US government moves to enhance customer experience and build trust

The United States government is implementing new regulations aimed at streamlining the process of subscription cancellations and enhancing customer service, as part of a wider initiative to rebuild public confidence.

A coalition of federal agencies in the United States is leading initiatives to enhance customer service across various departments. This initiative, named “Time Is Money,” introduces new regulations and aims to implement measures that affect sectors such as healthcare, fitness memberships, and media subscriptions.

In parallel, the leaders of the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services are advocating for health insurance companies to streamline their procedures. A summary from the White House indicates that they intend to explore ways to enhance consumer interactions with the healthcare system in the upcoming months. In correspondence addressed to health insurance executives, they highlighted the complexities involved in obtaining approval or reimbursement for healthcare services, such as the necessity of printing and mailing paper claim forms rather than allowing electronic submissions.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, enhancing customer experience has been a central priority for the US government. In 2021, the White House released its CX Executive Order, which focused on transforming federal customer experience by outlining various actions designed to foster trust in government services, including minimizing paperwork and modernizing services to facilitate easier access to benefits.

The President’s Budget for this year specifically emphasizes the expansion of digital, telephone, and in-person payment options for taxes, alongside improving data analytics to better address public demand.

Government agencies are concentrating their efforts on refining interactions with the public. By broadening and enhancing the available communication channels with different government departments, they aim to achieve quick wins—offering a range of communication methods such as in-person visits, telephone calls, emails, and chatbots to ensure that services are inclusive and accessible, thereby preventing the emergence of a digital divide.