Your medical practice or clinic is open about one fourth of a week’s 168 hours, yet you need 24/7 phone coverage. Here’s why.
Yes, most patients know they should try to interact with you during office hours. Yet healthcare concerns don’t limit themselves to a certain time-of-day or day-of-week. They pop up whenever they want to, often when it’s least convenient—for the patient and for you.
When this occurs, your patients pick up the phone and call you. What happens when they do? Does your after-hours response earn their respect or generate ire?
Patient’s Expect 24/7 Phone Coverage
Most patients view you as a service provider as much as a healthcare practitioner. Given this, they expect you to be available for them whenever they need you. It doesn’t matter if you’re in your office or not. It doesn’t matter if it’s daytime or evening. It doesn’t matter if it’s weekday or weekend.
Though they don’t expect you to personally answer the phone when they call at 3 a.m., they do expect someone—a person and not technology—to answer. They expect 24/7 phone coverage from a medical answering service.
Quality Healthcare Requires 24/7 Phone Coverage
Providing needed medical services to your patients is an around-the-clock endeavor. It doesn’t end at 5 p.m. when your office closes for the day. It doesn’t restrict itself to weekdays only, keeping your evenings and weekends open to completely focus on family and friends.
Though you schedule as much work as possible during office hours, a person’s healthcare concerns don’t follow the clock or the calendar. They happen when they happen, 24/7. That’s why you need 24/7 phone coverage to be available to your patients whenever they need to call.
Professionalism Demands 24/7 Phone Coverage
What do you think when you call a business and reach an archaic answering machine? What’s your reaction when you get stuck in voicemail jail, responding to multiple prompts that take you further from your desired destination? Your reaction is frustration. You lose respect for the company you just called. It’s unprofessional for them to force you into a technology solution you don’t want to interact with instead of a real person who you can explain your situation to.
Your patients have this same attitude when they call your practice or clinic. If you disappoint them with a frustrating solution that doesn’t allow them to accomplish their goal, they’ll view you as an unprofessional provider. Do this too often and they’ll take their healthcare needs elsewhere.
Professional service retains business, while unprofessional action drives it away.
Summary
There are many reasons why you need an accomplished medical answering service to provide 24/7 phone coverage for your patients and callers. The key reasons are that patients expect it, quality healthcare requires it, and professionalism demands it.
Learn how medical answering service from MedConnectUSA can help your practice, clinic, or facility. Then get a free quote to discover how affordable their healthcare communication services are. Peter Lyle DeHaan is a freelance writer and call center authority.
