000 hybrid agents based out of three contact centers. Exact Sciences has experienced fast growth and ensuing high call volumes. It needed an automated way to scale while reducing call handle times and improving customer experience.

Its on-premises contact center system offered little flexibility, was high maintenance, and didn’t easily integrate with CRM software. Limited IVR capabilities slowed efforts to automate self-service and scale. Exact Sciences needed a cloud-based solution — fast.

Moving to the Cloud with Five9

Exact Sciences chose the Five9 Intelligent Cloud Contact Center to replace its on-premises system and deployed Five9 IVR before upgrading to Five9 IVA.

“Five9 was a disruptor, had the best sales pitch, features, and a reasonable price. It knocked the socks off our IT department and also our contact center folks,” said Associate Director of IT Applications Darran Haessig. “Five9 representatives came out for a week’s worth of shadowing and presentation and demonstrated what we could do with them and how we could build this without them, because that was
important to us.”

The Exact Sciences team configured and modified call flows and campaigns effortlessly with the user friendly. Five9 IVR Builder. No expertise was needed. The company partnered with a Five9 Technical Account Manager (TAM) throughout the process. “Our TAM has been fantastic and has become like one of our team. That has enabled us to build this ourselves and do some unique customizations,” said Exact Sciences Sr. Business Program Manager Mitch Perry.

Experiencing an Immediate Impact with Five9 IVR

Exact Sciences deployed Five9 IVR to automate self-service options. “Five9 helped us right away with our volume problems. You can easily build, modify, and replace call flows and campaigns in the Five9 IVR without having to enlist the help of engineers or other vendors. We made several customizations to our Five9 IVR in the early days. Right out of the box, regular IT folks can configure call flow campaigns
as needed. Five9 IVR is great for customers like us who want to see immediate gains. We didn’t have to hire anyone or wait months for approvals. We just did it,” said Haessig.

“The experience between our old IVR and Five9 IVR was night and day. The flexibility of Five9 IVR was amazing. It was literally drag and drop, point and click, test it immediately, and deploy. Before Five9, if someone wanted us to do something differently with the IVR, we’d have to tell them why it would be very challenging to do so and that they likely wouldn’t get the results they wanted. With Five9, if they can imagine it, we can do it,” said Haessig.

Upgrading to Five9 IVA

When Five9 introduced IVA, Exact Sciences chose to deploy it. Five9 IVA uses advanced AI to provide self-service options that feel more conversational and personalized across channels and between virtual and live agents. With Five9 IVA, contact centers free agents from repetitive interactions to focus on higher-value work. Five9 IVA enables contact centers to scale to handle high call volumes while ensuring every customer is answered quickly.

“Five9 IVA Studio builds on the flexibility of the IVR with a code-free, user-friendly interface that customers access in their web browser to build and manage IVA applications and provides a wide number of integrations with outside services,”
said Haessig.

By integrating with internal and external systems, Five9 IVA provides caller identity and information based on CRM data and delivers it to the agent.

“When a patient or provider can call and the agent already knows who they are since their identity has been automatically validated according to HIPAA privacy laws, and knows key details about their case, it makes the experience so much better. That is a huge advantage to the Five9 IVA,” said Perry.

Realizing a 45% Containment Rate

As part of the Exact Sciences screening process, patients receive a test kit in the mail, complete the collection process, and then mail the test kit back to Exact Sciences. Thanks to Five9 IVA, patients can dial Exact Sciences and automatically schedule a carrier pickup request 3 times faster and without needing to wait for an agent.

This makes Exact Sciences screening an easier, hassle-free experience. Exact Sciences has completed more than 160,000 carrier pickup calls through this process. “With Five9 IVA, we’re seeing a 45% containment rate on all carrier pickup calls,” said Lead Application Analyst Buddy Reeves. “It now takes about 60% less time than before to schedule a carrier pickup. Automating this piece of the process has been great for us and the patients.”

Envisioning a More Automated Future with Five9

Exact Sciences also uses Five9 Chat and Five9 Email in its external and internal communications platforms. The company plans to use Five9 SMS soon. Exact Sciences intends to fine-tune call routing so patient get automatically routed to specialized agents according to their insurance company listed in the CRM.

“Five9 is integral to our future. We are excited to see both our companies continue to advance, and we look forward to working on that future together,” said Perry.

Realizing a 45% Containment Rate

As part of the Exact Sciences screening process, patients receive a test kit in the mail, complete the collection process, and then mail the test kit back to Exact Sciences. Thanks to Five9 IVA, patients can dial Exact Sciences and automatically schedule a carrier pickup request 3 times faster and without needing to wait for an agent.

This makes Exact Sciences screening an easier, hassle-free experience. Exact Sciences has completed more than 160,000 carrier pickup calls through this process. “With Five9 IVA, we’re seeing a 45% containment rate on all carrier pickup calls,” said Lead Application Analyst Buddy Reeves. “It now takes about 60% less time than before to schedule a carrier pickup. Automating this piece of the process has been great for us and the patients.”

Envisioning a More Automated Future with Five9

Exact Sciences also uses Five9 Chat and Five9 Email in its external and internal communications platforms. The company plans to use Five9 SMS soon. Exact Sciences intends to fine-tune call routing so patients get automatically routed to specialized agents according to their insurance company listed in the CRM.
“Five9 is integral to our future. We are excited to see both our companies continue to advance, and we look forward to working on that future together,” said Perry.