If you run a doctor’s practice, you know how vulnerable your patients can be when they’re sick and scared. Unfortunately, you can’t personally be available to handle all of their issues 24/7. Luckily, though, that’s exactly what a medical answering service is designed to do!

Working with a call center gives you some flexibility. It can take over the phone duties anytime you are asleep, on vacation, or sick. That way, you don’t have to feel like you’re neglecting your patients anytime you’re not in the office!

How exactly does a medical answering service work?
Answering services are independent companies that handle your phone duties from a separate call center. You pay your phone answering service a monthly fee, and in return, they answer your phones whenever you need them to – whether you just want someone to man the phones after normal business hours, or you want someone available to answer the phones 24/7.

A good medical answering service will train its employees on some of the basics of your business. That way, you won’t be getting random calls from your call center all the time asking you questions. Instead, good answering services can handle basic questions and concerns themselves. They might, for example, know which questions to ask to determine whether your patient can wait until morning to see you, or if he needs to go to the emergency room right now.

And, for issues that they can’t handle themselves, your phone answering service will be trained to patch you into the call directly. That way, you can handle the tough issues – and only the tough issues that can’t wait – yourself.

For a patient who is sick and scared in the middle of the night, a medical answering service can feel like a lifesaver. After all, no one wants to get a voicemail when they’re not feeling well. Thanks to your answering services, they can talk to a real, live person – so that they don’t feel like they’re facing their illness all alone!

In fact, knowing they’ll never be alone can be enough to get you some new patients. Conversely, if your patients know they can’t rely on you after normal business hours, they may be tempted to find another doctor who they know they can turn to 24/7. Even if you run a general family practice – and don’t really think of yourself as an “emergency” or “urgent” doctor – not having a phone answering service can be a real turn off for your patients.