Are you currently in need of a quality medical answering service? There are many different companies to choose from that provide medical answering services. But, choosing the right medical answering service is crucial. It will help your office to reduce medical costs, while improving patient care. The key difference between a medical answering service and a traditional medical dispatch center is the level of interaction between patients and doctors. With a medical answering service, you don’t need to answer your patient’s calls unless it’s an emergency. But, you are able to stay in contact with your staff and provide them with updates and information about your business. This means that you have the opportunity to train your staff how to better handle certain patient situations, such as whether or not a patient should be turned away because they are ill or injured. This type of hands-on patient care makes the medical answering service a better match for many medical offices.
However, there are some things that you should consider when choosing between medical answering services. The most important factor is who actually answers the phones. While many doctors’ offices and medical practices use telemarketers to keep in touch with patients, this can also lead to a lack of client interaction. Telemarketing techniques do not set up time to discuss details, and can often lead doctors to miss deadlines with patients. But, there are several benefits of hiring medical answering services company. A medical answering service offers highly trained medical receptionists who are well-versed with medical office etiquette, available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and can even take messages and return phone calls during office hours. Let’s take a look at the following benefits,
- Lower Cost
In addition to the highly qualified staff members, you also get the added benefit of lower costs. When you hire nationally licensed telephone agents from a reputable answering company, you are going to pay a lot less for each phone call. When you use a telemarketing technique, you will be paying for the time that you don’t have. On the other hand, if you use an answering service that provides messaging services and other professional answering options, you are going to be able to save money on messaging because you will only be paying for the time that your patients are actually at the clinic or doctor’s office. The reputed answering services charge you a flat fee which is more beneficial for you. You can also expect to save money on medical bills because most medical answering services offer a virtual receptionist that takes messages and answer phone calls professionally.
- 24*7 Availability
Medical answering services typically have 24 hour a day customer support. Many doctors’ answering services also have a live receptionist so that you do not need to wait for an answering service to arrive. This is particularly helpful for small, rural offices that may have an overnight patient who needs help getting the care that they need. You can expect medical answering services to have highly qualified staff members available to provide all kinds of customer support, including live phone and email support. They are available at any time of the day and can take all phone calls regarding your practice or your patients.
- Emergency care
The answering service agents are also trained to handle emergencies, so you will not need to hire extra medical professionals to handle emergency calls, as well. The agents are always on call, so if an emergency arises and you are not able to handle it yourself, you do not need to worry about it. A medical answering service can also provide you with a national toll free number. This number is used to communicate with your patients and all of your staff members in the event of emergency or other problems. Your patients will receive a live call from a trained professional in the company when this number is called. This can help to protect patients from feeling uncomfortable about calling the number, which can result in a doctor’s appointment being rescheduled. You can be confident that if an emergency strikes, your patients will receive proper care from licensed medical professionals who are part of your team because your national business answers service is always on call.
All of these great services provided by your medical answering services will help to increase your bottom line. Your physician’s answering service will pay for itself quickly, as patients will come in droves once you have made the switch to a service that is highly qualified. Your business will start to grow quicker and your bottom line will grow accordingly. You will never regret having made the decision to go with a physician’s answering service. You will receive tremendous customer service, high levels of expertise, and more than likely, an increased amount of revenue.