A medical answering service is aimed to improve the healthcare industry. They help doctors by handling their everyday non-medical tasks. The demand for answering services for medical offices is rising every day. Medical professionals can now rely on these services without any hesitation. These services can handle patient calls, direct them to the doctor and can even schedule appointments. With their services, a doctor will never miss out on the important calls. But choosing the right company could be quite a task. So, we have made a checklist for you:
1. They should be able to escalate the urgent cases
A medical professional is flooded with calls all throughout the day. But, how do you differentiate between the urgent and the non-urgent ones? It will take up a whole day for the doctor or their hired receptionist to speak to the patients directly and understand the situation. This is where an answering service for medical offices comes into the picture. They talk to the patient and try to understand the urgency before filtering out the cases and then escalating it to the doctor. Make sure your answering service is able to handle this situation efficiently.
2. Should offer a flat fee
Before choosing an answering service for medical offices, make sure they charge you on a monthly basis and not for every call. Whether the volume of calls is high or low, there should only be a fixed price. This will save your receptionist’s salary cost and manage your budget. So, no matter how many calls or texts you get throughout the day, it will all be handled by the answering service. And, a professional service is much more efficient than relying on your receptionist.
3. Should be available 24 hours
A medical service is most efficient when it functions 24 hours. A doctor receives a lot of urgent calls in the night and it’s not possible for him to answer them all. In such cases, hiring a medical answering service that responds to all such urgent calls and messages is crucial. The messages are then brought to the doctor’s notice accordingly. Clients will trust a medical service only if it gives them priority even in the odd hours.
4. The answering service should have a human touch
When a patient calls a doctor during an emergency, the least they want to hear is a robot’s voice. So, choose an answering service that greets the patients, listens to their needs, is friendly with the client and provide a customized service. The tone of the virtual receptionist will decide whether they will retain the patients or drive them away. The answering service should be able to provide a multi-lingual service as well.
5. Should follow HIPAA rules
It’s mandatory for an answering service to comply the HIPAA rules. It means the patient’s details will not be disclosed to anybody else. Make sure your clients know about it so they are aware.
This will help win the client’s trust and they will prefer your medical services each time.