Each month, part of your profits is paid to a healthcare call center of some kind. Your answering service is a vital extension of you as a healthcare provider and people are depending on you for very important services. However, do you really know what happens when patients call your service? If not, you could be causing unneeded headaches for your patients and they could choose another doctor. Here are some typical traits of an efficient answering service.
Answering the Phone
Depending on what time a patient calls, he or she may listen to an automated menu. They may need to push a number to be directed to the right department. For example, pressing 1 may take them to scheduling and 5 may direct them to your nurse. During normal business hours, this may work well, but what if it is after hours?
Your healthcare call center can shut down after hours and refer all callers to the hospital ER. However, this does not inspire confidence in patients. Most patients want to contact their doctor about important things no matter what time it is.
You could hire a live healthcare call center service and someone will be there to handle calls 24/7. Yet, this may cost you a great deal of money and you may still have to deal with human errors occasionally. As a healthcare professional you cannot afford errors if they are about medical emergencies or patient privacy. A fully automated system can eliminate errors caused by people.
Directing Calls
An efficient healthcare call center can easily direct calls to the right person or department. Since this can be done by both live and automated call center services, automated is the most economical choice.
Prioritizing Calls
A good answering service never fails to prioritize your incoming calls. It will notify the doctor on call and even contact your home or cell phone if you wish. This makes sure no emergencies are overlooked and your patients receive the kind of care they deserve.
Costs
Cost is very important and you can save a lot of money when you choose a flat fee healthcare call center. Your bill never changes during the year and if you have a very busy month, you won’t have to worry about an extremely high bill.
Summing It Up
An efficient answering service answers all calls and forwards them to the right people. It can prioritize calls and give you several options for receiving messages. When you choose an automated system with excellent service and flat rate fees, you know you have one of the best healthcare call center service packages.
