Your partner in providing patient-centered, 24/7 premium and HIPAA compliant care
Many medical offices and healthcare providers rely on a professional answering service in order to better serve their patients and make high-quality care more accessible. With a quality answering service, patients can reach the care and guidance they need without jumping through a bunch of hoops, being put on hold, or reaching voicemail.
If you’re wondering how an answering service can benefit your practice—and, by extension, whether it’s worth the modest investment—this article is going to take a deep dive into medical answering services. We’ll look at what answering services are, how they work, and how to find the best medical answering service for your practice.
Quality medical answering service providers are hard to find. And as a medical or healthcare professional, chances are you have a busy, thriving practice with phones ringing off the hook at all hours. While it’s nice to provide exceptional care to so many people, it can be difficult to keep up with such a high volume of patients and phone calls—and it’s just not possible for your office to be open 24/7/365.
That’s where we come in. At Answering Service Care, we provide on-call, after-hours answering services for medical offices and practices of all sizes. And when we say “on-call,” we mean it.
Our virtual answering service operators for medical offices are available on nights, weekends, and holidays—and they’re all trained to handle all your telephone answering-related needs from simple patient calls to full-blown medical emergencies.
But when it comes to patient answering services, being professional is only the beginning. Our answering service for medical offices is personable and empathetic. They know what it means to talk to someone calling with a problem, or needing assistance with a question. They’re intelligent, friendly, articulate, and prepared to fulfill your specific phone and message requirements.
As one of the top medical office answering services in the field since 1974, we have over 45 years of experience doing what we do best. Through 2023, our systems have operated at 99.998% efficiency. For a busy medical professional, there is nothing like having the peace of mind that comes from working with a reliable service provider that values secure and always-on technology. As a vendor, we take technology systems, processes, and uptime as seriously as we do the medical office answering service agent experience that we provide.
The term answering service refers to a specialized, third-party service an organization or company uses for anything from providing basic information to redirecting calls, scheduling appointments, and answering callers’ questions.
A medical answering service provides a medical office or healthcare facility with the tools, technology, and personnel needed to provide high-quality phone services to patients and other callers. Here’s a run-down of how it works.
Let’s say Sally D. needs an appointment with her doctor, who has been helping her manage a chronic health condition. She already has a follow-up scheduled, but she is experiencing some new symptoms and wants to be seen by the doctor sooner than her existing appointment. So she decides to call into the office, and is pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a human (as opposed to an impersonal, pre-recorded message).
She explains her new symptoms and asks about moving up the date of her scheduled follow-up appointment. The answering service employee asks questions, takes notes, and checks the doctor’s schedule. Once they return to the line, they provide her with a few dates and times to choose from. She picks one, and the new appointment is scheduled.
From start to finish, Sally was able to reschedule her follow-up appointment over the course of just a few minutes thanks to the knowledgeable and professional help she received.
Now, you might be wondering, “What about after hours answering services for medical offices?” Obviously, patients’ health questions and concerns don’t just occur during business hours. That’s why medical answering service companies like Answering Service Care provide an accessible, 24 hour medical answering service for offices and healthcare facilities. Whether a patient calls at 3:00 a.m. or p.m., they can receive the same reliable, patient-centered service they expect.
While you will certainly feel the benefits of partnering with our physician answering services, your patients will feel rewarded as well. After all, if your patient is calling your medical practice, it is likely because something is wrong. This doesn’t mean that every call is an emergency, but there is some sort of concern at play.
Some calls might simply be to schedule an appointment down the road. Other calls might be to ask a question about a medical bill. Other calls might be personal, and a patient wants to speak only with a doctor. Regardless of the point of the call, our medical answering services will address each individually and accordingly.
It is no secret that patients want to feel like they are taken care of. This is true whether their situation is serious or merely routine. They want to be heard and make sure their needs are being taken care of. With a medical office answering service in place, you can rest assured your patients will be satisfied.
This is especially true for after-hours calls. You can’t be expected to be answering the phone at all hours. We understand that a work-life balance is important. And there are certainly times when your patients are calling and you are not available.
But these calls shouldn’t be missed. And with an on-call after-hours answering service for your medical practice, they won’t be.
Happy patients mean return business. Additionally, it is likely that your patients will refer your practice to their friends and family. Simply put, if your patients feel like they are being taken care of, they will boast about their experience. This can only mean good things for your medical practice.
There are several benefits to choosing a professional, specialized medical answering service over a simple answering machine or voicemail service, including:
There is no question that a medical answering service will lighten the workload of your employees, making your operation more efficient. After all, if someone is constantly having to answer the phone, it takes away from their regular responsibilities. Inbound calls happen, and high call volume is ordinarily a good thing. However, if it is getting in the way of people doing their jobs, then it is time for a medical answering service.
