In today’s business-to-consumer economy, communication is key. And superior communication is necessary for superior results. Your patients and callers expect this. And if you don’t deliver what they expect, they’ll go someplace else, taking their healthcare dollars with them.
Here are the essential telephone services your organization can use to enhance communication with your patients and callers.
24/7 Medical Answering Service
The premier healthcare communications service is around-the-clock medical answering service. When your patients call, you better answer, or they’ll call someone else. Not only does this mean the loss of one transaction, but it also represents the forfeiture of the lifetime value of a patient.
Don’t trust your after-hours calls to automation or play a recording telling patients to call back during regular business hours. Only a professional 24/7 medical answering service can provide this essential communication element for you, regardless of when your patients call.
Secure Messaging
Not only does HIPAA mandate you to secure protected health information (PHI) to safeguard patient privacy, but it’s also smart business. Keep patients’ personal information private when you communicate electronically with healthcare providers, personnel, and your medical answering service.
You’ll rest better knowing all critical communication is locked down using strong encryption protocols and is unavailable to those who shouldn’t access it. HIPAA-compliant secure messaging is the right thing to do.
Voice Mail
Voice mail is an accepted contact solution that provides for effective voice communication anytime of the day or night. Plus it answers all calls on the first ring every time so your patients and callers will have their calls answered immediately, regardless of when they pick up the phone. They can leave a message for you or your office anytime without human intervention. Voice mail lets them mark their message for delivery the next business day, or flag it as urgent for an immediate dispatch and quick response. Voice mail does all this for you 24/7 for pennies a day.
While not all healthcare communication is right for voice mail, it’s a cost-effective solution for certain patient scenarios and for non-customer facing situations.
Disaster Recovery
In our world today, we have much to worry about when it comes to business continuity. In addition to natural disasters, there is the increased threat of terrorism, epidemics, and civil unrest that can interrupt business as usual.
Without advance preparation, these events could effectively close your healthcare operation by shutting down all communication channels. However, taking time to establish a disaster recovery protocol before you need it, can provide backup when you need it. Obtain the assurance you need and keep the communication aspect of your office, clinic, or network running without interruption. Don’t let another day go by without a disaster recovery program in place to cover your communication needs.
Daytime Hours Answering
Medical answering services provide 24/7 coverage to their clients to meet the around-the-clock needs of callers. However, some offices, clinics, or facilities only require telephone coverage during regular business hours. While you could pay for 24/7 coverage and only use what you need during the hours you need it, this results in paying for hours you’ll never use. Instead, only pay for daytime answering service when you just need to cover business-hours. You will pay less and still get all the professional coverage you need. And as a bonus, if you ever need to expand your coverage, switching to 24/7 service is a snap.
These five communication services can help your healthcare organization communicate more effectively with your stakeholders, be it patients and their families, future patients, staff, and other healthcare providers. Don’t leave critical communications to chance, and don’t skimp where it matters the most.
Learn more about these essential communication services from MedConnectUSA and get a free quote to find out just how affordable these essential communication services are. Peter Lyle DeHaan is a freelance writer and call center authority.
