Medical answering services are very popular nowadays. They offer HIPAA-compliant support for your personal phone lines. They are more economical and save more time. Running a physical service can be very chaotic and exhausting. You have to worry about the front office staff, back-office people, and clinical staff. While juggling all the operations and work in medical offices can be too much, it is all the more exhausting if there are a string of incoming phone calls to be answered by the staff members. This is where medical answering services come in. They offer a dynamic solution by offering secure management of the medical practice’s phone lines with respect to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The callers are also subjected to the information that it is an in-house receptionist answering the phone calls.
What is the importance of medical answering services?
Med answering services provide proficiency and efficient workflow. They are capable of performing a wide array of tasks. These include an in-house receptionist writing down the particular information that the patients provide for further consultation with the doctor or the reminder that the date of your upcoming appointment is approaching pretty soon. Med answering services provide a lot of features. For people living in Ohio, you can Get Med Answering Services at your beck and call. Some of them are as follows:
24/7 availability:
Med answering services have a 24/7 live answering system. This means that a live receptionist always answers your call at any time of the day. This is very convenient, as you may not know when a medical emergency might arise. However, for convenience, they might provide you with a list of frequently answered questions and scripted answers for saving time on both sides.
After-hours call reception:
The service may be closed, but people’s concerns do not adhere to a set schedule. That is why a live receptionist has been set up for the after-hours incoming phone calls. This helps in forwarding the messages to the concerned providers and staff.
HIPAA-compliant messenger:
There are some med answering services providing secure messenger prompts as led by HIPAA rules. They allow medical practitioners and receptionists to text and call patients in a secure way, without any violation of the HIPAA rules. Most of these services are offered via their respective mobile applications.
Message taking services:
Sometimes, the concerned medical practitioner for a particular patient may not be available to take the call at the moment. In that case, the in-house receptionist takes the messages and forwards them to the concerned department or person. This is seamlessly done by message taking services and procedures.
Appointment reminders:
Have an appointment for your health check-up next week and worrying that you will forget it in due course of time? Well, fret not! A lot of med answering services nowadays have an appointment reminder scheme where they remind patients of their upcoming appointment with their physicians. They check-in on you a few days before your appointment, reminding you of the event along the way. This accounts for lesser cancellations and no-shows
Call recording feature:
Med answering services have the liability for recording your call and archiving them for possible access and review in later times. They can also use recordings like these for training purposes.
Answering overflow calls:
Sometimes, the practice might be busier than other days. In that case, instead of getting a busy signal, the caller will receive a live receptionist from taking his or her calls. When the busyness lowers for a bit, the receptionist will forward the messages to the concerned person.
Setting appointments:
Med answering services also let you set an appointment with a simple phone call. They are reliable and save a lot of time, otherwise spent on getting a simple assignment. The live receptionist uses the medical practice's calendar to see the available slots and set them out for the caller to choose from. Some of them also offer insurance verification services.
Processing of payments:
Gone are the days when you have to go to the actual place and pay your dues with physical money. Nowadays, you can just call up the medical service and provide your credit or debit card to pay back your outstanding amount. A med answering service is an almost mandatory extension of a medical practice nowadays. Having a med answering service can help you with a lot of things – such as answering phone calls that you might have missed, pieces of information about appointments and operations, answering calls after work hours, management of reception services during busy days. However, a bad med answering service can destroy the reputation of your medical practice. So it is important to keep in mind that you have to provide quality service if you opt for such a thing. Make sure to look through the rules and regulations to avoid HIPAA violations, data breaches, and leakage of sensitive information.
