As a medical office manager or as a doctor, it is essential to choose the best medical telephone answering services available. In the past, the only options doctors and office managers had was to choose a live answering service or to opt for a voice mail or answering machine system.
There are very real issues with both of those traditional options in medical telephone answering services. The answering machine has no capacity to contact doctors on call, so would require constant monitoring by the on-call physician. When it comes to live answering services they often are unable to ascertain the significance of the call, leading to frustration as doctors are contacted for “emergencies” that could easy wait until regular clinic or office hours.
The New Option
Today, there is a better answer to the traditional options for medical telephone answering services. This is in the form of a service that allows patients to record a message for the on-call physician, or for their regular physician for non-emergency calls.
The system can be set up to record messages for non-emergency calls, or provide information to the patient on clinic or office hours to call back. For emergency calls the patients can record a message, then the system will automatically contact the on-call physician, and the patient’s actual recording can be heard by the doctor.
However, the system doesn’t stop there. If the first contact doctor isn’t available, the system will move down a list of numbers you select to ensure the patient’s message is relayed to the right individual. The system can send to any type of number from a cell phone to a home phone, pager or any other device desired.
Improved Understanding
One very real issues with using live person answering services instead of recording types of medical telephone answering services are the possible risks of miscommunication. When the patient calls in and leaves the message, the live operator summarizes the information, and may choose to leave out details the medical professional may need.
When you use medical telephone answering services where the patient records the medical situation in their own words, the level of understanding for the doctor is always the best. There are no mistakes or misunderstandings, allowing for a better and more effective way for the physicians to respond to the call and provide information to the patient as to the next steps to take.
At No More Phone Tag, our medical telephone answering services are the best in the industry. With top ratings from medical professionals, our systems will streamline your after hour call handling procedures.
