A Few Tips On How To Select A Medical Answering Service

As a doctor you are already aware of the benefits of hiring an answering service.

There are no any doubts about this.

However, are you able to select the right medical answering service for your needs?

The straightforward answer is that you get what you pay for.

To assist you in finding the right answering vendor to meet your unique needs, here are a few pointers you must keep in mind.

Staff expertise

Get to know how the call agents are trained. A standardized training program specifically crafted to help medical professionals will ensure your callers will get the right responses.

Of particular importance is that the vendor must necessarily be a HIPAA compliant medical answering service.

Stability

How many years the company has been in the business of assisting the medical profession?

A long experience and a good record of medical clients’ assistance is a favorable point.

Is the company a dedicated physician answering service?

Just any telephone answering service is not fit to assist doctors. To assist medical professionals, the call agents must undergo customized training as an ongoing process.

Specifically, to be HIPAA compliant, the service must have staff that keeps itself updated on the latest revisions of HIPAA clauses.

Reliability

Does the answering service have back-up power and redundancies to take care of unexpected outages due to power-cuts/storms?

Ensure that the company has a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place.

Service availability

Will the call agents be available 24 x 7 and 365 days a year?

Doctors can get calls from patients at any time, night or day. There is nothing more important than uninterrupted availability of the service at all times.

Ask about association membership

Find out if the vendor is approved by the Better Business Bureau or any other such organization. Answering services involved with such associations usually provide good service.

Pricing

There are several ways a medical answering service bills for their service. It can be by the call or by the minute or even a fixed charge per month.

If you want good quality operation that can handle the volume of calls you generally get, choose a service that is hired by most medical professionals.

Strive to get the best value for your money.

Do not forget to ask questions like:

•    How quickly the agents will answer my calls?

•    Is there a hold time? If yes, how much?

•    Do the agents sound friendly, helpful, and courteous?

•    Can the agents help with prescription refill and patient appointment scheduling?

A good answering service is not just a convenience. It is a great business partner.

Medical Answering Services – Taking Clinical Practice to New Levels of Efficiency

In this fast paced world of instant communication, ecommerce, and social media, people are used to having every kind of service at their fingertips, available round the clock. Therefore, there is no reason why doctors must miss out on this opportunity and leave their patients unable to access medical expertise outside regular working hours.

Being available for patients 24x7 is obviously not possible for any doctor. However, with advanced techniques such as doctors answering service, patients will be effectively able to keep in touch with their doctors, book or cancel medical appointments, and seek help in case of emergencies. In fact, medical answering services continue to streamline the processes in doctors’ offices without doctors having to employ, train, and maintain staff especially for the purpose.

How does the service work?

To put it in simple terms, hiring answering service for doctors is like appointing trained and experienced front office staff. The calls received at the doctor’s office are seamlessly forwarded to the answering company where efficient and reliable staff will promptly and courteously attend the calls. With ample medical training, the staff at answering companies is competent enough to make out the medical jargon that patients may specify while requesting for appointments. Answering services also offer doctors the option of sending text messages or emails to remind patients of checkups or consultations, thereby keeping the cases of no shows to a minimum. 

In addition to scheduling appointments, these services also reduce the workload of receptionists employed at the doctors’ office. For instance, during peak hours, there will be a high influx of calls that one or two receptionists will be unable to handle. As a result, a considerable number of calls will go unattended. However, doctors answering service companies feature a large number of staff who will pick up calls within two rings, thereby creating an excellent impression of professionalism and efficiency. 

The healthcare industry has always been on the lookout for ways to reduce operating costs without affecting the quality of communication with patients. Hiring extra staff and setting up necessary infrastructure to handle a flourishing practice can be an expensive option. The reasonable subscription rates and reliable efficiency offered by answering service for doctors make it an excellent choice for doctors keen on maintaining high standards of professionalism. Patients will surely be pleased when their calls are always promptly answered and they have the flexibility to schedule appointments any time of the day, even on weekends and holidays.