As a medical professional, you want to make sure you have all of your calls answered. There is no such thing as letting the phone stop ringing. It is the staff's responsibility to make sure that each call is answered no matter what. If you don't want to hire a receptionist, you may consider getting a call answering service that will answer all your calls on a specific ring. You can tell them to answer after one, two or three rings. This helps you make sure that all calls are answered appropriately and in the order received.
You never know who will be calling your office. It could be the patient that is out of their medication. They may not have all day to try to reach you about getting a refill. They may want to run out to get their prescription on their lunch hour. If they can't reach anyone in the office, their plans change right away. It is difficult to work with a medical office that you cannot reach during the day. If you do not have regular office hours, a call answering service may be the best thing for you.
The office may even receive a call from the pharmacy trying to ask a question about a particular medication you prescribed. If no one answers the phone, the patient and the pharmacist is left waiting until they get you. Nothing is worse than sitting around waiting for someone to call you back when you are not even sure they got the message.
A call answering service will take the call right away and get all of the appropriate information. The doctor's office can then give them a list of what needs to be forwarded to them right away and the rest can be picked up at intervals throughout the day. You are in charge of the information you receive and how you receive it.
Having this type of service is ideal and will help you focus on what you are actually there for. You can focus on your patients and your office staff can process what the people need that are there in the office without having to run to catch the phone. You will have the peace of mind to know that each and ever call is being answered professionally and courteously. The process does run very smoothly and you will not have to worry again about missed calls.
About the Author:
MedConnectUSA is a leading provider of medical answering services and telemessaging services. MedConnectUSA has been serving the health care industry since 1991. MedConnectUSA handles routine and emergency calls for the medical industry only and all calls are answered by HIPAA trained, US operators.