Our medical answering services are provided by professional phone agents specifically trained to handle medical calls. Within the full scope of our medical services, we are able to customize for each client’s specific needs. That includes different instructions for each person in the office.
Perhaps you run a family practice staffed by three doctors and five nurse practitioners. Separate instructions for each clinician can be established so that each and every call is handled appropriately. From our perspective, different instructions should not be a problem for answering services or their phone agents.
Patient Care Preferences
Doctors and nurse practitioners don’t all do things the same way. They do not have the same clinical guidelines for differentiating between emergencies, non-emergencies, etc. So it is normal for clinicians to have individual instructions pertaining to their calls.
The fully trained phone agent should be able to handle separate instructions without issue. Not only that, but being able to transition from one doctor’s instructions to another’s should be seamless. Every patient should be treated with dignity and respect, and in accordance with the respective clinician’s instructions.
After-Hours Calls
Taking calls after hours should be routine practice for a medical answering service. Yet, it’s possible to create customized instructions based on who is on call at any particular time. As you know, offices employing multiple clinicians often have those clinicians rotate on-call scheduling. An answering service should be able to easily adapt to whoever is on the schedule when calls come in.
Call escalation is the trickiest part of handling after-hours calls. Not only that, but proper escalation also requires specific and detailed instructions. So if customized instructions are something a practice is interested in, those instructions need to account for proper call escalation.
Gathering Caller Information
Yet another reason for creating customized instructions for each clinician is to precipitate proper information gathering. Some clinicians insist on messages with as much detail as possible. Others prefer their messages to be brief and to the point.
When callbacks are on the table, certain types of patient data make a clinician’s life easier. Everything from test results to patient medications could come into play when a clinician makes a return call. Having the information ahead of time makes things easier.
Communication With Clinicians
Perhaps the widest variation in customized instructions is observed in how medical answering services communicate with clinicians. In the old days, landline calls and pagers were the only options. But those days are long gone. Today, answering services can communicate with clinicians by way of phone calls, text messaging, secure messaging apps, email, and even fax.
Each clinician has their preferences in this regard. Some prefer getting a text message with a follow-up email. Others want phone calls. Still others are content with secure messaging apps.
In this particular area, it is important to utilize multiple communication channels in order of preference. That way, at least some redundancy is built in just in case one communication method fails. One way or the other, phone agents must communicate with clinicians in a timely and effective manner.
A Personal Touch
Finally, it’s common for clinicians to want to add a personal touch for the benefit of their patients. Personalizing answering services based on call recipient is something we are very comfortable with at Apello.
Individual instructions for each clinician in a practice shouldn’t be an issue for medical answering services. They should be easily accommodated by professional agents who are comfortable moving between different sets of instructions. If you’re not getting that kind of service from your current provider, consider Apello. Customized instructions are standard for us.
