Anyone who owns a business today knows that it is important to cut costs, perhaps now more than ever. While your clinic might be doing well, you still want to find ways to save more money, and a medical answering service might be one of the best ways that you can do just that. Consider the following scenarios, and you will see how one of these services can benefit you and save money.
The Angry Patient
Patients who need to call their doctor do not like to be waiting on hold for long periods. They have work, children, and a life that they need to tend to, and spending twenty minutes on hold while they are trying to make an appointment or get an answer to a question is not something that will not endear you to them, even if it is not your fault. When a patient has to leave a voicemail in the dead of night because no one is available to answer the phones, they are not happy. This means you are going to be dealing with an angry patient the next time you see him or her, or they might choose another healthcare professional. A medical answering service could alleviate this problem, and you will not have to worry about losing income because a patient left.
Too Many Phones
When you have too many ringing phones, one of the first things that you might consider doing is hiring another receptionist. What about the phones that are unanswered during the night? Should you hire someone to answer those as well? Imagine just how much it would cost to hire more employees. Choosing a medical answering service instead can save you quite a bit of money when you look at it like this!
When you are considering hiring a call center to take care of the calls that your clinic is getting, you need to make sure that you are dealing with a topnotch answering service. Before you hire any center, you should ask them a few questions to understand more about how they do business.
What Experience Do You Offer?
How long has the company been in business, and what kind of training do they give their employees. You only want to do business with centers who have HIPAA trained operators on staff. The more experience the company has the better.
How Do You Send Messages?
With all of the different types of communication devices that are available today, you want to be sure that the call center is able to reach you in every way imaginable. Do they offer to call you for vital messages? Will they be able to forward messages to your phone or your email? Make sure that they are also able to send to your fax machine as well. The easier it is for you to get the messages the better.
Do You Offer Triage Service?
Nurse triage service is a great addition for your patients. They can have their basic medical questions answered by a nurse, and they do not have to wait for a doctor. If the center offers this service, you may want to consider it.
How Much is the Cost?
While different companies will charge different amounts based on the services that you choose, you will want to get a basic rundown of the costs. The call center is far better than hiring more onsite employees because the cost is so much less. Consider the cost of hiring just a single employee for your phones. Imagine being able to have your phones answered 24hrs a day for a fraction of that cost.
If you are in charge of a medical clinic, even if you are not a physician, you know just how hectic it can be. You have patients coming in and out of the clinic throughout the day, sales reps are in and out of the clinic, and you have to deal with a host of different scheduling when it comes to patients. The ringing of the phones is just another piece of the operation, albeit one that can cause quite a few problems if left unchecked. A live answering service that will be able to help you with the flood of calls could be the solution that you need.
It is important that patients are able to reach the clinic no matter the time of day. They might have odd work schedules that only allow them to call and make appointments in the middle of the night. If they leave the message for an appointment on a voicemail, it might never make it to the schedule. It is far better for the patient to be able to contact a person to whom he or she can speak and get confirmation of the appointment. Perhaps someone has an emergency and needs medical questions answered right away. A live answering service with triage capabilities could help them avoid disaster.
You want your patients to be happy. That is how patients become loyal. An answering service that will be able to handle your phone calls, take messages, route the calls to the right places, and make appointments will help you alleviate some of the pressure of running a clinic. Best of all, you will find that the cost is far more affordable than hiring more employees for your in house phone lines. Find a high quality live answering service that will be able to get your clinic back into shape.
If you are the owner of a health clinic or if you have a private practice, you may already have an answering service that handles some of your calls for you. These services can be great for making appointments and taking messages, but you can find answering companies that are able to offer even more. Some offer nurse telephone triage, which can give your patients even more reasons to love your service.
When the patient calls, he or she will be able to ask the nurse basic medical questions, and if there is an emergency the nurse will be able to direct the patient to the right emergency services and notify you of what happened. The nurse telephone triage services will offer far more than standard message taking.
Of course, you can't simply choose to hire any company that claims to have nurses on hand who can handle triage. You need to make sure that they have the skills it takes to do the job and keep your patients safe. It is also important that the nurses employed by the company have excellent communication skills and are able to calm a nervous patient.
