Doctor Answering Services

Dealing with the top challenges faced by medical practices today: Rising operating costs

Thursday, January 19, 2012 by Susan Linton

Continuing with the theme of the last post, we're taking a closer look at one of the main challenges faced by medical practices according to the 2011 MGMA member survey. For the past few years, operating costs have been rising faster than revenues for the average medical practice and this trend is expected to continue.

Cost cutting is a necessity for medical practices. Automation of routine tasks can help cut costs and boost office efficiency without compromising customer service. Let's look at three ways that automation decreases business operating expenses:

Incoming message management. An automated answering service can replace the more expensive live doctor answering services. A virtual office phone answering service records messages and sends new message notifications, providing greater message accuracy and greater speed and reliability than a live human operator can. The automated service can route callers according to their reason for calling and perform many of the functions of a medical receptionist when the practice is closed.

Timely responses to after hours calls from patients with the need for clinical advice are also an opportunity to increase patient satisfaction and look after your patient's health.

Outgoing automated messages that improve communication with patients. An automated notifications service can perform functions typically performed by a receptionist, including sending out appointment reminders, payment reminders, lab results availability, and more. Think of how many appointment reminder calls your office makes per week, per month, and per year. The cost of those phone calls adds up quickly, especially if you pay extra for long distance. With an automated reminders system in place, you can decrease your monthly phone bills. If you mail appointment reminders, shifting to automated phone reminders will save you about 35 cents per postcard or 85 cents per letter.

Offering greater convenience with self service tools. A new survey conducted by Intuit, the company behind Quicken Health financial management software, found that 72% of respondents said they would "use online tools to pay bills, send messages to physicians, make appointments and get lab results. Eighty-four percent would fill out forms online prior to an appointment if that option were available."

Cost cutting need not involve reducing staff but it should involve making better use of your staff and increasing office efficiency. Instead of paying your receptionist to make hundreds of reminder calls per week, why not have her use her time in a more valuable way? Let the service send out the reminders through an automated call system. Maybe your receptionist can spend that extra time on billing or something that raises your revenues. You won't have to hire someone just to help out with making phone calls.

Understanding the basics of automated appointment reminders

Thursday, September 15, 2011 by Webley MD

Driven by economic necessity, many physicians are seeing more patients than ever. Some are extending their hours to accommodate more patients. "According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, more than one in three primary care doctors now sees patients after hours, a figure experts say has surged among all specialties in the past 12 to 18 months."

This increase in patient load puts a greater demand on office staff as well. Over 75% of physician's practices use reminder telephone calls from their staff to remind patients about their appointment time and date. Even the smallest practice can benefit from automating appointment reminder calls.

Reminder phone calls from a phone dialer program help maintain peak patient flow. An automated appointment reminder system uses a computer software program to dial customers at a preset time before their appointment. A pre-recorded message provides a details of the appointment, including date, time and patient name. Even messages that are left on answering machines serve as effective reminders. However, the most effective reminder (i.e., the one with the lowest probability of a no show) is one where you reach your patient and your patient confirms the appointment.

Traditional communication methods have grown less effective

Many traditional patient appointment reminder techniques are no longer as effective today because lifestyles and communication preferences have changed. It's easier to reach many people on their cell phone and email than at home with a phone call.

Calling patients to remind them of upcoming appointments may take up several hours of effort. Dialing each person by hand and speaking with them, or leaving a message takes away from patients that are in the office. Using an automated phone reminder service can help to reach patients without the effort of a staff member. And the phone dialer can make calls during the evening, when the practice is closed and patients are more likely to be home.

Automated phone reminders are more efficient and more cost effective. The cost of making an automated phone call is typically 80% less than mailing a postcard and 72% less than making a manual phone call.

The same call reminder can deliver other routine messages, such as account balance notifications, lab test results, recommended health screenings, and more.

Automated phone calls have proven effective at getting the patient's attention and may offer interactive features that make it convenient for the patient to respond. This also makes it extremely easy for practices to track responses.

