You oversee staff, implement new office procedures from upper management, and maintain administrative systems, which can exhaust you by day’s end. Your team, equally busy, manages prescriptions, patients, and inevitable emergencies.
But with everyone fully engaged, who answers the phone? Even with dedicated staff, there’s never enough time to give each call the attention it deserves. Unanswered or rushed calls can make patients feel neglected or unvalued.
An American medical answering service, like Always Answer, prevents this. It ensures:
- 24/7 live agents are available.
- Trained staff follow your custom scripts.
- Bilingual services cater to diverse patient needs.
This post will explore the benefits of an American medical answering service for your practice.
How Not Having an American Medical Answering Service Can Hurt Your Business
Not having an American medical answering service can significantly impact your business. A medical answering service is crucial for providing patients with the care and attention they need. However, not all services meet the necessary standards.
An offshore medical or dental answering service, particularly one not based in America, presents unique challenges. Your practice may struggle to manage these effectively. Monitoring each call to prevent issues can be time-consuming and counterproductive, negating the benefits of an answering service.
Choosing an American medical answering service ensures calls are handled professionally, maintaining patient satisfaction and streamlining your operations.
Communication Barriers
The first obvious issue with an offshore medical answering service is the inevitable communication barriers that will arise.
The issue here is not that foreign workers aren’t capable of handling the day-to-day tasks of an answering service; they will not have the English acumen to handle the tough technicalities that are demanded of an American medical answering service.
Patients and clients expect that the individuals answering their calls will be able to clearly communicate with them. After all, any call concerning a medical issue is always serious to those involved.
Data Security Concerns
A much more serious issue with offshore services is the data protection measures put in place to safeguard the sensitive information that is relayed over the phone. Patient information is always an extremely sensitive subject and patients deserve to have their privacy respected.
Offshore providers may not follow or adhere to the same legal and regulatory frameworks that have been put in place to protect American citizens. These frameworks include:
- HIPPA
- HITECH Act
- PSQIA
- GINA Act
To better protect your patient’s information, it’s best to hire an American medical answering service that is bound by law to follow certain standards that’ll apply to your callers.
Limited Knowledge of Local Practices
Perhaps the biggest issue with an offshore answering service is that they will have limited knowledge of the local practices, healthcare regulations, and industry standards that your clients and patients have come to expect.
The potential for a misunderstanding is high and so too is the probability of a serious mistake or offense being made. As such, these mistakes will ultimately result in an inefficient medical practice as you’ll have to dedicate time every week to handling any errors or miscommunications.
From disgruntled patients at best to serious medical mistakes at worst, an offshore answering service creates too much risk for any clinic.
How Does an American Medical Answering Service Help a Business?
An American medical answering service rectifies all of the issues and risks that come associated with an offshore answering service. However, there is more to a quality American medical answering service than just being readily available. This makes learning how to choose a medical call center tricky.
Some of the advantages and benefits that a service of this kind can bring to your medical practice are often unnoticed. This is because they are subtle in nature but can have a big effect on how you, your clinic, or your hospital come across. Here’s what you need to know.
Cultural Understanding
An American medical answering service will have a much better understanding of what your patients expect when they call your clinic. This cultural understanding has many benefits, among them:
- Cultural nuances associated with healthcare practices of the country.
- An understanding of the tone of voice to use and how to address questions.
- An improved sense of what the caller wants and how they can help.
When talking about sensitive issues, the often cold and impersonal sound of an offshore answering service can put off many. Making your patients feel comfortable to discuss anything they need over the phone is an essential must.
Real-Time Response
Services based in America will operate either within the same time zones as your callers or at the very least in a timezone near that of your callers. Time zone alignment ensures not just a faster response but also a real-time response to a patient’s inquiries.
Often, the way an offshore answering service will handle calls is that they will collect each call made. Then they will review each call and have their live agents respond to each one. This is a disjointed operation that does very little to assuage a caller’s concerns or address their needs.
Enhanced Communication
Enhanced communication arises when the person we’re speaking to empathizes with us. It enables a more accurate expression of our needs, desires, and problems. An American Medical answering service provides this level of comfort to your patients.
With each call, the information collected becomes more comprehensive and pertinent. Consequently, you and your staff are better prepared to address patient issues or manage appointments. Effective communication fosters improvements throughout a medical practice, starting from the ground up.
Best American Medical Answering Service Features
Want your medical or veterinary practice to properly address your client’s concerns and receive relevant information from each call passed in a timely manner? If so, you are going to need the best American medical answering service on the market.
Always Answer is made up of a library of features that have helped it establish itself as the premier answering service for those in the United States. From their call center capabilities to customer survey features, Always Answer is a complete answering service solution.
Customized Scripts, Bilingual Support, and More
Always Answer’s most impressive feature is their live agents who are available at all hours of the day. They are a true 24/7 answering service that doesn’t offshore. Their agents are trained in both English and Spanish, offering bilingual answering services to those who may need it.
However, their language support doesn’t end there. Always Answer’s agents are trained and equipped with the latest translation software. Through the use of this software, they can provide language support for more than 170 languages.
Regardless of the language that these agents are tasked with communicating in, you can be assured that they’ll follow whatever custom script you give them. Thanks to this custom scripts feature, Always Answer builds itself as a readymade solution for any medical practice.
FAQs About American Medical Answering Services
Your medical practice or hospital needs to be able to handle day-to-day operations while at the same time being prepared for unexpected emergencies and situations.
As a result, you will need to know everything you can about an American medical answering service before relying on one to help you manage your business. This is why we have answered the most commonly asked question pertaining to the subject.
What Services Does an American Medical Answering Service Provide?
A hospital call center offers a range of services tailored to healthcare professionals. This includes 24/7 live call answering, message relay, emergency call handling, and customized script adherence to ensure accurate and confidential communication with patients.
How Does an American Medical Answering Service Handle Emergency Calls?
Medical answering services are equipped to handle emergency calls with priority. They follow predetermined protocols to quickly assess the urgency of the situation, contact the appropriate on-call personnel, and provide the necessary information to ensure prompt and effective response to emergencies.
Can an American Medical Answering Service Schedule Appointments for My Practice?
Yes, medical answering services can schedule appointments based on your practice’s specific guidelines. They have access to your appointment calendar, allowing them to efficiently manage and update schedules, confirm appointments, and provide patients with necessary information.
The Best American Medical Answering Service in 2024
A medical practice must embody reliability, trustworthiness, and responsiveness. An American medical answering service can elevate your practice, but only the finest can match the dependability and readiness your practice demands.
Always Answer stands out as that premier American medical answering service. With live agents proficient in over 170 languages, they’re equipped to enhance your patients’ experience. Reach out to us and start providing superior customer service to your patients today.
