| As more and more medical professionals try to | | | | actions to take. This might involve contacting the |
| cut costs while not sacrificing on the quality of | | | | doctor or having another physician in town take |
| service offered to patients, the need for a doctor | | | | care of the situation. |
| answering service has increased dramatically. | | | | Third, for smaller medical offices or physicians just |
| When the right system is used, doctors are | | | | opening a practice, chances are that finances are |
| provided with exceptional benefits. We wanted to | | | | tight. With an answering system that has a live |
| provide information on what some of those | | | | person operating the phone, the office would run |
| benefits are and why they are so important. | | | | seamlessly but without the need for numerous |
| First, it gives existing and potential patients a live | | | | full-time employees. This way, the physician can |
| person to talk to instead of a voice recording. | | | | go about his work, patient calls are answered and |
| People in general feel they are more appreciated | | | | routed correctly and, overall, significant money is |
| and taken seriously when they have human | | | | saved. |
| interaction. The bottom line is that recordings are | | | | Fourth, sometimes, physicians choose a more |
| impersonal, which makes patients feel as if their | | | | comprehensive type of doctor answering service, |
| call is not important enough for someone to take. | | | | one that would involve a triage nurse. Let us say |
| Second, a doctor answering service is also | | | | that a patient called complaining of developing a |
| beneficial for the medical professional. With a | | | | rash after eating a certain food. Instead of |
| highly trained service, the physician could go into | | | | tracking down the doctor and taking him away |
| surgery or even take a vacation without worrying | | | | from his current patient, the triage nurse would |
| if patients' calls are being properly handled. For | | | | be able to provide information from a professional |
| instance, if a doctor were out of town but a true | | | | and medical perspective. The outcome would be a |
| emergency call came in, the trained staff | | | | happy patient and a doctor whose time was not |
| answering the phone would know the appropriate | | | | disrupted for a simple medical problem. |