If you were to learn how much, or how little, some answering services spend on training their operators, the results would shock you. It’s quite a span, ranging from a few hours to several weeks. Some answering services view training as a costly, but necessary expense. They seek to control it, minimize it, and get through it as fast as possible.
Fortunately, not every medical answering service takes this shortsighted approach to operator training. Yes, it’s still an expensive proposition for them. But they don’t view training as a cost to control. Instead they view operator training as an investment in providing quality service to their clients in the healthcare industry.
This contrast in perspectives when it comes to operator training makes a huge difference in the work your answering service does and the results they produce. Here are some of the key outcomes that result from focused and intentional operator training:
Higher Quality
Having a greater focus on operator training will produce higher quality results. And with your patients’ healthcare and even their lives at stake, quality emerges as a critical component at your medical answering service. If your answering service cuts training short, quality suffers and will put your patients at risk. And this risk is too great to take.
Fewer Errors
Coupled with higher quality service is a corresponding decrease in mistakes. While no answering service is error-free, the best medical answering services take steps to minimize errors and reduce the chance of them occurring in the first place.
To address error reduction, these forward-thinking medical answering services employ a powerful one-two punch in the face of mistakes. The first is extensive operator training to start new employees off right. Then an ongoing quality assurance program reinforces operator training. This keeps them on track in providing excellent service. The goal is to catch minor deviations before they result in problems.
Greater Consistency
As a result of intentional operator training, coupled with a robust quality assurance program, is increased consistency from one call to the next. Lacking this consistency, patients never know what they may encounter when they reach an answering service. Some calls will be good, and others will fall far short, producing disappointment and frustration. But with a focus on operator training, they stress consistent service from the very beginning, before they even take their first call. You and your patients benefit from this consistency.
Better Results
Improved quality, reduced mistakes, and improved uniformity of calls invariably produces a desirable outcome: better results. This benefits your patients when they call because they receive a more professional and desirable response when they talk with an operator at your medical answering service. This also benefits your practice by helping to better meet your patients’ healthcare needs, retain their business, and fortify your practice.
Summary
Enhanced outcomes from your medical answering service don’t happen by accident. They start with intentional focus on operator training. This sets the stage for superior results from the very first call and continues with each subsequent call.
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.