While you might have your own staff on call during normal clinic hours, and you might not see the need for this service, consider all of those after hour calls that are left unanswered. The nurse telephone triage service will be able to take calls that come in after you and the rest of your staff have gone home for the weekend or the evening. When your patients are worried, they will call no matter the time of day. Isn't it better to give them someone on the phone that can help them instead of just take a message?
If you have a private practice that is doing well, you probably are aware of the influx of phone calls that you are getting. While this is good news for the business, it means that you and your staff are spending far more time on the phone than you are with your patients. Even with a fulltime receptionist, you have to consider lunch breaks, nights, weekends, and vacation time. You need to have someone available to answer those phones 24hrs a day, but the cost of hiring that many people just for the phones is astronomical. A physician answering service could be the answer that you need.
It is important that you choose only a high quality answering service. You will want a company that has employees who are able to communicate clearly with your patients. They should be able to answer your phones quickly so the patients do not have to wait on the line, and they should be able to make appointments and forward calls when needed. All of the employees through these companies should have HIPAA training as well, which lets them know the importance of patient confidentiality.
The physician answering service should also have several methods through which they can send you the messages, making it easier than ever to retrieve them. Make sure that they are able to offer phone, fax, and email messaging.
If you want to give your patients even more options, consider hiring a company that offers nurse triage service over the phone. The nurses will be able to answer some of your patient's basic questions and this can free up more of your time.
As long as you are able to find a physician answering service that can offer all of the above, both you and your patients will be happy.
While you always have your patients' best interests in mind, and you always want to be able to talk with them when they have a question, the fact of the matter is that you are only human. You only have so many hours in a day, and you cannot spend all of that time on the phone with patients. It would be unfair to all of the other patients who have appointments and who are waiting to see you. Rather than spending all of your time on the phone, you can hire a medical call center that will be able to take care of these calls while you can get on with the business of being a doctor.
When you choose to use one of these services, you will find that it comes with many different benefits. One of the most important benefits that you will note is time. Instead of spending your time on the phone answering basic questions better left for a nurse, hire a company that offers nurse services over the phone. Your patients will be happy to get the answers they need, and you will have more time for your appointments. The center will also be able to make appointments for your patients when they call.
You will be able to have easy access to your messages when you use a medical call center as well. The high quality centers are able to send your messages to your phone, your email, and your fax machine. You will never have to worry about missing an important message again.
Your patients will enjoy the service as well. They are no longer going to have to leave messages on a voicemail or answering machine, and they will appreciate that they are able to have contact with a live person when you use the medical call center.
Those who are in the medical field and who operate a private practice, or who are in charge of a clinic, know just how many phone calls can come in on any given day. Even when you post your hours, you know that patients who have questions and concerns are still calling. When they are unable to get through, they will often grow frustrated. This can cause some patients to seek out a new medical provider. A medical call answering service will be able to help you keep your patients.
Because your patients are so important, you want to do everything that you can to make sure that they are happy. If they need to contact your office to make an appointment or to leave a message, the last thing they want to do is deal with an answering machine. When you hire an answering service that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and even on holidays, it will give your patients more confidence. When they know they are able to get into contact with your office rather than an impersonal answering machine, they will be happier.
With a medical call answering service, you will be able to take more time away from your work without fearing that you are missing something important. Any messages that come in that need to be dealt with right away will be forwarded to you. This means your nights and weekends are yours once again.
You will even be able to save some money when you are using these services. Rather than hiring several new employees to answer the phone lines 24 hours a day, your medical call answering service will be able to do it for a fraction of the cost.
When most people consider disasters, they immediately think of their family and their friends as well as what is happening to them. Disaster recovery plans are not often at the fore of your mind. What if you own your own business though, such as a medical clinic? Who is going to be able to tell your patients that the clinic is closed when they call to see what's happening? What are you going to do? If you don't have a plan in place, you could very well watch your business die.
