While few people are happy with the current state of healthcare in the United States, one ray of sunshine comes from the growing role medical answering services and healthcare call centers play in providing professional, personal care and attention to patients and their caregivers.
Consider these important healthcare services:
Seminar and Class Registration
Medical call centers can register attendees for various classes and seminars, such as wellness classes, navigating insurance options, nutrition seminars, exercise classes, and so forth. They can capture registration information, attendance numbers, and possible billing information.
Download Checklist on how to compare Medical Call Centers>>
Physician Referral
Don’t risk losing a patient in your network to a provider outside your network. By offering a physician referral service through your answering service, you can hold on to each patient and optimize the scope of care you provide to him or her.
Medical Answering Service
Not all telephone answering services are equal. Some answering services focus on commercial accounts and don’t understand the needs of doctors, clinics, and hospitals, as well as the concerns of their patients and caregivers.
A medical answering service is like a phone specialist that provides laser-focused attention on the healthcare industry.
Patient Preregistration
Patients can preregister for tests and procedures over the phone and in advance of their appointment time. This speeds up the process on the day of their appointment and reduces stress. Everyone gains from patient preregistration provided by your answering service.
Patient Follow-up
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) puts tremendous financial pressure on hospitals to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions. Strategically timed post-discharge phone calls by your answering service can help patients avoid a return trip to the hospital and identify those patients who may be at risk of making a repeat visit.
Intervention is key, and the telephone is the most cost-effective way to provide it.
Remote Switchboard Outsourcing
All hospitals have a switchboard (sometimes called an operator console) that they use to answer calls, provide information, and transfer callers. However, the staff that performs these tasks need not be onsite.
In fact, remote staff at your telephone answering service can provide hospital switchboard service, 24/7, at an affordable rate.
Patient Appointment Scheduling
An open slot in a physician’s schedule is lost revenue. Its inefficient and a waste of time. Medical answering services can fill open shifts around the clock.
Imagine going home in the evening with three open appointments in your morning schedule, but then your answering service fills all three with calls from patients that came in after hours, before your office was even open.
Patient Appointment Reminders
Filling open appointments is one thing. Having patients show up when scheduled is another challenge. Sometimes they forget, and other times they change their minds, but they don’t bother to let anyone know.
Strategically placed appointment reminders via phone, email, and text help ensure that patients don’t forget and identifies those who changed their minds, which allows your answering service the opportunity to fill those open slots.
Nurse Triage Answering Service
While normal answering service staff isn’t qualified to give out medical advice, a nurse triage answering service can. Licensed nurses follow carefully established medical protocols to assist concerned patients and their caregivers, over the phone, to assess symptoms and determine the best action to take.
While not all answering services can provide all these services or do them well, a professional medical answering service can.
