If you are one of the many clinic or medical office managers, doctors or medical or mental health professionals interesting in upgrading to a virtual answering service, you will find you have a lot of options.
However, as with anything else, knowing a bit about the company you are considering as your provider for the answering service for your medical office is an important first step. As medical answering services have some very important considerations, including HIPPA compliance, medical emergencies, and even managing multiple on-call staff, these systems have to able to perform accurately and efficiently every time they are used.
Year of Experience
When choosing a system for an answering service for your medical office you want to choose a company that has been in business for a significant amount of time, and that specializes in medical phone answering services. Too often companies offer general answering systems and then simply modify them to meet the needs of medical offices.
Not only is this ineffective, but it also limits the amount of customization possible. As medical staff and patients need different features and functions, an experienced and specialized company is always the best option.
Cost – The Full Cost
If you are going virtual with the answering service for your medical office, be aware that there are different factors in pricing from different companies, and they may not all include the same features.
There are a very few companies that offer true flat rate medical answering services. These are changed on a monthly basis at the same flat rate for every month. There is no penalty for going over your “limit” and no additional costs for secure email notification of incoming calls to the doctor on-call or the designated professional.
Most Effective Technology
An answering service for a physician’s office, clinic, or practice needs to be focused on using the most current and most effective technology. By utilizing up to date technology the system will be more secure, it will be HIPPA compliant with regards to emails and messaging, and it will also provide the option to customize the system, and the features and functions, to meet your specific needs.
A top company doesn’t have one answering service system for everyone; rather they work with each doctor or medical office to create the best match. With this level of expertise and experience, you can’t go wrong with your choice, and you will be glad you took the time to ask these basic questions.