Disasters are unpredictable. Earthquakes, floods, fires, and other tragedies can cause huge problems and interruptions in the services you provide. They strike without warning, and they can take away just about everything that you have if you aren't prepared. A disaster recovery plan for your business is just what you need. You need to have an offsite call center that will be able to handle all of the incoming calls from patients that are concerned and wondering where they can go for their appointments. Of course, recovering from a disaster includes far more than just having a call center handling your phones.
Some of the other actions that you might want to take include having backups of all of your important files. The last thing you want is for all of your precious patient files and financial information to vanish because you were not prepared. It is important to have your backups located offsite in a location that is safe. Digital files are usually the best type of backup, but you might want to have hardcopies as well.
While no disaster recovery plan will be able to take care of all of the possible emergencies your company might face, the more preparation you do ahead of time the easier you will be able to weather the storm.
When you find that your clinic is getting more phone calls throughout the day than you are able to handle comfortably, you might want to consider hiring an answering service. The service will be able to take care of the calls and make appointments for your patients. Some of the call centers are even able to perform nurse triage to help patients who have some basic questions.
Hiring one of these services will open up your phone lines and patients will not have to wait as long on the line when they are trying to get through. This will be a relief to your patients, and it will reflect nicely on your clinic and the way that you run things.
Make sure that the answering service you choose hires only professional employees with HIPAA training and great phone skills. Patients can sometimes panic when they have a problem, and you want to make sure that the employee on the line is able to alleviate the patient's fears and get to the bottom of the problems. Hiring a call service that has a decent amount of experience is key. When you are searching for your service, take the time to learn about all that they have to offer. You might be able to find other areas that they can help make your clinic run smoother.
While a high quality answering service will certainly be able to make all of those phone calls more manageable, they won't solve all of your problems. You still need to take the time to make sure that all of the physicians on staff are doing their best to care for the patients and make their scheduled appointments. With doctors who like to talk, this is sometimes easier said than done!
If you're shopping around for the best call center for your medical office, you'll find plenty of options available today. While it's great to have options, it's easy to become confused or distracted by the many choices you have to make. You may decide on a company in haste just to get the task over and done with.
The following are 5 of the most common mistakes physicians make when hiring a medical answering service. Take care to avoid them as you navigate your options to ensure you end up with the right answering service for your needs and your budget.
1. Choosing a generic answering service.
A phone service that doesn't specialize in the medical field isn't prepared to provide the type and level of care you and your patients need.
2. Entering a long term call center contract.
You shouldn't have to sign up for service long term to obtain great rates on professional medical answering services.
3. Assuming HIPAA compliance.
No medical practice can afford to assume an answering service is HIPAA compliant. Don't take a company's word for it either regarding compliance. Insist on seeing a compliance certificate and verify some facts about how they manage tricky compliance issues.
4. Opting for the least services.
Medical answering centers offer a wide range of services today. Assuming that fewer services will equate to savings for your practice may be a costly mistake. The more call services you're able to outsource, the more efficiently your business is likely to operate.
5. Settling for a second-rate call center.
If an answering service isn't fulfilling its service promises or fails to meet your expectations, don't assume this is the best you can expect. Top quality medical answering specialists are ready, willing and able to meet and even exceed your expectations.
Plumbers, electricians, tow truck operators and many other types of professionals who rely on after-hours answering services to serve their customers have similar needs. They need someone to answer the phone if it rings outside of regular business hours and contact someone in the business to provide emergency services when necessary.
Medical practices and physicians' offices however have very different needs when it comes to after-hours calls. Some patients may contact a practice after hours to cancel an appointment and may appreciate being able to reschedule with a live operator. Others may have questions about their prescription medications. At times, patients may reach out to an office's medical call answering service in the middle of the night with serious medical problems or emergencies.
The highly specialized, serious nature of medical practices is one of the main reasons dedicated medical call centers evolved. Today there are also very specific rules and regulations regarding how communications with patients are carried out and managed.
HIPAA and other state and federal laws outline specific regulations regarding patient privacy, confidentiality and call recording among other things, and every medical practice's call answering center must comply with all regulations.
Operators trained to text a plumber with an emergency or take a message for a locksmith aren't likely to be trained in HIPAA compliance, while those at a medical call answering service will. This is a very important reason why medical practices and doctors' offices should insist on specialized call centers for handling after hours phone calls.
