By Jabari Zion
Medical answering service is a company that provides medical secretaries, which are essentially virtual receptionists. These call center agents support doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals on the phone, via email, or via fax for patient appointments, insurance claims, and billing questions.
Essentially, you can think of this as a secretary who takes calls from patients instead of other employees. When people call, they get through to an actual person who takes the information and then relays it to the appropriate employee.
What Qualities Do you Look For in a Medical Answering Service Company?
- Answering Accuracy
Accuracy is the primary concern for any medical facility. Whether you have to reschedule an appointment or send a reminder, your messages must be delivered accurately. If there is any confusion in your messages, things will become complicated for everyone involved.
- Responsiveness
It is also vital that your answering service be responsive, rather than assuming the calls will eventually get through to someone. Any business like a medical office receiving an average of dozens of calls per day needs the assurance that they will be by their phone at all times.
Even if you don’t end up needing them for 30 minutes, your clients expect you to be available and responsive when they call.
- Weighing Calling Plans
Your company is in business to make money. How you go about it will determine how profitable you are. Answering services can be tailored to any size business based on their calling needs and budget. You can choose a per-call plan or an unlimited service package.
- 24/7 Availability
A medical answering service must be available 24 hours a day. The more people who call during the day, the more critical it becomes that there is an answering service representative on hand at all times.
- Efficiency
An answering service must be efficient in all aspects of their business. Most importantly, you want to avoid long-term contracts in favor of month-to-month plans for maximum flexibility in your technology changes and budgeting plan. What’s more, any medical call center should offer remote access with a virtual phone system or a cloud-based option.
- Customer Service
Customer service is a must when working with a medical answering service company. You need to know that their customer service representatives will be helpful, responsive, and quick. With this in mind, it can be helpful to look for a company that has been recognized by the Better Business Bureau or other similar organizations.
- Reliability
Reliability is also vital when it comes to hiring an answering service. You want a company that offers the best technology and the most efficient system possible, so you need a service provider who remains on top of these changes and has resources for any technical issues that might arise.
A medical call center that doesn’t have good customer service will not be able to keep clients for very long. It’s essential to choose a company with full 24/7 support so you can get in touch when issues arise. Even on holiday weekends, your customers still expect you to be around on some level!