Tips for keeping your automated calls respectful, personal, and effective

Thursday, August 25, 2011 by Webley MD

Automated telephone reminders can sometimes be perceived as impersonal. However, this misconception is easily corrected by working to improve your patient's experience with your new computerized system. Here are three easy ways to be respectful, personal, and effective with your automated reminder calls.

1. Be aware of your messaging schedule
Have your reminder service send your messages at times that people are most likely to be home (after dinner) and available to take your call. Many people will not answer the phone during dinner, so avoiding the 5:30pm to 6:30pm time frame is a wise practice. Also, be aware of holidays and weekends, especially high travel times like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year celebrations.

2. Always be respectful
As you are well aware, medical matters require the utmost privacy. In your appointment reminder, don't reveal what the appointment is specifically for. Sometimes even mentioning that your doctor is the OB/GYN can be embarrassing for some. “Remember your appointment with Dr. Smith” is perfectly sufficient. Remember that just about anyone can be listening to the messages on an answering machine or taking the reminder call. Be respectful of your patient's privacy and they will be grateful.

3. Invite a two-way communication
One of the benefits of having your receptionist perform your reminder calls is that if the patient has any questions, she is already speaking with a live person who can answer them. In most cases, the patient doesn't have questions, so the pre-recorded message is sufficient. But sometimes the patient will have a question. To account for this possibility, be sure to include the practice phone number in your message script.

Your automated reminder may also be interactive. For example, the patient may be able to confirm the reminder by pressing a button. This type of message is superior to one that does not allow for two-way communication.

In the end, remember that automated communications can be just as personal and convenient as having your receptionist perform all the calls. It just takes the right combination of respect and usefulness to make the new system satisfying for your practice and your patients.

A cautionary tale: Choosing your answering service

Tuesday, August 16, 2011 by Susan Linton

The following is an excerpt from a review posted on Insider Pages:

"I tried calling but his answering service was the WORST! I tried asking a simple question about whether during business hours the service answered...the service wouldn't actually listen, kept interrupting, put me on hold, and was so condescending it was disgusting...I would never see someone who hired such rude people to handle his affairs."

The reviewer gave the physician one star because of her service with his live answering service.

The lesson to be learned here is that your answering service is a reflection of your practice. While some call center operators may show patients the compassion they need when they are experiencing discomfort after hours, some might not. And with high turnover rates, it's hard to be confident that your patients will be treated with respect on every call.

By using a call center, you place control in the hands of the call center. They are the ones that have immediate access to your patients and their calls, and they can do with them what they please. They're also in control of when the message is relayed.

An automated voice answering service can provide a good next best solution to having the doctor's home phone number. Unlike a live answering service, each call is handled courteously and efficiently.

How an automated answering service works

An automated voice answering service functions as a virtual office receptionist. When you think about it, most after hours calls are about a handful of issues, so an automated answering service can easily take messages, organize messages and send out message notifications, while offering the convenience of reliable, courteous phone coverage no matter what time of night the patient calls.

When you use an automated medical answering service to handle after hours calls, the on-call physician receives the message quickly and is able to listen to the patient's message, think of a response and call back.

Live vs. automated answering services

Automated answering services are superior to live answering services because they:

Immediately notify the on-call physician and offer the unmatched accuracy of hearing the patient’s recorded message
Let the on-call physician make the decision about which callers require immediate attention
Provide a consistent caller experience with no grumpy operators to contend with
Make it easy to save recording of call to patient’s electronic health record
Save money

For additional information on automated answering services, please visit Webley.

The rise of convenient care clinics and what it means for your practice

Wednesday, August 10, 2011 by Susan Linton

Last week MinuteClinic, the nation's largest provider of walk-in retail medical clinics in the U.S., announced that it reached the 10 million patient visit milestone. They opened their first retail clinic in 200 and now have close to 600 clinics in 26 states. The rapid growth of retail medical clinics has been driven by their ability to offer convenient, affordable care. And patients have by and large been satisfied with the services they've received.

Medical practices have several key advantages over retail clinics and one major disadvantage, accessibility. By emphasizing advantages and addressing the major disadvantage, practices can better compete with retail clinics.

