Medical practices are constantly looking for ways to save money. As provider reimbursement continues to decline while costs continue to rise, it’s easy to fritter away net income. In the daily operations of your practice, it’s easy to lose sight of your goals. Even when you’re confident there is little to waste going on within your organization, you might be surprised at what you turn up in a review of your overhead expenses. Anyone searching for ways to increase medical practice revenue would do well to examine the cost of staff, supplies, purchased services and office facilities.
When looking to cut medical practice expenses, more and more providers are turning to physician answering services for support. Such a service can work in conjunction with your existing administrative team or replace the traditional patient intake model altogether. If you’re looking to shake up the way your practice handles patient communications, this cost savings idea in the office may be the solution.
How to Reduce Costs with a Medical Answering Service
When looking for ways to increase medical practice revenue, consider staffing costs. A full-time, in-house receptionist requires a competitive salary, training, equipment, supplies, vacation and sick leave. While the work of a receptionist is indeed vital to the success of your medical practice, employing multiple in-house professionals can eat up your staffing budget fast. In lieu of bringing on more full-time staff, consider supplementing your existing team with a medical answering service. You’ll pay only for the time the virtual receptionist spends on the phone with callers.
Imagine how much you might save not having to equip a new employee with an office, phone lines, or other technology tools. Medical practice expenses add up fast, and eliminating these needs can free up cash for other, more pressing needs. You’ll also reduce your staff training budget, since physician call center employees are trained in advance of joining your virtual receptionist team. These administrative rock stars add tremendous value at a fraction of what it might cost to employ a full-time receptionist in-house. By understanding the unique needs of your practice, answering service workers offer seamless support with virtually no startup time needed.
Other Ways a Physician Answering Service Saves You Money
With a doctor answering service at your disposal, your employees will gain the free time necessary to work on other important operational tasks. Imagine how much more your team might accomplish in a day without the constant interruption of the phone ringing. It can be frustrating to lose focus when you’re being pulled to answer a patient question while in the middle of another task. Retaining employees is just as important as hiring and training. If you’re hoping to reduce medical office operating expenses, keeping employees happy and productive can pay dividends.
Of course, it’s equally as important to retain patients as it is to retain staff. An answering service for a doctor’s office can deliver stellar customer experiences every time the phone rings. Patients are more likely to stick around when they feel their needs are being heard. Considering how much it can cost to attract new patients, investing in your practice’s customer service strategy is never a bad idea. Virtual receptionists are customer experience experts, delivering patient, empathetic support when callers need it most. After partnering with a 24 hour physician answering service, your practice may even see an uptick in the number of good reviews you receive online.
Benefits of a Doctor Answering Service
Medical practice expenses can add up fast. Increasing revenue is often the only way to stay on top of rising costs. While you might expect physician answering service costs to be too expensive for your practice, the value added by such a service can outweigh the expense. Our team is available to answer phones 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That means your patients will always be greeted by a friendly, professional voice whenever they find a convenient moment to dial your practice. Imagine how many more new patients you might attract with 24 hour support. Shift workers, in particular, find it much easier to schedule doctor’s appointments when they’re not limited to traditional business hours.
After hours support often leads to a better work/life balance for employees, too. When you head home for the evening, you can rest easy knowing your callers are in good hands. True emergencies can be patched through to the on-call provider, while virtual receptionists handle non-emergency questions and scheduling.
Easy appointment scheduling is another key benefit of partnering with a physician call answering service. Since every missed call is a missed opportunity to connect with patients, your practice likely can’t afford to let inbound calls roll to voicemail. Instead, a virtual receptionist can decrease patient hold times and ensure there’s always someone available to meet their needs. Best of all, conversations with callers are carefully logged with notes so you can refer back to patient call records any time you might need to reference them.
Try MAP Communications Today for Free
Whether you work in a hospital, clinic, or specialty practice, an answering service for doctors can provide the administrative support you need to dedicate resources most effectively. A partnership with such a service can help your practice prioritize the customer experience while ensuring your team has the free time necessary to focus on other important operational duties. If you’re eager to cut medical practice expenses while delivering the highest quality service possible, MAP Communications is the solution.
After 30 years in the answering service industry, MAP Communications has built a reputation for success. Featuring the fastest pickup times in the business, our answering service for physicians is fully HIPAA compliant. If you’re considering partnering with MAP, sign up for a free week trial with us. After seven days, there’s no obligation to continue using our service if you don’t love your experience. Given how much our clients love our offerings, we’re confident you will too! Start your free trial today.
