With today’s advanced technology it doesn’t really matter where your answering service is located. They can be next door, across town, or in a different state. They can even be in a different country. But is that what you want? Should you hire a local medical answering service instead?
Though it’s feasible for your answering service to be situated anywhere, many people have a heartfelt need to go with a local medical answering service provider. Though this is largely an emotional impulse, they cite logical-sounding reasons: local market familiarity, community awareness, and support local businesses. There’s nothing wrong with these reasons, but these seldom result in a sound business decision.
Staying Local Limits Options
How many local answering services are there for you to consider? This depends on where your business is located. Smaller markets may have no answering services, whereas midsize markets might have one or two. Large markets could have upwards of a dozen, but that’s still not many for you to consider.
However, how many of these services are exclusively medical? Perhaps none. To get the best quality answering service for you, your practice, and your patients, you should select a provider that is 100 percent committed to the healthcare industry. You need a medical answering service.
Regardless of the size of your market and the number of local answering services, having a local mentality constrains your search to find the best answering service to fit your practice’s needs. And what happens when you’ve tried every local answering service and found them all lacking? It’s time to push aside the idealistic urge to find a local provider and expand your search to include leading medical answering services across the country.
If you can find a quality medical answering service in your community, by all means use them. However, if your local answering service doesn’t provide the high level of service you need—and your callers demand—then the smart move is to find a professional medical answering service in another community, one that can meet your expectations.
Select the Best of the Best
When you open yourself to consider options across the United States, you have many more providers to consider. But the sheer number of possibilities can be overwhelming. How do you narrow it down? You need to establish some screening parameters—and being local isn’t one of them.
First, rule out any answering services that aren’t strictly 100 percent medical. With all the available options, why go with a one-size-fits-all solution that tries to be everything to everyone, when you can go with a medical answering service that’s focused exclusively on the healthcare industry?
Next, look for medical answering services that have won awards for high quality service. The Award of Excellence program is an industry-standard, third-party evaluation service that addresses consistent answering service excellence. As a bonus, look for medical answering services that have won this award for multiple years in a row.
Third, make sure they are US-based and answer all calls in the United States. Though from a technology standpoint you could send your calls to another country, there are just too many problems that can result. Stay with a US-based medical answering service.
Last, there is one element of location to consider. Make sure your medical answering service is in disaster-free zones and not subject to hurricanes, flooding, and bad weather. These can impact their ability to serve you.
Conclusion
Though there are emotional reasons to select a local medical answering service, this is only a good idea if they are a professional operation that provides service excellence. If you can find high quality from a local provider go for it, but if you can’t find what you need, expand your search to discover the right medical answering service for your practice and your patients. Remember, the overarching requirement is quality service from a professional answering service. Don’t settle for less just to get a local provider.
When you seek a quality medical answering service, make sure they are 100 percent medical, answer all calls in the United States, are award-winning, and are strategically located in disaster-free areas.
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.