Tips to Choose an Answering Service for Doctors

The first thing physicians have to check before choosing a call answering service is whether they actually need such a service. An answering service for doctors is a must for extremely busy doctors, suitable for doctors with reasonably good experience and reputation, and ideal for up-and-coming doctors. If you feel professional help would be helpful in communication with the patients, then proceed to hire call answering services.

This post helps you to find the right answering company. The following are the main things to consider when choosing an answering service:

ñ  Reputation

ñ  Technology

ñ  Type of service

ñ  Quality of personnel

Reputation

Reputation of the company is perhaps the most important criterion. It is not built overnight. Choose an answering service for doctors for that has been in the business for a long time. It's easy to be in the business with a good reputation for, say, 25 years. It takes hard work and dedication to build that reputation.

Technology

Sophisticated technology means better and more efficient services to the clients. Top answering companies employ the latest hardware and software to maintain an edge over their competitors. They function around the clock throughout the year.

Type of Service

Professional companies offer a variety of answering services, which include:

1. Call agents talk with all the callers and divert only the urgent calls to the doctor.
2. Urgent calls are filtered electronically, and agents talk only with urgent callers.
3. Agents forward reports of caller details through e-mail, fax, or text.
4. Agents provide a recording or transcript of the conversation between the caller and call agent.

Quality of Personnel

Everything depends on the efficiency and charm of the call agent. If they are capable and polite, the callers will have good experiences. If they are not, callers will have a horrible time. It's better to choose a local answering service for doctors that employ local people as call agents. They understand the problems better and provide helpful answers to the callers.

Medical Answering Services—Protecting Patient Confidentiality

Medical answering services have increasingly become popular as doctors and health care professionals find themselves fumbling when it comes to doctor–patient relationship management. Doctors cannot always personally attend calls. Sometimes, as a medical professional, you will find that, the more successful your business, the less time you have for answering patient questions in person, particularly as many of these questions may not be directly related to their health but rather things such as appointments, fees, schedule, insurance claims, and so on.

While it would be great for the doctor to attend patient calls 100 percent of the time, it is not always possible. If you require backup when it comes to attending calls and communicating with patients, the best solution would be to hire medical answering services.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

Don’t select medical answering services randomly. Carefully check if they follow HIPPA regulations. Patient confidentiality is serious business. If your practice violates HIPAA in some way, you could be fined or even jailed. Better safe than sorry—hire medical answering services that are dead serious about following the HIPAA guidelines.

Why HIPAA?

Medical answering services should follow HIPAA rules for two reasons. The first, of course, is to protect the doctor from liability and prevent misuse of confidential information. Second, HIPAA compliance makes patients more confident about their doctors. Many people do not want their medical history to be known widely, and they look for a doctor who is discreet and understands their concerns. If you can assure your patients that your practice, including your phone answering staff, is HIPAA compliant, it reassures patients.

As a doctor who vowed to look after the best interests of your patients, you owe it to them to hire medical answering services that are professional and safe and follow HIPAA guidelines.