Summary: Both patient retention and practice growth suffer when medical providers do not provide good service over the phone. Practices do better when they abandon automated menus in favor of medical answering services featuring virtual reception.
It is probably safe to say that most medical providers choosing to hire medical answering services don’t do so because they are concerned about HIPAA compliance. They are already compliant within their own offices. So why bring in a third-party answering service provider? Because answering calls and forwarding messages has become cumbersome.
Healthcare administrators understand how important communication is. They know that patients experiencing less-than-satisfying phone service are likely to be less loyal to that office. And when answering calls and taking messages becomes cumbersome, it is a good bet that patients are not getting the service they expect. That is bad for both patient retention and practice growth.
The Era of Instant Gratification
Practicing medicine in the 2020s is nothing like what providers did 50 years ago. We live in an era of instant gratification. We live at a time when people no longer consider themselves mere patients. They think of themselves as consumers of medical services and products. As such, the same instant gratification mindset normally applied to the rest of the consumer’s world is also applied to healthcare.
This mindset has an impact on patient retention and growth. If a practice is not answering its phones quickly and helpfully, most patients will not wait around in hopes that service will improve at some point. The moment they realize they are dissatisfied with their providers they will start looking for replacements. Enter medical answering services and virtual reception.
Automated Systems Drive Patients Away
Patient attrition is sometimes referred to as a ‘leaky bucket’. A practice doesn’t lose all its patients at once – it is a few here and a few more there. If there is not sufficient growth, the overall patient load steadily declines over time. What does this have to do with medical answering services and virtual receptionists?
Virtual reception plugs that leaky bucket. Think of it in terms of how a patient communicates when calling the office. If a patient reaches a live human being – even if that person is a virtual receptionist employed by a medical answering service – the call starts out on the right foot. But if the patient is redirected to an automated menu, it is another matter.
Most people aren’t very fond of automated phone systems. Imagine a mother dealing with a sick child or an older patient in extreme pain. A phone menu instructing the patient to press a series of numbers feels more like a barrier than a service. Who wants to encounter barriers in the midst of an illness or injury?
A virtual receptionist offers things an automated system simply cannot:
- Empathy – Human beings are capable of showing empathy. Computers are not. Patients would rather hear a warm and comforting voice followed by advice from someone who knows what they are talking about. They are not interested in recorded messages embedded in a menu.
- Professionalism – Despite so many medical practices adopting automated systems, such systems do not project a professional image. It is just the opposite. They tell patients that a practice is cheap and unwilling to invest in service. On the other hand, a human receptionist screams professionalism.
Interestingly, growing numbers of consumers are willing to rely on text messaging to communicate with businesses. Text messages sent by real human beings are still preferred over automated phone systems. They are more convenient, too.
Virtual Receptionists Reduce No-Show Rates
Patient retention and growth begin with professional service on each and every phone call. But it does not end there. Retention also relies heavily on keeping the schedule moving. With that in mind, practices cannot afford excessive no-shows.
No-shows are costly to practices. They disrupt the continuity of care and throw off office schedules. How do virtual receptionists help? By streamlining the rescheduling process. Here are just two examples of how it works:
- Rescheduling After Hours – If a patient cannot effectively reschedule an appointment after hours, they may simply choose not to show up the next day. Virtual assistants answer the phones 24/7. And with access to a practice’s network and software, they can reschedule appointments on-the-spot.
- Closing the Loop – Being unable to immediately reschedule often prompts a patient to decide to call back later. This creates a loop, a loop that might never be closed if the patient forgets. Real-time rescheduling with a virtual receptionist closes that loop immediately.
A medical answering service able to handle scheduling and cancelations without having to take messages offers an advantage the modern practice simply should not be without. Moreover, letting the answering service handle all scheduling matters gives a practice’s office staff the option of concentrating on more important things.
24/7 Availability Increases Loyalty
Missed calls are a loyalty killer. Patients do not appreciate not being able to speak with someone when they call. Even worse, they don’t appreciate going days on end without a callback. And yet it happens all the time.
By contrast, 24/7 availability increases patient loyalty. Patients know that they can reach out at any time of the night or day and speak to an actual human being. That is the kind of thing that causes them to stick with the practice over the long term. Around-the-clock availability creates a communications security blanket through virtual receptionists who ensure that the office is ‘always open’.
The Financial Considerations Are Huge
Healthcare administrators often need numbers to convince them to change things up. So, what is the return on investment (ROI) from a medical answering service with virtual reception? The answer is as easy as determining the average amount a first-time patient is billed, along with a historical calculation of a patient’s billing over their lifetime.
If just ten patients with an estimated lifetime billing of $1,000 leave and seek a new provider because of poor service, the practice has just lost $10,000. It is a lot of money to lose.
The phone still plays a critical role in modern healthcare. They are crucial to both patient retention and practice growth. As a medical answering service, we positively contribute to both through virtual reception services and 24/7 accessibility.
FAQs
What is a virtual receptionist compared to a call center operator?
A virtual receptionist is capable of doing all the same tasks that a practice’s in-house receptionist normally handles. A call center operator might only take names and numbers for callbacks.
Are patients turned off by virtual receptionists?
No. When virtual receptionists are employed by high-quality medical answering services, patients have no idea they are not speaking with office staff. And it doesn’t actually matter. Patients would still rather speak with professional receptionists rather than automated systems or stressed office workers.
Can virtual reception handle new patient intake?
Yes, and it is one of the most valuable services a medical answering service offers. By capturing new patient data on the first call, the chances of a patient shopping around after the fact is reduced.
Can virtual receptionists call patients to remind them of appointments?
Most medical answering services with virtual reception offer such a service. They make outbound calls on behalf of the offices they represent.
