How Much Do Medical Answering Services Cost in 2019?
The first consideration when researching medical answering services for your practice will likely be the cost. Discover what factors impact pricing.
Did you know that nearly 136 million Americans visit an emergency department every year? The average time spent there is more than 2 hours before a patient is released to go home.
If you’re a doctor and you’re focused on providing some of the best medical services to your patient, taking advantage of medical answering services can be the right thing to do. This type of service helps to sort out patient calls and identify emergency situations which require your immediate attention.
If you’ve never used answering services before, keep reading this article to find out how they can help you and your business.
Everything You Need To Know About Medical Answering Services And Their Cost
The cost of outsourcing your medical calls depends on various factors such as the length of the phone conversation, the services you offer to your clients, etc. The average cost of a call is roughly $1 and it can increase or decrease according to the number of calls you receive each month.
What Are Medical Answering Services and Why You Need Them?
What Are Medical Answering Services and Why You Need Them?This type of service is provided by call centers to doctors and other healthcare providers. In the simplest terms, you are paying a team of agents to take calls on your behalf. This type of service can free up your schedule and help you focus on the things that matter the most for your business.
The call center team you are hiring can also make appointments for you and sort out some of your patients. Some of the services included in this package can also include basic messaging. This means that an agent answers the phone, copies the patient’s message and sends it to your email address. It is also possible to receive an SMS message directly on your mobile phone or a fax message.
Other services might include basic medical directions. This service involves having a trained nurse to offer basic medical help to patients who need it the most. If you’re a doctor with years of experience and a great reputation, you might find this service very useful.
How Much Do Medical Answering Services Cost?
Various call center companies charge different prices for the answering services they provide.
The 2 most important factors which influence the price are the duration of the call and the number of calls per month.
The longer the call, the more you’re going to pay. At the same time, the more calls you receive, the lower their overall cost is going to be. Think of it as buying in bulk – the more products you buy, the cheaper each unit is going to get.
To give you some basic information regarding the cost of answering services, each call will eventually cost you between $0.90 and $1.15 on average. This is valid for calls with a duration of around 75 seconds. If the calls take longer (let’s say 2 minutes) then the call might cost around $1.5 on average.
Call centers offer packages to their clients in the healthcare industry. For example, you can go for a package of 50 calls with an average duration of 75 seconds. This can set you back about $50 a month. If you’re a busier doctor, you might receive 100 calls per month and this can cost you less than $100 for every 30 days.
Now that you know the average prices, you can calculate on your own how much you’re going to spend. If you don’t have a lot of clients, you shouldn’t opt for a larger package because it’s not justified at this point in your career. Keep in mind that some companies also offer custom packages to their clients, particularly if the healthcare provider expects to receive hundreds of calls from his patients each month.
Is There A Cost for Scheduling Doctor Appointments?
Call center agents also have the possibility to create doctor appointments for certain patients. This service is usually free if a simple tool such as Google Calendar is used. However, some medical offices use their own appointment scheduling software program. In this case, the call center agents need to be trained on how to use this software correctly.
If a doctor has his own appointment scheduling program, he should expect to pay a small, one-time fee for the agents’ training process. This can be something between $75 to $125, depending on various factors.
Is There A Cost for Transferring Calls?
Some patients require immediate care from their doctors and it’s possible for call center agents to transfer the call to a nurse or directly to the healthcare provider. If the call is transferred to a local phone number then this service is usually free.
However, in some cases, it’s required to transfer the call to a toll-free number. The call center company might charge a small fee in this case. The fee depends on different factors, but it shouldn’t cost more than $20-$30 each month. This fee is charged for the use of the toll-free number, even if the call center agent is no longer talking with the patient.
Calls which are transferred to a nurse or to the doctor can last for many minutes, even up to an hour in this case. The call center company will calculate a monthly average and either charge a one-time fee each month, or bill each transferred call separately. Healthcare providers who take advantage of these services can negotiate for the best price.
Now It’s the Best Time to Try Answering Services for Your Business!
You will never know how much your medical answering services will cost until you try them. You might be happy to find out that it’s possible to obtain quotes based on your specific preferences and needs.
Check out this page for more details about the cost of medical answering service and don’t hesitate to take advantage of this service because it can streamline your workflow!
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