Medical practice advantages:

Wider range of available services
Stronger relationship with existing patients
Physicians and the trust that people have for physicians

Emphasize those selling points on your practice website, blog, Facebook page, newsletter, etc. (your marketing materials). Strengthen your relationship with patients by improving communication with them. Communicate more often and use different communication channels. Try to involve your physicians and increase their visibility (e.g., for the ones that are interested, encourage them to get involved in online social networking).

Consider proactively communicating with patients using automated broadcast messaging. For example, helping patients keep track of when its time to come in for an annual exam by sending automated reminders is a valuable service that keeps patients healthy and strengthens the relationship between your practice and the patient.

Automated patient messaging services make it easy and cost effective for busy medical practices to reach a large number of patients with reminder calls and reminder emails. These services also make it easy to personalize and customize messages.

Addressing the key disadvantage of medical practices

Consider making a few changes to make your practice more accessible. Start by reminding your patients that you are available after hours, that you have self-service features and that you are available by email for non-emergency situations.

Let your patients know about your after hours accessibility. When patients need medical advice, you want them to think of you - but they might not do so unless you make it clear that your practice can be reached after hours. Post your after hours policy on your practice website if you have one. Let them know that your after hours calls are listened to and that they can expect a call back within a short period of time. Setting expectations will alleviate your patient's anxiety.

Offer self-service features. If your practice has a website, you can provide basic information on the site (e.g., directions, hours of operation). Or more sophisticated patient portals offer access to medical records, online bill pay, refill requests and e-consults.

Allow patients to email your practice. Many patients would like to communicate with their doctors via email and this type of communication has been shown to increase effectiveness of care and reduce healthcare costs. Make sure you clearly state how patients should use e-mail (e.g., not to email when experiencing a medical emergency) and expected response time. Also make sure these communications are secure (encrypted).

It may make sense for your practice to stay open longer hours and leave some unscheduled slots for drop-in patients. Patients who are experiencing discomfort are naturally concerned and most cannot wait weeks for the next open appointment. Increasing your practice's accessibility will increase patient satisfaction.

Improving communication with your patients

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Susan Linton

I recently reread an excellent article published in Family Practice Management in 1999 called Improving Patient Communication in No Time. The author provides many easy to adopt tips for being a better communicator. Many of the communication tips involve being a better listener and paying full attention to the patient during the exam. The article also includes the following intriguing paragraph:

"Use computers creatively. Some physicians are now using e-mail to answer patients' questions and avoid getting tied up in lengthy telephone conversations. "I know one doctor who even has e-mail hours," says Davis. "It's like a chat room. It keeps patients in touch with their doctors, and with managed care anything you can do to decrease the demand on a doctor's time helps." Thiedke uses her computer as a patient information tool; she'll occasionally tell patients about sites she's located on the World Wide Web that are specific to their health care needs."

The basics of good communication haven't changed since 1999 but communication technology has definitely changed a great deal since 1999. New ways to communicate with patients have emerged.

The popularity of social networking sites like Twitter, Sermo, Facebook, etc., make it easy to monitor your online reputation, contribute content, etc. For tips on managing your online reputation, see the post, Social Media Helps Doctors Manage Their Online Reputation.
Just about everyone has a cell phone with them at all times and text messaging outpaces email among teenagers. Consider how your patients communication patterns have changed over time. Has your practice adapted and kept up with the times?
Secure e-mail messaging, patient portals, econsults, patient self-service kiosks, virtual medical assistants...the list goes on. Are you using technology to provide added value to your patients, e.g., decreasing check in time, making forms easily accessible?
Patients are used to broadcast voice messaging and the quality of pre-recorded appointment reminders is better than ever. Sending appointment reminders is easier and more affordable than ever with Web-based automated appointment reminder services. Learn more about automated appointment reminders by visiting Webley.

Increasing your practice's accessibility after hours

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 by Susan Linton

Do your patients have a difficulty time reaching you after hours? Medical practices have a responsibility to their patients even after the practice closes for the day. Being accessible after hours enables your patients to receive better care and improves their health and well-being.

