A visit to a doctor or dentist’s office can be nerve-racking for many people, so it’s important that healthcare offices do everything that they can to make the experience more comforting. A patient’s experience begins when they make that very first phone call to ask questions, get information, and schedule their appointment. If this initial call isn’t answered, or they are put on hold for a long period of time, they will likely not have a great first impression of your practice.
To improve their overall patient experience, many physicians, dentists, orthodontists, chiropractors, and other healthcare professionals outsource to a medical answering service. As a leading call answering service to a myriad of medical practices, we see many of the same questions asked time and time again. With that said, we’ve compiled a list of medical answering service FAQs, along with the answers.
Why should I outsource to a medical answering service?
Many physicians, dentists, chiropractors, and other healthcare professionals outsource to medical answering services to keep up with their high call volume, and to and provide premium patient care. A medical answering service offers extra support so your patients can receive personalized help whenever they need it, without having to leave a message or wait on hold for a long time.
Do I need to work with a HIPAA-compliant medical answering service?
If you are operating a healthcare practice of any kind, you are legally required to be HIPAA-compliant. The third-party vendors that your practice partners with, such as a medical answering service, must be also HIPAA-compliant. Outsourcing to a HIPAA-compliant answering service ensures that the virtual receptionists who are handling protected health information (PHI) have been trained on, and are following, all HIPAA guidelines and privacy procedures.
Why do I need to work with a HIPAA-compliant medical answering service?
Aside from it being required by law, here are some of the reasons to make sure that the medical answering service that you partner with is HIPAA-compliant:
- To ensure that the confidential health information of your patients is always protected
- To avoid fines as high as $50,000 per violation if patient information is mishandled
- To avoid losing the trust and confidence of your patients if their confidential health information is improperly disclosed
- Partnering with a HIPAA-compliant medical answering service shows your patients that you value their privacy
How much does a medical answering service cost?
A medical answering service starts as low as $39 per month for 40 minutes of coverage, with many other pricing options available. Whether you need minimum coverage or 5,000 minutes per month, we’ve got the perfect plan to fit your medical practice’s needs.
All of our medical answering service plans include 24/7 coverage, free email relay, free SMS relay, a free local phone number, and online portal access. We also offer a variety of service add-ons, including interactive voice response, Follow Me, appointment scheduling, SMS text messaging, email marketing, and more. To view all of our medical answering service pricing options, click here.
