Answering Services vs. Medical Answering Services

Answering service and medical answering service sound like they'd be the same thing, don't they? One of the main differences is that, while an answering service may be used to take calls for a many different types of companies, a medical answering service is limited to just that ' medical calls.

At first glance this may not seem like a big deal, but think about it. Do you want your patients to have a hard time getting through to a person because the lines to the answering service are currently clogged with afterhours supply orders or customer service requests? Don't you think that medical calls deserve priority over those that are just in a rush to order last minute items or figure out how to fix a fax machine?

With a medical answering service, you don't have to worry about that happening. Since all they handle are medical calls, they understand the time sensitive nature of each and every one.

They also understand how important it is to pay attention to what the patient has to say, and provide them with reassuring feedback. In the case of an emergency, most are trained to immediately connect the call with a 911 operator, or an on-duty nurse. Medical answering services understand that each and every call can be urgent, and treat them all as such.

Also, medical answering services often provide their representatives with HIPAA, or Health Insurance Probability and Accounting certification. Representative with this training understand how important it is to be discreet and to handle a person's information with the utmost care. They also know that it's important to be polite and offer prompt assistance to anyone that calls in.

Though these are only a few of the differences between a regular answering service and a medical answering service, these few facts alone are enough to show the benefits of going with the latter. You can rest assured that patients calling in will be well cared for.

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.