Here are some simple tips for making your practice more accessible after hours:

1. Remind patients that you are available after hours

When patients need medical advice, you want them to think of you - but they might not do so unless you make it clear that your practice can be reached after hours. Emphasizing after hours availability conveys the impression that your practice values their after hours calls. Post your after hours policy on your practice website if you have one. Let them know that your after hours calls are listened to and that they can expect a call back within a short period of time. Setting expectations will alleviate your patient's anxiety.

2. Use an automated voice answering service.

The best way to provide after hours care to your patients and to keep them from making unnecessary emergency room visits is to use an automated after hours answering service with call routing and message notification features. An automated answering service puts the triage decisions back in the hands of the person best suited to make those decisions, the on-call physician, while saving the physician from dealing with callers who do not require clinical advice. The physician can screen each call, and decide to take the call or let the caller leave a voice message.

A good automated answering service can handle simultaneous calls, so each patient gets through and doesn't hear a busy signal. It can also relay the message to the on-call physician immediately and the message can be repeated, saved to an electronic patient record or forwarded.

3. Offer self-service features

If your practice has a website, you can provide basic information on the site (e.g., directions, hours of operation). Or more sophisticated patient portals offer access to medical records, online bill pay, refill requests and e-consults.

4. Allow patients to email your practice

Many patients would like to communicate with their doctors via email and this type of communication has been shown to increase effectiveness of care and reduce healthcare costs.

Make sure you clearly state how patients should use e-mail (e.g., not to email when experiencing a medical emergency) and expected response time. Also make sure these communications are secure (encrypted).

Provide better service to your patients without hiring additional staff

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 by Webley MD

Just about everyone owns a cell phone and has an email address these days. These new technologies have markedly changed how most people communicate today. Patients expect greater convenience and they're used to self-service features such as ATMs, check in kiosks at airports, online banking and more. It's certainly time to consider how your practice can start or enhance its use of technology to provide greater convenience and better service to your patients.

Just think about it. Does your patient really want to spend more than 20 seconds on hold? Moreover, do you want your patient spending more than 20 seconds on hold? Do you want patients getting a busy signal when they phone your office? Is your staff too busy to spend much time with patients? Technology makes it possible to avoid these situations.

As a patient, it is nice to be able to phone your doctor day or night and know that you will get a message to them. Sure you could use a live answering service, but how confident are you that they'll treat your patients with the respect and compassion that they deserve on every call and that they'll get the message to your on-call physician in an accurate and timely manner? A quick response to an urgent after hours call increases patient satisfaction and shows that you really care about your patient's health.

It may be time for you consider an automated healthcare call center because this type of service can:

screen calls
send new message notifications to an on-call doctor right away
let your practice quickly and easily change the on-call doctor without relying on someone at a live answering service to make the change
eliminates inaccurate transcription problems that you have with a live answering service
organize your messages by creating different voicemail boxes

You'd be surprised by how many patients love the automated answering service. It's convenient and it can reduce hold times.

A virtual office phone answering service also helps doctors make their patients feel safe and secure as the messages are recorded and conveyed correctly to the doctor. Technology enables automated answering services to provide greater convenience and reliability than live answering services and this technology is affordable for practices of all sizes.

Virtual office receptionists are reliable, discreet and courteous

Thursday, January 27, 2011 by Webley MD

Our health is a highly personal matter. Consequently, it can also be one of the most difficult subjects to discuss with others. Anyone who deals with patients knows this to be true. And yet many physicians think little of using a live answering service to handle after hours calls. How many of the patients who call after hours enjoy talking to a stranger, a call center employee? When the patient calls after hours looking for clinical advice, he wants reassurance. He wants to hear a friendly, familiar voice. He may feel awkward about describing his symptoms to a stranger.

If asked, your patient would probably prefer to have the on-call physician's home phone number and expect him to answer the phone when called. But this would be too much to ask of physicians. While many patients might respect the privilege of having the physician's phone number, a few could abuse the privilege.

