{"id":17656,"date":"2016-09-21T16:31:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T20:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/answerstat.com\/?p=17656"},"modified":"2021-07-06T14:56:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T18:56:44","slug":"technology-tools-of-medical-answering-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/answerstat.com\/article\/technology-tools-of-medical-answering-services\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Essential Technology Tools for Today\u2019s Medical Answering Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n<div id='c4553_0_1' class='sam-pro-container sam-pro-ad' data-spc='1' style='display:flex; justify-content: center; flex-direction: row;'><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Aaron Boatin<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The telephone is the most popular way for patients to contact their medical practice. Whether they are a current patient wanting to schedule an appointment, a potential patient looking for information, or someone with an emergency, the practice \u2013 and its answering service or call center \u2013 needs to be equipped to handle calls during and after business hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key is up-to-date technology. As a medical answering service or outsource healthcare call center, you must have the right technology to handle healthcare calls. These tools will set your healthcare call center apart from the competition and ensure your clients feel taken care of, listened to, and supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what you need to provide:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Secure Text Messaging App<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant secure text messaging is a great option as pagers are phased-out and medical offices want to streamline customer service efforts. With this app your clients can send secure text messages simply and efficiently to any member of their team from a web browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An enhanced option will also offer clients the ability to message multiple staff members at the same time. Plus you need to also communicate with your clients via HIPAA compliant secure text messaging. In today\u2019s fast-paced world, secure text messaging is an excellent way to keep everyone in touch, on the same page, and on schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Secure Client Web Portal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The two most essential elements of a medical answering service web portal are that it\u2019s secure and that clients can update and manage information about their practice. Make sure your website portal has an extended validation certificate that verifies it\u2019s controlled by a legal entity. This extra level of encryption makes sure your clients\u2019 patients\u2019 sensitive PHI (protected health information) data is safe and secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The risk of not having a secure website is significant. Any messages containing PHI puts your call center and your clients at risk for a HIPAA data breach violations. Not only can those violations add up to some serious coin, but they will also affect your reputation and credibility as a medical answering service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You must have a portal that is easy to access and update. Any time a client needs to change a schedule or update phone numbers, you want them to be able to do so with ease. The information they enter in your portal should automatically link to your medical answering service platform for your team to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Real-time Access to Patient Messages and Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thorough, well organized, and easy-to-understand records are every medical practice\u2019s dream. Giving your clients real-time access to their patients\u2019 messages and information is an essential part of providing premier service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You need to offer them a record of which physician was reached and their response time to the patient. Look for solutions that allow clients to import this data into their patient electronic health records (EHRs) to streamline the process and avoid forcing them to reenter information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Online Access to Patient Call Audio<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Patient experience is more important than ever. In fact, patient experience influences the level of reimbursement your clients receive from insurers. That\u2019s why it\u2019s a huge benefit to allow your clients the ability to listen to recordings of how their patient calls were handled. This way they can verify their callers had an optimal experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. Web On-Call Software<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure you provide a way for clients to quickly update their ever-changing on-call schedules. This will help keep you from contacting the wrong person when they aren\u2019t on-call and avoid mismanaged emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best web on-call tools are mobile optimized, allow schedule sharing, and have a secure text messaging capability. An efficient on-call system will also keep your clients happy and allow your staff to do their job as professionally as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>6. Appointment Reminder Service<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the biggest losses of revenue for many medical practices comes from patient no-shows. You should offer the ability for your clients to upload appointments to you. Then you can reach out to scheduled patients to remind them of their appointment. This provides a way for patients to confirm or cancel their appointment. By getting this information ahead of time, your healthcare clients will have a reasonable opportunity to fill vacated appointment slots. These automated reminders will no longer burden your clients\u2019 and will help them keep their schedule full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are a healthcare call center or medical answering service, your healthcare clients expect you to have these tools and offer these services. Make sure you are ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Aaron Boatin is the president of <a href=\"https:\/\/hubs.ly\/H0RGz0F0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ambs Call Center<\/a> that services the healthcare industry.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Aaron Boatin The telephone is the most popular way for patients to contact their medical practice. Whether they are a current patient wanting to &#8230; <a title=\"6 Essential Technology Tools for Today\u2019s Medical Answering Service\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/answerstat.com\/article\/technology-tools-of-medical-answering-services\/\" aria-label=\"More on 6 Essential Technology Tools for Today\u2019s Medical Answering Service\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[467],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 Tools for Medical Answering Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A medical answering service or outsource healthcare call center must have the right technology to handle healthcare calls.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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