Top 4 Benefits of an After-Hours Answering Service for Medical Offices
Every medical office can benefit from having an after-hours answering service at their patients’ beck and call—after all, they’re on the phone for a reason and expect to get a live person on the other end.
Here are the four key benefits at a glance, but below we’ll talk in-depth about each one:
- Less expensive than hiring an in-house team
- Sets and maintains a consistent appointment schedule
- Provides patients with 24/7/365 professional assistance
- Gives peace of mind knowing patients are in good hands
These benefits are broad and entail many nuances, so let’s go into greater detail about each of the four benefits of an after-hours answering service for medical offices.
1. Less Expensive Than Hiring an In-House Team
The cost of paying a salary plus benefits to a full-time employee (or many) for taking phone calls is expensive. Depending on the number of calls your medical office typically receives in a day, you may need more than one person answering the phones. The costs quickly add up to be out of reach for many practices.
Yes, your receptionist may be able to take on the task. However, they’ll likely find themselves completely overwhelmed with calls while also trying to complete their other work and help the patients standing in front of them. This scenario usually ends poorly, with patients on the phone and in-person getting frustrated with wait times for attention and service.
This is how partnering with an after-hours answering service for medical offices saves money:
- Lowers or reduces costs spent on equipment, hiring, training, salary, and benefits
- Customizes services to fit your office’s specific needs and budget
- Allows your receptionist to be more productive and efficient in other tasks
- Increases patient satisfaction since they are helped immediately—no holding is required
2. Sets and Maintains a Consistent Appointment Schedule
If you rifle through your phone logs, how many scheduling calls does your office receive daily, weekly, and monthly? Our guess is it’s a lot. Organizing and managing every call with every patient is a lot to maintain. Inevitably, communication lines cross, causing provider schedules and patient dissatisfaction.
A professional medical office answering service will make appointments according to provider preferences and maintain that schedule regardless of reschedules and cancellations. By tactfully tackling the scheduling, rescheduling, and confirmation of appointments, providers in your medical office will be relieved.
Don’t underestimate this benefit of an answering service. You’ll quickly notice your medical office running much more smoothly with minimal patient wait times, fewer gaps in appointment times for providers, and more work/life balance for the entire team.
Here’s how a professional answering service can set and maintain a consistent schedule:
- Schedules appointments according to provider preferences
- Reschedules appointments to fill in gaps between appointments
- Confirms appointments to reduce cancellations and no shows
- Optimizes schedules to allow for better work/life balance
- Decreases wait times for patients
3. Provides Patients with 24/7/365 Professional and Personal Assistance
Patients aren’t calling your medical office just because they’re bored. They’re calling because they need medical assistance. There are many reasons why a patient may need to call after hours. They may have a medical emergency, questions that need answering as soon as possible, or it’s the only time they have available to call and set up an appointment.
Whatever the reason, your patients don’t want to leave a message on an impersonal voicemail machine. Medical professionals must build and keep their patients’ trust. One way to do this is by ensuring every person feels heard and that their concerns are addressed—and not just between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.
An after-hours answering service can benefit your medical office with 24/7 assistance by:
- Dispatching emergency care when needed
- Giving your patients a live person to talk to when they make the call
- Making it convenient for them to set or reschedule an appointment
- Ensuring your patients that your office has their best interest in mind
- Building trust between provider and patient
4. Gives Peace of Mind Knowing Patients Are in Good Hands
Don’t worry about your patients; they’re in good hands with customer service experts who work hard to give your medical office a good reputation. An after-hours answering service has trained professionals who provide your patients with an exceptional experience and accurate messaging.
Even after hours, on-call agents work hard to establish and keep a trusting relationship by having convenient, consistent, and correct communications with every caller.
Above all, an answering service for your medical office has the benefit of maintaining compliance with HIPAA requirements—meaning your patients’ privacy and medical information are never violated.
Ways an after-hours answering service can give your medical office peace of mind include:
- Maintaining a professional demeanor with every caller
- Using your preferred voice branding on each call
- Giving accurate, up-to-date information, no matter the question
- Keeping information confidential and in compliance with all privacy laws
Your Patients Deserve the Best—and So Do You
Statistics show steep call abandonment rates, starting at almost 70% after only one minute of hold time, growing to 100% by four minutes.
You’ve built your practice based on care and trust, but putting your patients on lengthy holds and sending them to voicemail doesn’t reflect those values. This is not the message you want to send to those who need your help.
To put patients first, optimize your time, and save on human resource and administrative costs, choose Answering365 as your on-call, after-hours phone call answering service. The benefits help your medical office treat more patients more efficiently.
Our HIPAA compliant medical office answering services feature U.S. based bilingual agents who specialize in appointment settings and mission-critical calls for:
- Clinical trials
- Dentists
- Home health
- Hospitals
- Medical clinics
- Medical dispatch
- Locating, managing, and dispatching on-call technicians
- Following script and triage protocol
- Documenting calls and outcomes
- Processing messages through multiple channels
- Mental health
- Mobile labs
- Physicians, HMOs, PPOs
Contact Answering365 today for a customized solution for your needs and budget.
