When looking at a doctor answering service, you can evaluate it from four different angles: Industry specific services, range of services on offer, setup and billing, and help and support. Using a phone answering service frees you to concentrate on what you trained to do, offer medical assistance to your clients (patients). However, some answering services aren’t a good fit for the medical field in general. Below are some of the things you should evaluate before signing a contract with any service provider are listed below.
Range of Services
One of the considerations you need to look at includes the range of services the service provider offers you. Some services of interest include bilingual support and if the answering services are available 24/7. Most of these companies also offer online account access that makes it easy for you to view reports and messages, including analytics. Other services that could be of interest to you include daily reports that are sent to you regarding calls received and transferred. These messages are mostly transmitted via fax, text message or email.
Setup and Billing
You also need to take a look at how fast it takes to have your account activated. Shorter setup times mean that you will be up and running quickly. The next thing to look at is whether the company is providing competitive setup fees for the software and training of your staff members.
Help and Support
The best answering services providers will offer you live chat, FAQs and email support options to help you in case you have questions or stuck. You can also try to lookup customer experiences while using a company’s answering services. Choose a company that is quick to offer you answers without necessarily taking you round to several people. Overall, a positive experience the first time around may be an indicator of great services.
Industry Specific Services
For medical practitioners, answering services are a popular choice. One critical feature of any medical answering service is HIPAA compliance, since it ensures that your patients’ information will be handled in a safe and confidential environment. Always choose to work with a HIPAA compliant answering service to avoid lawsuits.
Working with a professional doctor answering service will help you provide stellar service to your patients without overtaxing your current staff or hiring new personnel.
The answering service will answer any queries your patients have and work beyond your normal office hours. For best results, provide the service providers’ agents with as much information about your services as you would like them to have.
