Any business needs to spend their money wisely. After all, in today’s world, expenses are always going up, but no more money is coming in. Even medical facilities have to be careful with budgets or they could find themselves losing more money than they are bringing in. Whether you are the owner of the center or you make decisions for the way the office is run, you have to find ways to save money without cutting important services.
You may think that one of the first things you don’t need would be an answering service. Surely it isn’t that important, right? Before you cut that expense, be sure to consider just what is going to happen.
When Your Patients Call
Without an answering service, walk through those steps when a patient calls and then think about this.
- The patient, who is scared because they aren’t feeling well, picks up the phone and dials your office number at two in the morning.
- The telephone just rings and rings. Alternatively, an answering machine or voicemail picks up, tells them to leave a message and beeps.
- The patient hangs up without leaving a message, assuming no one will ever hear it.
- Instead of quelling their fears and getting medical information, the patient is left at home with no answers.
If people continue to deal with this, they will think that your facility is unprofessional. They will also start looking for somewhere else to go because they need to know someone is there for them no matter the time of day.
Do Many Patients Actually Call After Hours?
If you are concerned that an answering service will just be a waste of money, you need to realistically consider how often people will call your office when the facility is closed. Think about the following:
- People don’t get sick during normal business hours. Often, they will feel ill in the middle of the night or the weekend.
- Most people work during the day. That means if they need to schedule an appointment or ask a non-emergency question, then they will call when they get off work, usually at six pm.
- When a patient has a small child who gets ill in the middle of the night, they need to speak to someone right away, not the next day.
If you truly think about it, most people will be more likely to call after hours or on the weekends than they will during the day.
To Get the Most of the Service, Choose the Right Options
The best way to make an answering service most cost effective is to choose the right combination of options. If you simply want someone to answer the phone and take messages, a basic call center will work. Other options you may need to include are:
- Appointment Setting Services
- Nurse Telephone Triage
- Call Paging
With simple extras, you can actually save on costs. When patients can get many of their basic medical questions answered by a real registered nurse, you won’t have to spend any of your money or time answering those same questions the next day.
What will happen if you don’t have an answering service in your facility? You could definitely lose patients. When no one can be reached, people will feel neglected and they will consider your medical center unprofessional. You don’t have to spend too much money on a call center, but you do need to make sure you aren’t losing money just because you aren’t available after business hours.
Kurt Duncan is the Director of Operations of MedConnectUSA.com. MedConnectUSA is a leading medical answering service and has been serving the healthcare industry since 1991.
