Virtual answering services have recently emerged as the preferred choice with doctors who want to be in control of the afterhours care and co-ordination of their practice. If you are in the medical profession and growing fast in your career, you will have more patients to deal with in less time. Add to this the competition in this field. If your patients do not get the attention they want, they will not think twice before switching to another specialist HIPAA Solution. Therefore, it is important for you to have a system that could answer your patients’ phone calls even during the odd hours and odd days in an easy, efficient, and cost effective way but without causing any inconvenience to you. Following is a brief overview on how a virtual system can be a much better choice than a conventional, manual call center.
Hold Times
A virtual answering service picks up all the calls at the first ring, which can be very helpful in maximizing efficiency. On the other hand, patients are oftentimes tested for their patience with long hold time when they use a conventional answering system where everything is manual.
Message Recording And Delivery
Accuracy is very important in all aspects of the medical field. The best system is obviously the one that records and delivers complete information accurately. Since manual call centers listen to the patients and then type their queries and concerns, chances are that the messages they are typing will not contain sufficient info because the call representatives often try to “summarize” the details in their own words. Such “tight editing” may result in incomplete messages being relayed. Besides, things can be very problematic for doctors if the messages contain typo errors. Such things are not applicable to a virtual answering service because in that case everything is automatic. It records and delivers full messages of the patients in their own words, eliminating any chances of error.
HIPAA Compliance
As per the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it is mandatory as per law for the doctors to keep the medical records of their patients private, confidential, and well protected. Therefore, HIPAA compliance is an important aspect to look into when it comes to choosing an answering system. The conventional service, where everything is handled manually, may not be able to safeguard the flow of information between the doctor and the patient. An automated system, on the other hand, allows you to manage and control 100% HIPAA compliance in your practice.
Manual call centers may have their advantages, but when it comes to medical profession; it is quite evident that a virtual answering service is definitely a better choice. Visit doctor answering service for more info.