Hiring a good call center may sound like a relatively simple task, but it can be a bit more complicated than you think. There are many different factors that separate good and bad call centers, and unfortunately, a low-quality service could lead to significant losses for your medical practice.
A medical call center can be a great asset for healthcare professionals. A virtual answering service allows you to easily outsource for phone calls and other aspects of customer service, giving your on-site staff more time to focus on each and every patient that visits your practice. Learn about the
Outsourcing to a call center also offers other advantages, such as allowing your practice to take phone calls 24/7, 365 days of the year. You can also set up an emergency preparedness plan to keep your communications protected in case of emergencies or natural disasters, and even send out automated reminders to your patients. Learn how you can streamline patient care by outsourcing your calls to a medical call center.
Another great benefit of a high-quality call center service is that it can be totally customized to fit your practice’s needs. You can use different services, such as working with bilingual operators, to make sure you’re covering the needs of your patients and community. A remote call center can become a key piece in your customer service strategy, giving your practice room to grow and thrive without breaking the bank.
So, it’s crucial to make sure you don’t pick the cheapest answering service without first looking into their credentials. Although while answering the phone may not seem like a risky activity, using the wrong answering service could seriously harm your medical practice. Here are three justifications for not skimping on a medical call center.#1. Higher risk of HIPAA violations
HIPAA compliance is one of the main concerns for any medical business, since it’s incredibly important to be able to manage patient data safely without any breaches. HIPAA violations can be incredibly costly, leading to hefty fines and legal repercussions. These repercussions can affect you directly, even if the mistake was made by a company you outsource.
A good medical answering service will provide operators who have received in-depth training on HIPAA procedures, and they’ll know just what to do to keep your patients’ data safe under any circumstance.
#2. Unmet patient expectations
When a patient calls your practice, they expect to have their questions answered by warm, professional, and knowledgeable staff. A good answering service can provide operators like this, but on the other hand, a cheap answering service will probably hire lower quality operators. If your patients receive poor service over the phone, they may not receive the information that they require, which can lead to frustration and unmet expectations. Over time, this could reduce your level of patient satisfaction and affect your customer base.
#3. Poor 24/7 availability
24/7 availability is one of the main reasons why medical professionals outsource their phone calls. The medical industry never sleeps, and physicians need to know that their patients will be taken care of around the clock. Otherwise, your patients may find themselves calling your number after office hours without any response.
Hiring a low-quality medical answering service can result in poor 24/7 responsiveness, since these call centers don’t guarantee the same standard of care as higher quality companies.
