Doctors Answering Service

A doctor's answering service is an essential tool for building a lasting relationship with patients. Rather than sending calls straight to voice mail, many doctors prefer to use a live operator to quell concerns and give patients peace of mind. Despite what you might think, many people call in after hours with non-emergency concerns. Some of the reasons people call in include:

• Appointment setting, confirming and canceling services
• Billing questions
• Directions to the office
• Inquiries about office hours
• Prescription refills

These types of questions can often be answered by asking the patient to call back during normal business hours. You can also work with an answering service to set up a phone protocol that may include appointment setting and responding to general questions about parking, arrival times and identification requirements.

Improve On-Call Response Times With a Doctor's Answering Service

When you work with the right company, you can customize your emergency response protocol to ensure fast response and follow-up times. When an emergency call comes in, the operator will page, text or email the doctor on duty. After 20 minutes, the operator should call the patient back to confirm that he has spoken with his physician.

Make sure the person who answers your phone never offers any advice or shares any personal stories about his or her own medical conditions. Get the operators to sign a confidentiality agreement, and make sure you work with an account representative to anticipate any non-emergency questions your patients might have.

A Professional Image provides doctors with highly trained telephone support, including voice mail screening, 800-number management and appointment setting services. To create your personal messaging system, call us at (480) 921-1300 or (877) 921-1300, or contact the sales team via email.