Answering Services for Doctors’ Offices, Explained
It’s no secret that healthcare offices can become chaotic. Doctor’s offices constantly have people coming in with emergencies. Your phones also ring non-stop as people call to ask questions or set up appointments.
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Yet, despite how challenging it can be, doctors must keep an orderly office. They need a strong connection between their front office staff, physicians, and back-office workers. When this becomes jeopardized, your office can no longer run efficiently.
Fortunately, you don’t have to manage these operations alone. Instead, you can rely on answering services for doctors’ offices to manage your tasks.
DOCTORS ANSWERING SERVICE FUNCTIONS
What is an answering service for a doctor’s office? These companies provide secure management for your medical office’s phone lines. Crucially, they do this in a way that upholds HIPAA laws and regulations.
These workers also convey the impression to patients that they are in-house receptionists. This way, the patient feels like they are talking directly to their physician’s staff.
A doctor answering service can provide several benefits to your medical practice. If that intrigues you, keep reading! We’ll explore these advantages in the guide below.
What Do Answering Services for Doctors’ Offices Do?
Essentially, a doctor answering service takes complete control of your phone lines. In doing so, they free up your staff to handle other obligations and responsibilities within your office.
These services run your phone lines more efficiently than your staff could. This efficiency stems from the range of services that these companies provide.
Live Answering
The fundamental service these companies offer is live answering. Usually, these services operate 24/7, allowing a live receptionist to answer all your incoming calls.
They can also answer your patients’ basic questions if you provide them with adequate information. Typically, giving them a list of FAQs and scripted answers suffices for this.
Managing Appointments
Another service these companies provide is appointment management. You can work with these businesses to set your patient’s appointments and send them reminders.
All you have to do is provide your doctor’s answering service with your calendar. From there, they can schedule appointments to fit your office’s timetable.
An answering service can also take messages from patients to their doctors. This way, they can streamline the flow of information in the office.
Payment Processing Services
Another helpful service offered by these companies is payment processing. Some doctor answering services accept debit and credit card payments via phone call. This way, they make remote payment more convenient for patients.
Some of these services even provide insurance verification. This service allows patients to determine their co-pays.
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Sometimes, your practice may have a spike in call volume. Most offices send a busy signal to overflow callers when this happens. Sometimes, this frustrates an inquiring patient and keeps them from visiting your office.
Fortunately, you can prevent this with a doctor’s answering service. These services always provide a live receptionist to take calls, even during overflow times.
Most of these also provide doctors with after-hours answering services. This way, patients can continue to call in even after your office closes.
Save Money By Hiring a Doctor’s Answering Service
As you can see, a doctor’s answering service offers comprehensive functions to improve your office. These functions make your office communication systems much more flexible.
However, that’s not the only benefit these services provide. Hiring these services can also save money for your office.
Think about what you’d have to do to provide this level of communication yourself. At the very least, your office would likely need to hire two or three full-time staff members.
Hiring the additional staff would also force you to provide them with benefits and salaries. Doing this makes your office more expensive to run.
Hiring a doctor’s answering service requires none of these lofty expenses. Instead, you can work with this team for affordable monthly rates.
Maintain Your Medical Professionalism
You may worry that hiring a doctor’s answering service would make your office seem less professional. After all, your staff has the training to ensure they comply with HIPAA. Does this service provide the same training to their staff?
The answer to this is yes. These services train their personnel to comply with HIPAA and Patient Health Information (PHI) regulations. As such, you can rest assured that your office maintains its professionalism with these services.
Increase Your Workplace Efficiency
As noted before, a doctor’s office is always a busy place. But, no matter how busy it gets, you’re still responsible for running an efficient practice.
Answering services help you maintain this efficiency. They free your staff to focus on other tasks without having to manage the phones.
Think about what your receptionist could do with all their newfound free time. Imagine how much easier your day becomes without having to take every frantic phone call that they patch through to you.
These services also provide increased convenience for your patients. Appointment reminders and remote payment options make their experience with your clinic more enjoyable.
Do You Need a Doctor’s Answering Service?
As you can see, a doctor’s answering service provides several benefits for a doctor’s office. The question is, does your office need to work with one of these services?
Answering this question requires some introspection. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I missing calls regularly?
- Are patients canceling their appointments or not showing up?
- Do I receive several after-hours calls?
- Does my call volume spike randomly?
If the answer to even one of these questions is yes, you may need an answering service. They can iron out the wrinkles in your operation to cut down these problems.
Find the Best Answering Service for Doctors!
You may have decided that you need the help these services provide. If so, then excellent! Working with these companies can benefit your office tremendously.
Now, all that’s left is to find the answering service you need. Several answering services for doctors’ offices exist, each offering different packages and deals. How can you choose the best one?
Our staff has the necessary training to remain HIPAA compliant. We also provide 24/7 answering services, helping your office avoid any backlog of calls. We also offer several plans and pricing options to suit your office’s specific needs.
So, don’t hesitate! Contact us today to get a quote for our services!
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