Every business that hires an answering service wants every client to receive prompt, professional service when their business is called. Doctors' offices and medical practices must also ensure their patients' safety and privacy are protected each time their call center is contacted. Relying on anything less than a specialized, professional medical call answering service may jeopardize much more than a practice's reputation.
Medical practices and their patients have specialized needs and unique expectations when it comes to telephone calls. Patients who call their physician or specialist expect to receive an extremely high level of personalized care. Medical facilities are responsible for meeting their patients' needs as well as complying with very specific privacy and security laws.
Only a professional call center that specializes in the health care field will meet the requirements of both patients and medical practices. Generic phone answering services aren't likely to be trained in HIPAA specifics. Operators who serve all types of businesses won't have the in-depth, industry-specific training that enables medical call center operators to converse with patients in helpful, appropriate ways.
HIPAA addresses patients' rights to security and confidentiality regarding their personal medical histories. Anyone answering phone calls placed to a medical facility must be trained to ensure the privacy of every caller and patient. In addition, a medical answering service must utilize appropriately secured methods of transmitting patients' personal information. Regular answering services aren't likely to meet these very specific legal requirements.
A professional call center hires and trains staff that can provide the high level of personalized service patients expect from physicians. Medical call center operators can manage after-hours, weekend or holiday calls as knowledgeable, experienced medical practice representatives. They can manage emergency calls appropriately, set up appointments, verify insurance claims information and perform other tasks specific to a medical practice.
Regardless of the level of service a physician's office is seeking from an answering service, a specialized call center will meet their needs. Operators can answer the phone professionally, provide information, take messages or make emergency contacts as needed. Virtually every aspect of patient service that is routinely handled over the phone by a medical practice's full-time, regular staff can be carried out by a quality medical call center service.
If your medical practice is considering hiring an answering service to manage after hours calls, there are several benefits to consider. 24-hour call answering allows your patients to receive the care they need day or night. It can also ensure staff members on call for emergencies aren't unnecessarily disturbed during off-hours.
Medical practices that don't utilize a professional service for taking calls after business hours may rely on voicemail or an answering machine. This may serve your needs well for calls such as appointment cancellations, simple requests for information or other non-emergency patient queries. In the case of a real emergency, only a live answering service will serve your patients and your practice's needs.
If one of your patients is experiencing an emergency you should know about right away, voicemail isn't going to forward your call. Even if your voicemail does have call forwarding capabilities for emergencies, a patient may not use the menu correctly, or a call could be forwarded to the wrong on-call staff member. If you set a different phone number for emergency call forwarding two nights before and forgot to change it, you will never receive that call at all.
A professional answering service can provide you and your patients with peace of mind about the level of care you deliver. In the case of a real emergency, your patients can receive the immediate response and urgent care they need to alleviate pain or properly handle a medical emergency.
Trusting your patients' safety and well-being to an automated phone system is risky. In the past, medical professionals may have done without this all important service due to cost. Today professional telephone answering companies' services are so affordable, there's no possible reason for medical professionals to compromise on the service they provide outside of regular business hours.
Telephone triage services are ideal for medical practices seeking to offer patients a very high standard of care 24/7, 365 days a year. At times when it's impossible for the regular staff at a doctor's office to answer health care related phone calls, telephone triage can provide the vital information or support patients need.
Triage services administered by telephone are usually provided by a registered nurse, although another qualified medical professional may handle patient calls. The goal of nurse telephone triage is to provide patients with safe, appropriate information. Phone triage nurses are specially trained to offer advice and guidance in a calm, courteous way that patients will respond to, even in the face of serious health situations or emergencies.
Clinical protocols are used by telephone triage nurses in determining the severity of the health issues patients describe. Nurses who provide triage services by phone are specially trained to assess the gravity of each situation and intervene in any crisis. Although the triage nurse assesses patients' symptoms and concerns and provides education and advice, diagnoses are not made.
