The traditional understanding of a medical answering service involves a third-party partner answering calls, taking messages, and providing basic triage after hours. This sort of model has sustained medical answering services for decades. But there is a new model that companies like Apello are now embracing. It is a model that turns the medical answering service into a full call center for practices.
Group-owned practices are more likely to be served by a comprehensive call center maintained by the group itself. But smaller practices, especially independently owned practices, don’t have access to such resources. We provide that access by way of a full call center solution.
Everything Your Staff Would Do
If you run an independent practice and are wondering what you would get from a medical answering service, use Apello as your baseline. Our agents can do everything your staff would do. We answer the phones, take and forward messages, provide triage, and even schedule appointments.
Enrolling in our call center service would all but eliminate any need for your staff to field incoming calls. Meanwhile, you would remain fully connected to our service through a call center app deployed on your mobile and desktop devices. Through the app, you could receive your messages, respond to patients, review appointments, and so much more.
Why It Makes Sense
We could go through all the features of a comprehensive call center solution, but that might be better left for a future consultation. Instead, let us talk about why the call center solution makes so much sense for smaller practices.
1. Patient Satisfaction Is Easier to Maintain
A top priority for answering medical calls is ensuring patient satisfaction. Nothing chases patients away faster than a bad experience with reception. With a medical answering service and call center solution, patient satisfaction is maintained by way of promptly answered calls, courteous service, and immediate solutions to patient problems.
Call center agents provide timely information. They offer helpful assistance and answers to questions. Along the way, agents make patients feel valued and cared for. Yet none of it is possible if someone is not available to answer the phones.
2. Operational Efficiency Matters
Running an independent practice is expensive. When budgets are tight, operational efficiency tends to suffer. The result is limited growth that further inhibits the budget. In many cases, a key part of the solution is a medical answering service.
A call center solution can dramatically improve operational efficiency. Here at Apello, answering phone calls is what we do best. It is our area of expertise. We wouldn’t attempt to practice medicine, so why would you attempt to run your own call center? We can do it better, more efficiently, and at a lower cost.
3. Fewer Staff Members Are Needed
Speaking of lower cost, one of the primary cost-saving benefits of leaving the phones to a medical answering service is being able to get by with fewer staff members. Because your hiring needs are less, you don’t spend as much money on wages, benefits, and employment taxes.
Sure, you do have to pay for medical answering services. But most practices pay less to outsource the phones compared to what they would pay to hire and maintain their own staff.
A medical answering service can do little more than answer the phones and take messages. But a good service can also act as a full and complete call center for your practice. You don’t have to operate a group-owned practice to enjoy all the benefits of a call center. We can give you the same thing but scaled to your needs.
