Although the world is starting to return to normal in some ways post-COVID, in other ways the effects are still being felt, especially within the healthcare industry. Now more than ever, it’s important for medical practices to work together and communicate as efficiently as possible in order to prevent offices from ever being overwhelmed with patients as we saw in 2020. Medical answering services have been a widely used option for decades, however, now, they are essential to streamlining communication with patients as well as between staff in an industry that is still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. In this blog, we look at a few of the ways medical answering services are even more beneficial post-COVID.
Post-Pandemic Benefits of Medical Answering Services
Higher Productivity and Efficiency
Time management is crucial for medical professionals. Using a medical answering service, like TeleMed, allows staff members to maximize the hours in their day by not spending valuable time taking extra phone calls that could be efficiently answered by someone else. Instead, staff can prioritize time and focus on patients, paperwork and answering calls that need individual attention, depending on the level of importance and urgency, rather than taking every call that comes in. Implementing a medical answering service into your daily practice will give you peace of mind knowing you’ll never miss a vital call that needs your attention and your patients are receiving the best customer service and professional care when you’re not able to answer the phone.
Emergency/Disaster Preparedness
Medical answering services ensure your phone lines are never jammed and your office remains available for patient and employee call-ins during a crisis, such as the pandemic, or a natural disaster. It enables you to keep phone lines open 24/7 for patients and employees. As we saw in 2020, medical offices were the first to become overwhelmed by the influx of visits, calls and requests. Utilizing a medical answering service not only maximizes efficiency during normal conditions but also prepares your office and employees to handle crisis situations more effectively.
Building Better Relationships With Patients
With the rise of COVID-19, the fear of the unknown generated a great deal of distrust and doubt within the healthcare industry. Now, medical offices are having to work to regain the trust of the public, inserting more emphasis on patient relationships in today’s industry.
Medical answering services can help with building better relationships with patients. Combining instant 24/7 availability, more time to dedicate to your patients and high-quality care and customer service, you provide a much more enjoyable and satisfying patient experience. The more time and efficiency you can introduce to your offices, the less wait time and more your staff can focus on the patients who need your services the most, while also providing a more peaceful and calm environment. This type of detailed attention goes a long way with patients and makes them feel abundantly cared for and at ease. You can rest easy knowing every patient under your care has around-the-clock access to a professional who can answer their questions, calm their fears, schedule an appointment or connect them with appropriate staff using a medical answering service.
Use TeleMed Today
TeleMed is more than just a medical answering service. We provide offices with HIPAA-compliant tools that give patients the ability to communicate over the internet. If you are seeking information about a medical answering service that fits your office or practice, call TeleMed today at 888-544-5355 or contact us online. TeleMed provides reliable and dependable healthcare answering services that are proven to help businesses succeed.
