Medical telephone permanence: how does it work?

Telephone permanence: how it works in a medical environment

Nowadays, healthcare professionals such as doctors, physiotherapists, dentists, or radiologists are turning to telephone permanence. Their goal is to avoid paying for a full-time secretary. Here is the information you need to know if you want to start this permanent system for your practice.

How a medical hotline works

This is a solution that involves outsourcing all secretarial management work to a service provider. The latter is located outside the medical practice. Medical telephone permanence is therefore an outsourced service to optimize call reception. Its objective is to provide the information that correspondents need. Thanks to this solution, medical practices are always reachable because calls are handled following well-established instructions.

The telephone call answering service is usually provided by a tele-secretary who works independently. However, many call centers have also launched into this field. You therefore have the choice between these two alternatives to best ensure the management of incoming calls to your office.

Actions supported by this telephone permanence service

Like a medical secretary who works in a practice, a tele-secretary or a teleoperator of a call center is in charge of many missions. He is mainly responsible for the personalized reception of each call coming from patients and colleagues on behalf of the practitioner. He is also responsible for transferring emergency calls to the direct line of the health professional. In the meantime, he is also required to make appointments and manage them according to the schedule of the doctor, dentist, or physiotherapist for whom he works.

To properly carry out all these tasks, the person in charge of telephone permanence must be responsive and efficient. Organization, courtesy, and availability are also qualities that he must have to carry out the missions entrusted to him. It should not be forgotten that he is the image of the medical practice and the health professional that he represents to the public.

Medical telephone permanence: its strengths and advantages

There are many advantages to having a telephone answering service. By adopting this solution for your medical practice, you promote a significant reduction in the costs of your expenses. You gain flexibility and availability. In addition to this, your activity is qualified as a professional with quality services.

In terms of costs, specialists in this service generally offer you simplified rate plans. Thanks to this, you can anticipate your expenses. In addition to this, you only pay for what you consume in permanent telephone calls. According to studies, around 30 to 70% of cost reduction is noted in the total cost per hour.

By implementing this solution, you can focus primarily on your patients. You can work in complete peace of mind without the risk of being disturbed by phone calls every five minutes. This does not mean that those who want to reach you by phone are sloppy. Your patients and professional partners are always taken care of by the on-call service even if you are not the one receiving them personally as a contact.

Just set up the instructions you want to enforce. The person in charge of the telephone permanence will take care of taking all your messages and forwarding them to you. You will thus see in your calendar all the appointments you have with your patients, the meetings with your colleagues, etc.