The holidays provide a wonderful opportunity to get some rest, catch up with your loved ones, and engage in traditions that bring you closer to them. But when you work in healthcare, you also know that the festive season tends to be very busy with many patients who require medical attention. These two realities can make it hard for you to relax and enjoy some time off during the winter, especially if you know that phone calls are going unanswered at your medical office.
But don’t worry, there’s still hope: there are different strategies that you can use to lighten your workload during the holidays while still making sure that you’re providing top-quality medical attention to each and every patient. And while it may seem too good to be true, you can achieve this without breaking your budget, and growing your practice at the same time.
Keep reading to find out what you can do to handle overflow call volume during the festive season.
The holidays are one of the busiest times of the year
People may be home and resting during the holidays, but that doesn’t mean that medical emergencies stop during these weeks. On the contrary, many physicians are familiar with the fact that there are even more accidents and emergencies during the holidays than practically any other time of the year.
Home accidents are very common during this time, especially because many people try their hand at activities that they may not perform during the rest of the year: deep cleaning, decorating their home, or even cooking. Combined with the excitement of a family reunion, it’s no surprise that many people suffer accidents during the holidays that can range in severity and lead to real medical emergencies.
The weather also leads to its own set of problems. Driving turns dangerous, and many people may find themselves suffering from different ailments related to the cold and often dry weather. Conditions like asthma, arthritis, common colds, and respiratory infections affect many people during the winter each year, and many patients end up spending the holidays at the emergency room. And of course, food poisoning and even indigestion also cause many medical consultations after a big family gathering.
When you combine all these possibilities, it becomes easy to see why the holidays are such a busy time for most healthcare professionals. Additionally, regular medical emergencies don’t take a break for Christmas, and patients will still need the same care that they do during the rest of the year.
However, it’s also understandable if you want to lighten your workload during the holiday season. Even if patients need you, you can’t ignore the fact that your friends and family are also looking forward to spending some quality time together. And at the end of the day, you also need to take care of your wellbeing and make sure that you can take a break during the most wonderful time of the year.
So how can you do this if your phones are ringing all day?
Make sure you and your staff get some well-deserved rest
The answer is probably simpler and more affordable than you ever imagined. Virtual answering services provide your medical practice with a remote call center that is handled by operators who receive extensive customer service training before working with you. These operators will work diligently to ensure that each caller receives the information and care that they need, which will also take a lot of work off of your and your staff’s plates.
When patients call your practice, a remote operator will greet them warmly before inquiring the reason for their call. Depending on the caller’s needs, the operator will then be able to offer a variety of services which you can customize beforehand. Remote call center operators can offer information, provide quotes, schedule appointments, take cancellations, take messages, and even redirect phone calls to you or another member of your staff.
You will be able to tailor your call center so that it fits your needs exactly, and operators will only offer information and services according to your guidelines. This will have several benefits for you and your patients: a better patient experience, easier appointment scheduling, shorter waiting times, and less pressure during the holidays. Once the holidays are over, you can even return to work to a fully efficient patient schedule created by your operators while you were away.
Thanks to this service, you and your staff won’t have to worry about spending extra time taking phone calls during the festive season without lowering the quality of the services that you offer.
