You’ve hired an answering service to answer your phone calls when your practice, clinic, or facility is unable to do so. This is a good start. But when the unexpected happens—say, for example, a worldwide pandemic that throws everyone and everything into turmoil—can your answering service adjust to meet these ever-changing and unanticipated needs? What about crisis coverage for your telephone?
If you’ve hired a comprehensive medical answering service, the answer is yes. But if you’ve tried to save a few pennies and gone with a general-purpose or bargain-basement answering service, you might very well be disappointed to learn that the answer is no.
Here’s what a client-centric medical answering service can do for you to help you deal with a crisis, disaster, or healthcare pandemic—whenever it occurs and whatever it looks like.
Always Available During a Crisis
Can your answering service adjust their schedule to answer your phone at nontypical times of the day or night? Some services lock their customers into a restrictive plan, such as daytime only or just evening and weekends. But if your circumstances change—such as may occur during a disaster—they may refuse to accommodate your new schedule or insist that you pay them a higher monthly fee or negotiate a new contract.
For example, if your service normally answers your phone after hours and you need them to cover a staff shortage during the day, you want them to gladly adjust to meet your needs. Not all answering services will, but leading medical answering services understand why this is important—especially concerning crisis coverage—and will do whatever they can to serve you with excellence.
Fully Flexible During a Crisis
A full-service medical answering service provides full flexibility in all that they do. Whereas a bargain service often locks customers into specific plans that lack options or restrict service offerings, which cover only a few basic items.
When a disaster occurs and you ask your answering service to do something different, you want them to cheerfully say “yes” and not “no” or “that will take three days to set up.” When the unexpected happens, having a flexible, can-do medical answering service is a lifesaver.
No Surprises Crisis Coverage
Each disaster carries a unique set of challenges, which provide surprises at most every turn. You want a leading medical answering service that can adjust to these unexpected events with professional excellence and not be caught off guard or just as surprised as you are.
Conclusion
If you find your answering service underperforming in the middle of a crisis, it’s not an ideal time to change service providers. That’s why it’s critical to select a leading medical answering service that can meet your needs now and into the future, for both everyday situations and crisis coverage scenarios.
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.
