Nursa Customer Service — Expert Operational Guide

Contents

1 Nursa Customer Service — Expert Operational Guide

Overview and Purpose

Nursa customer service should serve two distinct customer sets: healthcare facilities (clients) and clinicians (per-diem nurses, CNAs, allied health). A high-performing Nursa support organization balances rapid operational response for shift coverage with advisory support for credentialing, billing disputes and compliance questions. The core mission is to minimize unfilled shifts, accelerate clinician onboarding, and protect facilities from regulatory and financial risk.

Operationally, the team must integrate deeply with the marketplace platform, CRM/ticketing systems and payroll/billing modules. Effective customer service is not just reactive problem-solving — it proactively prevents issues (credential expirations, duplicate billing, mismatched shift rules) through automated alerts, SLA gating and scheduled outreach.

Contact Channels and Service Levels

Modern marketplace support is omnichannel. Recommended primary channels are: phone for urgent shift failures, live chat for near-real-time coordination, email/ticketing for documentation, and a self-service knowledge base for credentialing and billing guidance. A separate 24/7 emergency phone line for clinical or safety incidents is strongly advised.

Target response times (operational recommendations): phone live-answer <2 minutes; live chat initial response <60 seconds; email/ticket acknowledgment <2 hours during business hours; documented ticket resolution 24–72 hours depending on complexity.

Service targets and quality goals: First-Contact Resolution (FCR) target ≥75%; Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) target ≥85%; Net Promoter Score (NPS) target ≥40 for both clinicians and facility administrators.

Escalation SLA: critical incidents escalated to Tier 2 within 15 minutes and managerial notification within 30 minutes; regulatory or patient-safety events require immediate escalation and a written incident report within 24 hours.

Ticketing Workflow and Escalation Matrix

Use a single-source ticketing system (e.g., Zendesk, Freshdesk, ServiceNow) integrated via APIs to the scheduling engine so tickets can auto-populate shift, clinician and facility data. Each ticket should capture: shift ID, clinician ID, facility ID, patient-safety flag, billing parameters, and timestamps for each SLA checkpoint.

Define a three-tier escalation matrix: Tier 1 (triage, resolution within 24 hours), Tier 2 (operations lead, complex credential or payroll issues, resolution 24–72 hours), Tier 3 (executive/contractual/legal review for disputes, SLA breaches or regulatory exposure). Maintain an audit trail of all escalations and outcomes; these are critical for both contract compliance and continuous improvement.

KPIs, Reporting and Continuous Improvement

Operational KPIs should be reported daily (shift fill rate), weekly (FCR, average handle time), and monthly (CSAT, NPS, ticket backlog). Example numeric targets: maintain a shift fill rate ≥96% for non-peak hours and ≥92% for peak holiday periods; average handle time for phone calls should target 6–10 minutes for scheduling-related calls and 15–25 minutes for credentialing/billing cases.

Leverage root-cause analysis for any recurring outage or SLA miss. Monthly reviews should produce a prioritized corrective-action list with owners and deadlines. Use A/B testing for process changes (e.g., automated reminders vs. manual follow-up) and quantify results in percentage terms before broad rollout.

Billing, Pricing and Refunds

Customer service must coordinate closely with billing. Typical marketplace dynamics: per-diem RN rates vary widely ($55–$120/hour depending on geography and specialty); the platform fee/markup should be transparent and documented in the client contract (expressed as percentage or flat admin fee). Dispute resolution procedures must include a timeline (e.g., acknowledgment within 48 hours, investigation completed within 10 business days) and clear documentation requirements from both parties.

For refunds or credits, define policy thresholds (e.g., automatic shift-credit when a clinician no-shows and replacement not found within 4 hours; pro-rated credits for partial-shift coverage). Maintain a dispute ledger with serial numbers for each adjustment and require dual-approval for credits above a set dollar amount (e.g., $500+).

Training, Quality Assurance and Staffing

Customer service reps should complete a structured onboarding program: 40 hours platform/product training + 20 hours shadowing on live calls, followed by quarterly refreshers on policy and compliance. Develop scorecards for quality assurance that include accuracy of information, SLA adherence, tone and documentation completeness. Aim for QA pass rates ≥90% on quality audits.

Staffing models must flex for predictable seasonality (e.g., winter surge) and unplanned spikes (public health events). Use surge pools of cross-trained clinicians and temporary ops staff, with a target bench capacity of 8–12% of average daily volume to maintain resiliency without excessive fixed cost.

Compliance, Privacy and Practical Tips for Users

Ensure all customer-facing communications are HIPAA-aware: train agents on what PHI may be discussed on each channel and implement secure escalation paths (encrypted ticket fields, secure chat). Require clinician background checks, license verification and malpractice insurance confirmation before assigning shifts; maintain records with retention policies aligned to state regulations.

For clients and clinicians: to expedite service include the shift ID, clinician license number and a concise problem summary in every contact. Use the support portal (visit nursa.com/support or the in-app Help Center) for fastest resolution and to access self-service actions like invoice download, credential upload and dispute initiation.