Crucial Seconds
If you are running a home health care or hospice organization, you might have noticed an increase in business over the past several years. The volume of business in such companies will continue to skyrocket due to several factors. Statistically, there are more people over the age of 65 today than ever. According to a recent world aging study, the share of older persons in the global population will increase from 9.3 % in 2020 to 16.0 % in 2050.
Why is this important? These figures are significant for any business that works in healthcare and particularly with older patients. Such companies include home health care services and hospice organizations. According to a recent survey by Franchise Help, 90% of seniors indicated they would prefer to stay at home as long as possible instead of moving to an assisted living facility or nursing home.
The industry is rapidly growing, and the Department of Labor expects job growth in the sector to increase by 70% by 2025. As you work to keep up with demand, you want to take the best care possible of each patient. Enlisting an answering service is an excellent first step, but choosing the right one is even more critical. Here are the ways the home health answering service can help your business.
Provide 24/7 Answering Services
Gone are the days when a health services company could have hours of operations. If you want to take the best care of your patients and serve their families, you will need to be reachable 24/7. A 24-hour answering service will answer your company’s phones around the clock to ensure that your patients’ urgent and routine needs are addressed.
Emergency Dispatch Services
When patients are home-bound or are in hospice care, some issues might require an immediate assistance. Any delay in getting back to a patient or their family could have dire consequences. An emergency dispatch service will act as a liaison between patients, family members, and care providers. Any time of day or night, call operators will triage incoming calls according to your specifications. Calls for any particular services or even specific patients can be forwarded to different numbers or sent to you via SMS or email.
Allow Patients to Schedule Appointments
Not all phone calls you receive are urgent. Some patients or family members may simply need a callback or want to schedule an appointment. An appointment scheduling service can set up appointments with clients and enter the information directly into your online calendar. The service’s database will integrate with your own and no further data entry will be required.
Deliver a Higher Level of Customer Service
As the home health care industry grows, the clients will have more and more choices of healthcare companies. Because of this, your organization will want to make customer service a top priority to attract and retain clients. Choosing a top-level medical answering service is just one of the ways your business can offer a high level of customer service.
Trained and Friendly Call Operators
When hiring a professional answering service, hospice organizations or home health care companies should choose the one that employs highly-trained and compassionate call operators. Your business is committed to delivering the highest level of care to patients, and often that begins with a friendly voice on the phone.
Safeguard Patient Privacy
The privacy of your patients and clients is more important than ever, so you should only choose a home health answering service that employs state-of-the-art calling systems and is 100% HIPAA compliant.
Bilingual Answering Services
Not every patient will speak fluent English, and some might not speak English at all. Therefore, your company’s ability to serve non-English speakers can make a difference in its overall success. When hiring an answering service, make sure it offers bilingual English-Spanish answering services.
Save Your Company Time and Money
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to concentrate more on your core business and save money at the same time? Believe it or not, using a professional answering service can allow you to do just that. First, you would be able to eliminate phone interruptions and get more work accomplished. Second, you would save on overhead since you will no longer have to pay a salary and benefits of a full-time employee. On average, our clients have saved $2.8 million each month in overhead and counting.
If you are interested in finding out more about home health answering services, call us at 888-588-9800 or a free consultation. Answering365 has the experience and compassion needed to make your home health or hospice organization’s business more efficient. Our services are entirely customizable to your preferences, and your clients will feel as if they were speaking with an extension of your business. Contact us to learn more about our professional medical answering services.