When your employees are working, they should be completely invested in their jobs. If someone has to run and answer the phone every time it rings it is breaking focus and hurting productivity. With a physician answering service, this doesn’t have to be the case. Your employees can stay focused, your patients can have their calls answered, and efficiency can be improved overall.
There are no real disadvantages to using a medical answering service—as long as you choose the right one. With that in mind, then, let’s explore how to choose the right answering service for your medical office.
Choosing the right professional call answering service is an important consideration, but not overly complicated. It ultimately comes down to finding the features you need, from a company you can trust, at a price point you can afford. Here are 6 important things to consider:
As an industry leader for over four decades, we know that reliable telephone answering support plays a pivotal role in your ability to provide better care and improve patient outcomes. That’s why we do what we do. To help you better serve your community. Here’s a quick overview of what makes us one of the best 24-hour medical answering services you can find:
We’re fully compliant with HIPAA, giving you—and your patients—peace of mind.
Receive your messages securely and in compliance with HIPAA laws.
Never miss an appointment – or an opportunity for an appointment.
We make sure you never miss a call and your patients don’t miss you.
Answering Service Care offers several different medical answering service plans, starting at just $25/month (at the time this article was published). Visit our medical answering service pricing page to learn about the current rates for our plans, which include:
The best way to put these costs into perspective is to compare them with the average salary of a medical office receptionist or similar professional. According to Salary.com, the average salary “typically falls between $35,706 and $42,674.” What’s more, that doesn’t account for related costs—such as those associated with recruiting, onboarding, and training one or more new employees, or the cost of benefit plans and other expenses.
Of course, our team at Answering Service Care will also work with you to create a customized plan to ensure that our services will meet your needs and help you provide the highest level of professional service to your patients. Curious what this might look like for your practice? Learn more here.
We don’t have to tell you how critically important it is to treat patients* with dignity and respect. Our live medical office answering service team members are alert, empathetic, and dedicated to giving your patients the attention they both expect and deserve. Every individual medical office answering service agent is trained, skilled, and experienced in the subtle art of patient communication.
The pandemic has transformed the way many businesses operate, and medical offices are no exception. Many of our medical clients have switched to telemedicine, supporting their patients virtually on a short-term or long-term basis. As we all adapt to a new normal, there’s no denying that telemedicine has a significant role to play in keeping up with routine needs and follow-ups—and it is becoming clear that telemedicine is here to stay.
When you treat patients by phone or video, the format of your appointments may be different and your reliance on technology increases exponentially. If your office staff is working remotely or has had to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure, don’t leave your phones to chance.
Now more than ever, people are hungry for connection, and callers are eager to hear a human voice at the other end of the line. Whether they are calling with an urgent medical concern, or to find out the social distancing requirements at your office, a friendly and professional voice goes a long way.
With both patients and practitioners adopting telehealth to some degree, we are pleased to provide a professional, HIPAA-compliant telemedicine answering service to our clients in the medical field.
Over the course of this article, we’ve provided the blueprint for the perfect medical answering service, so you can find the best answering service for your practice. It’s one that offers accessibility, versatility, efficiency, cost savings, an improved patient experience, professionalism, and HIPAA compliance. And you should prioritize working with an answering service company you can trust—one with experience and expertise, highly trained personnel, and a willingness to understand your needs and tailor your services accordingly.
At Answering Service Care, we provide a comprehensive and customizable answering service for your medical office or facility. Get started today with the perfect plan and never miss a call again.
As a fully compliant HIPAA “business associate,” we understand the importance of patient privacy, and we’re committed to full compliance so that we can best protect and serve you and your patients. Our medical patient answering service is dedicated to providing top customer service while also maintaining privacy and patient security standards for each of your patients. Read more about HIPAA and our secure messaging medical office virtual assistant service.
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15 years and we are not moving !!
We love Answering Service Care We have been using them for over 15 years and never had an issue. If we have any questions, they answer us as quickly as possible. They are open to suggestions and will do whatever they can to help us. In this world of quick changing employees, it is once to know we have someone we can count on.
What a great team
I have been with Answering Service Care for the entire 15 years I have been in business. What a great choice to choose them to be my call center representation. The professionalism has been outstanding and if there are any issues, they are quick to resolve them. What a dynamite team.
As a customer for 10+ years
As a customer for 10+ years I am very satisfied with the service I've receive; however, I've had to have conversations with management to iron out some issues relating to length of time before the phone is answered. Hopefully the matter is resolved.
This business is surrounded by many…
This business is surrounded by many long term caring people with state of the art advanced technology.
Florida (Headquarters)
441 S State Rd 7, Suite 2
Margate, FL 33068
New Jersey
1 AAA Dr, Suite 103
Hamilton Township, NJ 08691
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2933 Sunset Ave, Suite E
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
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