In medical school, they never covered how to handle endless patient calls, after-hours requests, and emergencies. Often your answering service is the patient’s first impression of your practice, and it can shape whether their experience is positive or negative. The intent behind hiring a medical answering service is to take your business to the next level – but what if they’re providing a sub par service?

1. 5 SIGNS YOU NEED A
NEW MEDICAL
ANSWERING SERVICE
PATIENT EXPERIENCE COUNTS 24/7

2. PATIENT EXPERIENCE COUNTS
NOW MORE THAN EVER
Often your answering service is the patient’s first
impression of your practice.
It can shape whether their experience is positive or
negative.
Patient safety can be at risk when the medical answering
service falls short.

3. "If your patients need to schedule an
appointment, or worse, if they have
an urgent need, the last thing you
want is for them not to be able to
get ahold of you."
A A R O N B O A T I N , P R E S I D E N T A M B S C A L L C E N T E R
#1 PATIENTS ARE ON HOLD FOREVER

4. If your service provider did not receive training on how to
handle medical situations and emergencies, they are likely
doing more harm than good.
The answering service staff must be aware of your
emergency policies and have set standards for directing
your patients’ calls.
You don't want doctors being woken up in the middle of the
night when they aren’t on-call or have the wrong doctor
notified of an emergency.
#2 EMERGENCY CALLS ARE MISHANDLED

5. #3 CALL CENTER AGENTS ARE RUDE
You’ve worked hard to gain the trust of your clients. Don’t
reward their business rude answering service operatorswith
rude phone operators.
Avoid this is to make sure the company you hire uses a
thorough vetting process when selecting new agents.
Set clear expectations on how you want them to treat your
patients, how frustrated customers should be handled, and
how to best provide a positive experience.
Rudeness is unacceptable and should not be overlooked.
Your reasonable expectation is that your customers will be
delighted with the service they receive.

6. #4 PATIENT DATA IS OFTEN INCORRECT
Misspellings and incorrect information are generally annoying,
but when it comes to patient data, it is unacceptable
Accurate patient records are an essential element of having a
professional and reliable practice
With how often your staff has to look up patient data in the
Electronic Health Record (EHR) database, it’s important that
the information they find is meticulous and accurate.

7. #5 THEY AREN'T HIPAA COMPLIANT
Are they sending PHI to via insecure methods?
Ask your answering service provider about their
standards for handling text message notifications.
To be HIPAA compliant, they must use an encrypted text
messaging app to send protected health information.
Are your morning reports being sent via email without
encryption?

8. DOWNLOAD CHECKLIST
HOW TO SELECT A MEDICAL ANSWERING SERVICE
This handy How to Select a Medical Answering Service checklist
will help you to ask the right questions.
This checklist will help you to:
- Improve patient satisfaction
- Ease burden physician on-call
- Reduce costs
- Ensure PHI is safe and HIPAA compliant