After you close your clinic, there can still be a need for medical attention. In some cases it could be urgent attention.
But isn’t the good old voicemail enough to do the job?
No it isn’t. Studies have shown that 75 per cent of people who get voicemail simply hang up and switch over to a competitor.
The reason is straightforward. People want an actual human being to answer their calls. For medical professionals a physician answering service is the right answer to keep their business going.
Let’s face it. Do your clients have a horrid time trying to contact you after working hours? You as a doctor have a responsibility to take care of your patients even after your practice closes for the day. One effective way for being accessible afterhours is to hire one of the better physicians’ answering service.
As per available statistics, more than 110 million emergency room (ER) visits occur in United States every
year. Admittedly, not all these visits are for emergency purposes. Far too many people visit ERs because they seek clinical advice and an ER is seen as the only immediate option.
Strictly, visits to emergency rooms should be restricted to only those cases where immediate care is needed to prevent death or incapacity.
Yet, accessibility cannot be ignored. Patients require a gateway for medical access even after clinical hours - not only to receive emergency care but also to get better medical attention for their well-being.
A survey revealed that patients expressed highest satisfaction when they received after care from their own family physician or the clinic they visited most often. In contrast, the experience patients had from emergency rooms or a walk-in-clinic was far from acceptable.
So the question naturally arises as to whether a physician answering service or an automated service suits best for a health care provider.
Yes, it is true that a live physician answering service can answer your calls after hours, but the service, if not up to the mark, will fail to forward important calls to the physician on duty.
A research published by a journal revealed that approximately 50 per cent of the calls not forwarded by physicians’ answering service to the on-call doctor could be classified as important and needing urgent medical care.
The consensus in the medical profession now is “all after-hours calls must be forwarded to the on call doctor and no triage decisions must be made by the physician answering service as this can result in erroneous or dangerous delay in medical care.”
But isn’t the good old voicemail enough to do the job?
No it isn’t. Studies have shown that 75 per cent of people who get voicemail simply hang up and switch over to a competitor.
The reason is straightforward. People want an actual human being to answer their calls. For medical professionals a physician answering service is the right answer to keep their business going.
Let’s face it. Do your clients have a horrid time trying to contact you after working hours? You as a doctor have a responsibility to take care of your patients even after your practice closes for the day. One effective way for being accessible afterhours is to hire one of the better physicians’ answering service.
As per available statistics, more than 110 million emergency room (ER) visits occur in United States every
year. Admittedly, not all these visits are for emergency purposes. Far too many people visit ERs because they seek clinical advice and an ER is seen as the only immediate option.Strictly, visits to emergency rooms should be restricted to only those cases where immediate care is needed to prevent death or incapacity.
Yet, accessibility cannot be ignored. Patients require a gateway for medical access even after clinical hours - not only to receive emergency care but also to get better medical attention for their well-being.
A survey revealed that patients expressed highest satisfaction when they received after care from their own family physician or the clinic they visited most often. In contrast, the experience patients had from emergency rooms or a walk-in-clinic was far from acceptable.
So the question naturally arises as to whether a physician answering service or an automated service suits best for a health care provider.
Yes, it is true that a live physician answering service can answer your calls after hours, but the service, if not up to the mark, will fail to forward important calls to the physician on duty.
A research published by a journal revealed that approximately 50 per cent of the calls not forwarded by physicians’ answering service to the on-call doctor could be classified as important and needing urgent medical care.
The consensus in the medical profession now is “all after-hours calls must be forwarded to the on call doctor and no triage decisions must be made by the physician answering service as this can result in erroneous or dangerous delay in medical care.”
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