Nurse telephone triage is an excellent service option for a variety of types of medical practices. As an example, telephone triage can support patients of pediatrics' offices by offering guidance on what to do or when to seek urgent care services for an ill child. This may be just what a frantic parent needs at 2:00 am when no other help is readily available.
Today the majority of doctors' offices and medical practices utilize an answering service for after-hours calls. Adding telephone triage to the services a medical call center provides is usually a simple matter. If nurse telephone triage calls are billed on a per-use basis, this can also be a very affordable service for medical practices with a huge potential value for clients.
If your medical practice is growing, it's crucial to update your services to meet the expanding needs of your patients. Whether you're adding staff members or seeking to manage an increased number of patients yourself, a round the clock live answering service can help. You can rely on professionally trained operators to respond to the variety of your patients' calls as well as perform other basic administrative tasks.
Many people work odd hours, and others simply want to be able to contact their physician's office any time it's convenient or necessary. Instead of limiting your practice to only serving patients who can contact you during regular business hours, specially trained call center operators can help you meet the full range of patients' needs.
Specially trained operators at a medical call center can answer patients' questions, book or reschedule appointments, assist with insurance verification and update records any hour of the day or night. A live answering service can also place calls to remind patients of appointments. The ability to complete these basic tasks saves patients' as well as regular staff members' time.
Hiring a medical call center is like hiring a team of additional staff members at a very affordable price. You dictate when operators are available to assist with calls, whether it's strictly during off hours or during your busiest times of the day.
One of the best things about quality answering services is they charge fees according to usage. This means costs are very manageable for growing businesses that may have increasing expenses related to new equipment or larger facilities.
Investing in a professional live answering service is a cost-effective way to address the needs of a growing medical practice. You can choose the right level of service you need to support your business today, plus take advantage of flexible service plans to meet future needs, as well.
When natural disasters or other emergency situations occur, all businesses are affected. Yet doctors' offices and medical facilities however are likely to be impacted even more than most. This is because when disaster strikes, patients still need the reliable care they count on their physicians to deliver. In fact, the need for urgent care could escalate dramatically.
There is little a physician can do to keep the office open in the event of a flood, earthquake, tornado or even a power outage. A professional medical call center however could go a long way towards helping a practice's patients with managing the situation and facilitating disaster recovery.
Imagine for instance a localized disaster causes downed phone lines, a power outage and road closures. It may be impossible for an office to access the records they need to notify patients about appointment cancellations, call in prescriptions patients need or offer an alternative recommendation for urgent care needs.
A professional medical call center could handle all of these tasks from a remote location that isn't affected by the disaster in the physician office's local area. This service could notify patients about what is going on and reschedule their appointments. Patients who call the office could speak with a professional trained to respond to their questions or needs instead of receiving no answer or a busy signal.
Disaster recovery after the emergency could also be a much less daunting task if an office works with a quality call center. Instead of being overwhelmed with calls from frantic patients who were unable to reach the office, the staff could focus on regaining lost ground quickly and efficiently. The office would also be provided with detailed, accurate records of every call that was handled by the answering service.
Most businesses realize that a medical call center can provide patients and physicians' practices with quality service after business hours, on weekend and on holidays. The vital role they can play in disaster recovery is another important function medical offices shouldn't overlook.
Medical call centers are usually specialized in answering phones for medical practices and doctors' offices, but they aren't all equal in terms of quality. Businesses that want the very best possible service for the benefit of their staff members and their patients can seek out quality by evaluating three key aspects of a call center.
One big indicator of quality in answering services for medical professionals is the length of time they've been in business. You may be happy to try out the new Asian restaurant in town. But do you really want to risk your patients' well-being and your practice's reputation by giving the new physician answering service on the block a try?
While it is true a brand new medical call center could provide top quality service, one that's been in business for at least several years will have more experience. Such experience is likely to be used to guide everything from operator recruitment and training to decisions about technology. This experience could also well extend to how thoroughly a call center complies with HIPPA and other vitally important regulations regarding patient communications.
Another indicator of quality to consider when evaluating medical call centers is their membership in industry organizations. A physician answering service that belongs to the Association of Teleservices International (ATSI) for example is committed to maintaining this organization's high standards of ethics and services. American Teleservices Association (ATA) is another trade organization that is committed to government regulation compliance and the self-regulation of its members.