An automated voice answering service can provide a good next best solution to having the doctor's home phone number. First, the service may offer the ability to record your own custom greetings - so the voice of someone at your practice can greet after hours callers. Second, a clear greeting that thanks the caller, stresses the importance of the call, asks the person to leave a message and gives the person who is calling for clinical advice a sense of how long it will take for the call to be returned can be extremely reassuring and satisfying to your patients. New message notifications go immediately to the on-call physician and the physician can call in to hear the patient's message as well as have that audio file sent to an email address.

An automated voice answering service functions as a virtual office receptionist. When you think about it, most after hours calls are about a handful of issues, so an automated answering service can easily take messages, organize messages and send out message notifications, while offering the convenience of reliable, courteous phone coverage no matter what time of night the patient calls.

To learn more, visit Webley.

The benefits of "employing" a virtual medical receptionist

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 by Webley MD

There are many traditions in the medical field that need to be broken for the sake of efficiency.

Just because many medical practices have their front office staff make appointment reminder calls, doesn't mean that this is the best practice.
Just because manual appointment reminders are traditional doesn't mean that they are effective or cost efficient.
Just because every other doctor uses a live answering service to handle after hours calls, doesn't mean that this is in the best interest of patients.

In fact, if you are looking for a way to help out your receptionist, we recommend you look into a virtual medical receptionist. Bringing her on board will allow your human receptionist to work on non-routine tasks. “Hiring” a virtual medical receptionist is one of the easiest cost-cutting and stress-relieving routes you can take. She is the way to a new, easier, cost-effective future.

Your virtual medical receptionist can be programmed to make reminder calls and take messages after hours, alert on-call physicians to emergencies, greet patients when your live receptionist cannot, and so much more.

Your virtual receptionist takes a few minutes to make your hundreds of appointment reminder calls – or send out individual reminder emails, depending on your patient's preference. Plus, your new virtual assistant will be saving you money not only on reminder calls, but on after hours care as well.

There are so many deep-seated benefits to “hiring” a new virtual assistant that we strongly recommend getting started today. Look deeper into what a virtual medical assistant can do for your practice at Webley MD.

New at Webley MD: Refer & Earn $100

Monday, October 18, 2010 by Susan Linton

We're officially launching the Webley MD Refer & Earn Program! Webley MD Refer & Earn is a program that lets you refer medical professionals to Webley MD. Each time one of your qualified referrals becomes a new Webley MD customer, you'll earn $100.

It's open to adults in the U.S. and Canada (no, you don't have to be a Webley MD customer) and we've made it really easy to start referring and earning. Just about everyone knows a couple of doctors, dentists, chiropractors, and even some vets - and you likely know which ones aren't using automated patient notifications and answering services. Or even if they are using one or both automated services, they could be unhappy with their current services.

Help us spread the word - Webley MD offers the best way to communicate with patients.

Our award-winning Webley MD Reminders service can send automated notifications for appointment reminders, account balance due reminders, lab test results, vaccines, and health screenings. Pay only for the calls, the email notifications are free.

Tired of dealing with live answering service operators? Webley MD After Hours helps you be there for your patients. Webley MD After Hours is more accurate than an answering service and more reliable and feature rich than an answering machine.

You'll improve your chances to earn if you talk to the person you're referring about Webley MD. Go to our website to print out our brochures, white papers and case studies.

Start referring and earning today. Learn more and find the referral form here.

Bell, Welles, and Willy: What your practice can learn from 3 innovators of yesteryear

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 by Webley MD

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received United States Patent No. 174,465 patent for his invention, the telephone. The first automatic answering machine was developed in 1935 by Mr. Willy Muller. It would not be long until Orson Welles would broadcast his infamous War of the Worlds over the radio airwaves, sending much of the population into a widespread panic, in October 1938.

What do these three innovators of yesteryear have in common? You may not know it, but they all want their innovative spirit to impact your office and save you money.

These three men could probably only imagine an advanced technology that would answer telephones and organize digital messages and then transmit them to a specific person who needed those messages instantly. In 2010, it's no longer a dream. The technology is here and it's called a virtual office answering service.

The virtual office answering service can replace your expensive after hours call center and do what your receptionist can when your practice is closed. A virtual answering service answers each call promptly and treats each caller courteously. It guarantees your on-call doctors get their messages and automatically captures the phone number of the caller. And it can send new message notifications to the on-call doctor's pager, cell phone, home phone, e-mail, etc.

