In any medical practice, a medical answering service is an important thing to think about. Communication is one of the most essential aspects of healthcare. Patients may need to communicate with physicians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is impossible for physicians to be available all of the time, however. Many patients need to communicate with physicians and healthcare professionals during afterhours. This is why a medical answering service is absolutely necessary.
There are many important aspects of a good medical answering service that you will want to take into consideration if you are deciding which medical answering service to use. First of all, does the service answer on the first ring? Is there an element of punctuality that will be guaranteed? Often when patients are calling, they have urgent issues that need to be addressed right away, particularly if they are calling after hours. You want to make sure that your medical answering service works with a sense of urgency. You also want to make sure that the operators are skilled in medical terminology and that they are able to work skillfully and efficiently.
It is also important that the medical answering service be compliant with all of the HIPPA laws. Does the service have a mobile app, for example? Mobile apps are a great way for medical answering services to make sure they are sending HIPPA compliant messages. This is also a great and convenient way for medical answering services to stay up to date and current. Another tool to look for from a good medical answering service is a secure web portal. This provides a useful tool to medical professionals from which to transfer messages.
One beneficial aspect of a medical answering service in general is that they are constantly growing, improving, and coming up with new tools for healthcare professionals and patients alike as technology evolves. For example, if you are looking into a medical answering service that doesn’t even have a mobile app, you may want to reconsider. Another example, does the service have the ability to set appointments in your system to allow patients to set appointments beyond your normal business hours, greatly increasing your revenue? A good medical answering service is always striving to find new ways to make physician/patient communication even better.
Another great questions to ask when you are looking for a medical answering service would be is this medical answering service provider reliable? Do they have a proven track record? Do they have a strong established client base? And don’t forget to consider their financial strength – do they have to answer to loan officers or customers first? This is a great question to think about. A simple search on the internet can tell you everything you need to know about a medical answering service provider.