Last but not least, it's a good idea to ask for a list of clients or references to verify the quality of a medical call center. Investing a small amount of time and effort to check a few references can go a long way towards ensuring you choose a top quality physician answering service.
As a physician's office or medical practice, you understand the importance of HIPAA training and compliance. You staff is HIPAA trained and you take great care to ensure every one complies with all state as well as federal regulations regarding patient privacy and confidentiality. You're confident about HIPPA training, protocol and practices at your office, but what about your answering service?
Since they work with sensitive patient information, physicians' answering services are required by law to be HIPPA compliant. Live operators at call centers may access, transfer and discuss patient information via telephone, fax or the Internet. Specific HIPPA regulations outline exactly how this must be done, and there is no room for error.
One of the biggest mistakes physicians make when it comes to call centers is assuming that training equates to HIPAA compliance. The fact is, HIPAA training does not guarantee compliance. If you already utilize an answering service or are considering hiring one for your medical practice, it's up to you to ensure the company you choose is fully HIPPA compliant.
Asking an answering service whether or not they comply with HIPPA is a good start. Ask for a copy of their Business Associate HIPAA Compliance Form. Then ask about how they manage the basic regulations outlined in HIPPA.
As an example, how does the answering service address the requirement that all patient information sent to any electronic device must be encrypted? If you receive a text message from your answering service, will the message have been sent in accordance with HIPPA regulations?
Complying with HIPAA training requirements is a must for any medical answering service, but so is compliance with all HIPAA regulations. Keep in mind that a medical call center is either entirely HIPPA compliant or it is out of compliance. HIPPA training is crucial, but it is not a compliance guarantee.
Hiring an answering service for a medical practice seems like an easy task today. A quick Internet search will yield dozens of what appear to be professional medical telephone services. The best approach would seem to be to try to spot a few quality services, then comparison shop for the best rates.
Although costs matter and it's a good idea to look for competitive medical call center rates, there's more to choosing the right service than price shopping. A better approach is to consider your own needs as well as those of your patients.
A medical answering service can provide a wide range of services for medical practices and patients today. Considering all of your options will ensure you choose the right level of service and that you don't overpay for services you and your patients don't really need.
As an example, nurse triage phone services that involve additional fees may not be necessary or appropriate for the type of medical service a practice provides. There would be little point in paying to have this service available in such a case.
On the other hand, opting for the bare minimum in service could be a costly mistake. If many of your patients call after hours to make appointments, a medical answering service could save your practice time and money by setting appointments. A service that can manage appointments will save your patients and your regular staff a great deal of time.
If you're uncertain about the needs of your practice or your patients when it comes to a medical call service, the best option may be to choose a company that offers flexible plans. You can then try out various levels of service to determine which ones are right for you and make adjustments to your medical answering service plan as needed over time.
Part of getting any disaster situation under control is restoring communications. There will inevitably be situations where lines of communication are cut and where even emergency responders have a hard time keeping in contact with one another, much less the public. Disaster recovery services for medical offices usually start with getting the phones back up and running and with handling panicked callers. An outsourced service has several advantages where providing these services is concerned. The first advantage is simply one of location: they likely won't be affected by the same disaster as their client.
Disaster recovery services have protocols and technology that allows them to deal with disasters in their own areas, as well. The best medical telemessaging services have redundant service providers and lines of communication. This means that they can keep switching between options if some of them go down. They generally have satellite and land links, as well as various types of communications among both, that enable them to keep their client's operations open. There are also multiple facilities, among the best providers, to which calls can be routed instantly if service at one particular facility is lost. This type of redundancy ensures that vital services are always available.
For a medical office, disaster recovery services are a necessary offering of any telemessaging firm. Without these services, there is no way that the business can ensure availability to their clients and there is no way to ensure that their client's needs can be met in the event of a disaster. Medical offices need to be available 100% of the time. This means that, if you're considering using an answering service, you need to contract one that is capable of dealing with disasters in a way that does not compromise your patients.