It's time to embrace innovation and consider a virtual office receptionist.

Automated vs. live call center solutions for medical practices

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 by Webley MD

For many medical clinics, after hours are more stressful than normal business hours. Some practices have hired a call center to answer phones, direct patients, and keep things organized for the on-call physicians. This means that when a physician is on-call, they have to rely someone they do not know and usually has no medical background or training. Detailed protocols help but are no substitute for a physician's knowledge.

In some cases when a patient needs medical advice after hours, talking to a call center is almost as unhelpful as leaving a message on an answering machine and waiting until the morning for an answer.

There is a better way to serve your patients after hours. With an automated doctor call center, on-call physicians will never have to worry about call centers losing phone numbers and messages, misinterpreting patients' requests, and being disorganized.

An automated doctor call center or virtual medical receptionist is similar to an answering machine, only far more useful. When a patient calls, they are greeted by a friendly recording, then presented with a menu of options for service. They are asked to leave their own, detailed message and may flag their situation as urgent. Then, the on-call physician can listen to the message himself, interpret the tone of voice and details of the situation, gather his thoughts, and quickly call the patient back with helpful advice.

There is no need to keep paying a call center to bungle your after hours service. Start using an automated call center today and you will reap the benefits of an efficient after hours service for both patients and physicians.

Eliminate stress from after hours call coverage

Thursday, September 16, 2010 by Webley MD

As a medical practitioner, you are well aware of the detrimental effects of stress on the human body. If you are not using an automated healthcare call center (or a highly trained and expensive live call center) your after hours call coverage is likely disorganized, stressful, and inefficient. Your physicians dread being on call because they have to rely on call centers to get their messages.

If your physicians are stressed about after hours work, then your patients probably are stressed after hours as well. Sometimes it may take hours for the on-call physician to return calls. Sometimes patients never get a call back at all and they are left feeling devalued. Even if they may not know it, you know that the real reason they didn't get a call back is that your after hours call coverage is inadequate.

It is time to show your patients that they are important. Implementing an automated healthcare call center will allow you to take back control of your after hours messages. With an automated after hours system, you control of how your patients are treated. Each call is handled courteously. There is no middleman to lose messages or convey the wrong message. Patients can leave a message confidently, trusting that their problem will be handled by the best person for the job, the doctor on call.

Physicians benefit from an automated healthcare answering service as well. They can change their own on-call status with a quick call and not have to wonder and worry about whether the operator remembered to make the change. They can receive immediate notification of new messages from patients who need clinical advice.

For additional information, please visit Webley.

"Hire" a virtual receptionist for a helping hand around the office

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 by Webley MD

For your medical office to run smoothly, it takes a lot of hard work, organization, and multi-tasking from some very talented people. Yet no matter how your office staff excels at their jobs, they could probably still use some extra help.

The solution is to "hire" a virtual office receptionist, a on-demand software application that simplifies your office routines and saves you money every day. She's not Rosie from The Jetsons, so she can't serve coffee, but she can help with the tasks that need the most labor and require unusual working hours: appointment reminder calls and the after hours call coverage.

Here are three ways that a virtual office receptionist can benefit your practice:

1. She takes over time-consuming appointment reminders

Your receptionist probably spends countless hours on the phone making routine phone calls. The virtual office receptionist is not just an automatic phone dialer, she leaves messages and tracks responses too. Plus, she can email patients. Snazzy, eh?

2. She takes care of patients after hours

Providing after hours care for your patients can be stressful. You don't have the money to hire a second receptionist, your on-call physicians can't take all the calls, and the call center that you hired just isn't cutting it. Your virtual office receptionist will answer phones after hours with a cordial greeting, then direct your patients to the service that they need. If they need to reach the on-call physician, she'll notify the doctor on call right away.

3. She is the ultimate office receptionist

She never stops working and can make those reminder calls when your office is closed and your patients are more likely to be home. She is always available to make your staff's jobs easier, and for a fraction of the cost that you would pay people to do the same work. Use or don't use her as you wish, she can be there for you whenever you want.

