What is the big deal anyway?  Why is there such a big difference between a medical answering service and a regular call center agency?  You may have to experience the difference to truly understand.  Let’s put you, the doctor, in the place of a typical customer.  How do you think your conversation would be handled?  Let’s say you have a medical crisis.  You are out of medication and need to talk to a doctor right away.

Suddenly a charming Indian voice comes on the line and explains in a dry and almost perfunctory manner that the doctor is unavailable.  Despite your objections, the other person merely repeats script and grows increasingly agitated.  By now, you’re fuming.  You can tell this person doesn’t know anything about your condition or about medical practice in general.  Rather than blame the Indian fellow, you’re going to place blame on the doctor for being so cheap.  If only you had hired a medical answering service!

The truth is, bad customer service really isn’t the customer service agent’s fault.  If a person is not trained to handle medical calls, then the entire situation is just a disaster from the start.  Rest assured, hiring a cheap call center with low-level employees will quickly turn your patients against you.  Patients not only want a comforting and warm voice to confide in—they want to be told what to do.  

A medical answering agent is trained to handle medical calls for dentists, doctors and other physicians.  When you purchase this feature, you can be confident that your clients will be treated with respect and will be given accurate advice.  The best thing about a medical answering service is that it’s not expensive.  You only pay for the service you receive.  This is a form of outsourcing work, but a more effective type of work.