10 Tips for Hiring a Pediatrician Answering Service
In 2021, there were 3,659,289 million births recorded in the U.S. This is a 1% increase in births from the previous year.
With all of these new little bundles of joy also comes the realization that they will need medical care. Whether it’s for routine check-ups or emergencies, a child’s health and well-being are paramount. New parents know how vital it is to choose the right pediatrician for these services.
Likewise, as pediatricians, it is just as equally important that you choose the right answering service for your pediatric practice to better serve the needs of your tiny patients and their families.
COMPARE QUOTESIn this guide, we’ll give you 10 tips you can use to help find the pediatric answering service to meet your needs. Interested in finding out more? Keep reading below for further details.
1. Find an Answering Service That Offers 24/7 Support
Young children are especially susceptible to injury and illness. Their need for medical care may not always coincide with their normal pediatrician’s office hours. Parents want to know that they’ve chosen a pediatrician who offers their children care around the clock.
Choosing a pediatrician answering service that offers 24/7 support will show the parents and other family members of your patients that you truly care about them. You’re giving them a lifeline that allows them to access care no matter what time of day or day of the week it is.
This is also especially helpful for busy peak call times like extended lunch hours. It also works for holidays and long weekends, when getting a prompt answer would not be possible otherwise. With 24/7 care, your answering service is always there for your patients and their families, even when you’re unavailable.
2. Research Their Industry Experience
When it comes to using a medical answering service, not just any answering service company will do. Some may be relatively new and claim to offer the best benefits when, in reality, this may be too good to be true. It is critical for answering service companies to have an extensive experience and knowledge in the medical answering service industry.
As part of this, you need to be able to properly distinguish between the terminology used in the specific fields of medical practice. This includes what medications are called, what they do, and how they are taken.
Medical answering services, like those for pediatricians, possess years of industry experience and know-how. They can address the most common issues. Most importantly, they can help nervous parents with sick children with their questions and concerns.
3. Ensure the Medical Answering Service Is Professional
Professionalism goes hand in hand with industry experience. Your ideal medical answering service operators will be trained to handle each call in a professional manner.
They will greet each caller in a friendly and helpful tone and ask how they can assist them. Or the answering service operators can access caller information through an automated menu.
Pediatrician answering service agencies also possess the skills to reassure anxious parents. They can better redirect and pinpoint the reason the call was made to achieve a faster resolution. This cuts down on the length of each call and leads to a more efficient answering service system.
COMPARE QUOTES4. Find an Answering Service That Provides Detailed Call Logs and Records
When your pediatric practice revolves around caring for young and vulnerable children, you don’t want to leave anything to chance. Maintaining detailed call logs and records should be a top priority of any medical answering service.
Missing out on important call information isn’t just careless, it can be dangerous to the health of an ill child. It prevents their parent or guardian from getting the answers they need.
With detailed timestamped call logs and records, you can see exactly what time and date each call came through. You can also see what the main concerns were and what was done to achieve a satisfactory resolution.
This gives pediatricians and their families peace of mind knowing their call information wasn’t just lost in the shuffle. Your pediatric patients remain of the utmost importance. You can look back through the database of these logs to search and categorize patient calls and records.
5. Use an Answering Service to Focus on Patient and Family Satisfaction Rates
If patients or the family members of young patients who act as their advocates in a pediatric setting don’t feel heard they will be more likely to seek out care elsewhere. Patients in a medical practice are essentially what customers are to a retail store, its lifeblood.
Losing patients to another medical practice can cost your practice to lose 10% or more of its revenue. An answering service can help you fill in a large gap of care between patients and your pediatric practice.
When family members of patients can call at any time to speak to someone about their child’s health, they will feel more invested in your practice. They will see you as a pediatrician who cares and this will improve patient care and family caregiver satisfaction. This leads to a higher percentage of patient retention long-term.
6. Opt for an Answering Service With Appointment Scheduling Features
Another great benefit of pediatrician answering services is their ability to serve as a dedicated appointment scheduling system.
The last thing a busy parent with an agitated child wants is to be put on a seemingly endless hold pattern to connect to the office for appointments. This can be frustrating and cause parents and guardians of the child to not schedule their follow-up appointments as necessary.
Parents can easily cancel or reschedule appointments if there is a conflict in their schedule. With easier appointment management, it will result in fewer no-show appointments, which can cause your pediatric practice to lose precious time and income. You can also use automated email and text appointment reminders.
Look for an answering service that provides appointment scheduling for your pediatric practice to further enhance your patient’s customer experience.
7. Search for HIPAA-Compliant Answering Services
Keeping sensitive patient records and information secure is a priority in the modern era. Cyber attacks, hackers, and malware can cause a breach of patient data. It exposes confidential information like:
- social security numbers
- birthdates
- phone numbers
- home addresses
- payment information
This reflects poorly on your pediatric medical practice if you don’t use the necessary protection protocols to keep data from becoming exposed.
HIPAA-compliant answering services will be equipped with the required parameters in place to adequately safeguard patient data. Features like data encryption and firewalls keep patient data from being accessed by hackers and malware.
Secure portals allow only the designated users to log in with the proper credentials. This means that your pediatric practice will be covered in all aspects to meet HIPAA compliance and data protection.
8. Choose an Answering Service That Offers Pricing Transparency
Find an answering service that gives upfront service pricing. You’ll want to avoid answering services that try to lure you in with special introductory pricing, only to drive up the price higher after the promotional period has ended.
Ask whether the medical answering service charges a flat monthly rate or if they charge based on each call they receive. You’ll also want to know if there is a charge per minute for lengthy calls or peak call times.
If there are additional services available that you may want to take advantage of, you should ensure that you want to pay extra for any add-ons so there are no surprises when you get the bill. Ideally, the right pediatrician answering service will have all of the features you want included standard for no extra cost.
9. Read Online Answering Service Reviews
One of the best ways to find a pediatric answering service for your medical practice is by reading online reviews first. Online reviews are honest and real reviews from the people and businesses who have used these services firsthand.
Online reviews will give you the best picture of the benefits and drawbacks of each medical answering service available. It is less of a shot-in-the-dark scenario when you know what to expect. This allows you to determine which options meet all of your needs and pricing criteria.
Answering services for pediatricians with good reviews have already been pre-screened and vetted for your convenience. You and your patients can receive the best possible care and support with the right answering service.
10. Use an Answering Service Referral Company
An answering machine referral company can help you take the guesswork out of hiring a pediatric answering service for your practice. These companies have already scouted out answering services. They can provide you with a list of medical answering services that meet your needs.
You can view price quotes and see a comparison of features and service options. This can help you narrow down your options to select the best possible answering service for you and your patients.
Get Your Answering Service Quotes Today From Medical Call Service
You’ve already got enough to deal with in your pediatric practice. Using a medical answering service can help you navigate the complicated day-to-day workings of patient and caregiver treatment in your pediatric practice. It simplifies your calling process and streamlines your messaging system.
Medical Call Service can help you find the right pediatrician answering service. We’ll provide you with free quotes from the top medical answering service companies.
With one less thing for you to worry about, you can get back to caring for your young patients and their families.
Contact us today here for your free answering service quotes.
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