To “hire” your own virtual receptionist, please visit Webley online today.

Eliminate the stress from after hours phone calls

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 by Webley MD

The hours the practice is closed can be the most stressful time for physicians who are on-call. Call centers are an inefficient and expensive route for medical practices. Some of the common call center horror stories include mixed up messages, lost phone numbers, and patients who fall through the cracks and never get a call back. A typical call center operator is likely juggling calls for lawyers, plumbers...and your practice.

Most of the time patients who call after hours for clinical advice are anxious and experiencing discomfort. They do not need to be subjected to difficult after hours call centers who don't provide them with the attention that they deserve.

The doctor-patient relationship should be as easy and stress-free as possible; it is a bonus if it can be stress-free for the doctor as well. Unfortunately, typical call centers are neither reassuring nor inexpensive.

That's why medical clinics nationwide have opted for an automated answering service or virtual office answering service from Webley MD. The service provides your patients with an easy, stress-free menu of options, including the option to leave a recorded message. Callers can even flag their message as urgent. The on-call physician receives new message notifications immediately and can retrieve messages as quickly as possible without the need of a middleman. The physician can replay the patient's message, determine the best medical advice, and return the call when prepared.

An automated answering service with call routing and new message notification features is the fastest, easiest and most accurate way to get only those calls and messages that require immediate attention. For more information, visit Webley MD.

Exercise your independence with an automated healthcare answering service

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 by Webley MD

Last week Americans celebrated their independence on the 4th of July. Independence Day is also a time that we may ask ourselves how we would like more freedom and what makes us feel "enslaved."

If you work for a practice that offers after hours care using on-call coverage, you may feel enslaved by after hours calls.

You may think that you have no other option besides outsourcing patient calls to a call center. It is an unfortunate feeling, believing that you are chained to a poorly trained company that neither cares for your patients nor your on-call physicians.

Here is good news for the independently minded doctor: you don't have to be trapped by a call center any longer.

An automated healthcare answering service is an effective organizational tool that reduces your outsourcing costs and improves your after hours care. With an automated answering service, there is no need to rely on a call center for anything. Patient calls are forwarded to another phone number and patients have the option of leaving a message. Messages can easily be organized and categorized by type or recipient, just by setting up additional voicemail boxes. Physicians are notified immediately after the patient has finished recording his message, and whether he has flagged it as an urgent situation. The physician can then deal with the situation on a case-by-case basis, calmly and intelligently, and replay the message as often as desired.

With an automated healthcare answering service, physicians will no longer wait hours at a time to receive a flood of patient messages, going from drought to flash flood, and becoming overwhelmed, flustered, and disorganized.

With such a system, there is no unreliable middleman between the physician and his patients, only a streamlined answering service to forward relevant messages without hassle. Your patients will no longer be forgotten, anxiously waiting for a returned call into all hours of the night.

Exercise your independence today, and get started with your own automated healthcare answering service today.

Operation automation: Stress relief for office staff

Monday, July 5, 2010 by Webley MD

A medical office can be one of the most stressful places to work, hands down. Patients are coughing, sneezing, and sniffling, the phones are constantly ringing and office equipment breaks down at the most inconvenient times. The worst is when your receptionist looks around her, sighs and says, “We are overbooked so the doctors are running around like mad men. I still have seventy reminder calls to make. I'll be working through lunch... again.”

Many of the office's day-to-day routines can be simplified or taken completely over through an automation. Here are two big tips for simplifying office management and reducing operating costs.

1. Automate appointment reminders

One of the easiest and best ways to save time and money is to automate telephone reminders. Receptionists spend hours a day leaving messages on answering machines or dodging busy signals, desperately trying to catch patients at home. Your office staff deserves a break from such mundane tasks. Save staff time by installing an automated phone dialing service. Having a computer do all the routine work will simplify office tasks by leaps and bounds. Automatic response tracking further simplifies the task of sending and tracking appointment reminders.

2. Get rid of paper reminders

If you are still sending patient reminders through the mail, stop! An automated appointment reminder system saves you money on postage, envelopes, and printing, as well as the assembling time it takes your staff. Studies have shown that phone reminders are just as or in some cases, more effective than mail reminders. The automated notification system may also allow you to send payment/balance due reminders by phone and e-mail.

These are just a few of the immediate benefits that come from automation. There are many other ways that computerizing your office management can save time and money, as well as allowing your office staff to de-stress and focus on other important tasks around the office.

Improved communication leads to higher patient satisfaction

Thursday, July 1, 2010 by Webley MD

Unfortunately, “stressful” has become the word to describe doctor-patient relationships today. Patients try to communicate with their doctor and their doctor is always too busy. We see this in the decreasing length of appointments, voice messages left that aren't responded to for hours or even days, and having to book appointments months in advance. The average primary care physician has a patient load of 25 to 30 patients a day, scheduled back to back, this leaves 15 minutes per patient. The physician also needs to return phone calls, answer e-mails, fulfill prescription requests, review lab reports, etc.

How can doctors expect to maintain a positive relationship with a patient and simultaneously improve the medical experience when they're constantly under time pressure?

Communication with patients can be improved through automation thanks to medical communication software. Consider these two benefits that your practice will see immediately after installing automated appointment reminder software and an automated after hours answering service. You will...

1. ...give your patients the communication they need...

Most people have an e-mail address that they check regularly, yet only 25% of physicians have opted to use e-mail to communicate with their patients. Appointment reminders delivered via e-mail are becoming increasingly desired way by patients. Listen to your patients. When reminders come in a form that will be convenient, expected, and desired, there is a higher chance that he/she will remember to come in. E-mail reminders are also easy to send and extremely inexpensive. When e-mail appointment reminders are combined with voice appointment reminders, they are even more effective at lowering no show rates.

Most importantly, when patients remember their appointments, you are able to provide timely health care. This will keep them healthier and happier in the long run. What could be more satisfying?

2. … and the customer service they deserve.

Multiple problems have surfaced with after hours medical care over the years. Call centers can be rude or uninformed, on-call physicians sometimes don't get their messages on time, patients are left wondering, and so on. Using an after hours automated answering service will exceed patient expectations and improve their after hours experience by providing an easy-to-use automated menu and the ability to leave a message and tag it as urgent. The on-call physician will receive a new message notification immediately, allowing for a quick response. Sometimes this timely response can make a tremendous difference in the patient's health and well-being.

These easy changes will not only increase your patient's satisfaction, but will also keep them loyal to your medical care. Did you know that 30% of people are more likely to switch to a doctor who offers the ability to communicate by e-mail? Be the doctor with it all and try automated medical communication services today.

Providing better after hours care keeps patients from the emergency room

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 by Susan Linton

“The ER is the last place a member should go for non-emergency care,” says Laborers’ Health & Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA) Labor Co-Chairman Armand E. Sabitoni. “The cost is high and, often, overcrowding causes service to be slow and quality of care to drop.”

An estimated 40% - 50% of people who visit the emergency room were experiencing minor medical problems. These patients would have been better served by a doctor’s office or urgent care center, but they went to ER because of its accessibility.

Each year about 112.7 million emergency room visits occur in the United States. The Emergency Department Summary of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey provided the following statistics for the the U.S., in 2006:

Number of ER visits: 119.2 million
Number of ER visits per 100 persons: 40.5
Most common diagnoses: injury, poison
Percent of ER visits with the patient seen in fewer than 15 minutes: 22%
Median time spent in the emergency department: 2.6 hours

Visits to the emergency room should be reserved for situations where immediate care is needed to prevent disability or death. The crowded emergency room is not a pleasant or inexpensive place for patients to wind up.

Being accessible after hours allows your patients to receive better care and improves their health and well-being. While a live answering service or healthcare call center can answer after hours calls and take messages, the service might fail to forward important calls to the on-call physician. A good automated answering service (i.e., virtual medical receptionist) can answer patient calls and forward only clinical calls to the on-call physician. This type of service helps keep patients safe by offering the fastest way to reach the on-call physician and by delivering the accurate messages that are free from transcription errors.