Answering Service vs. Call Center: What’s Best for Your Healthcare Practice?

As healthcare practices feel the strain of increasing workforce expenses, ongoing inflation, and slower reimbursements, many are turning to answering services or call centers. These two services provide support as needed, reducing the cost of hiring more full-time front office staff.

Outsourcing general patient communications, like answering phones, would seem like an easy decision with relatively little downside. However, if you’ve explored the many options online, you realize the two distinct options—answering service vs. call center—are very different in form and function.

Is one better than the other when it comes to healthcare practices? In most instances, yes. Here, we’ll explore how these two business models differ and which may be right for your practice.

What Is a Call Center?

When people envision a call center, they often see large open-plan offices with rows of people wearing headsets. In many instances, that vision isn’t too far off. Today, the Philippines is considered the call center capital, with over 1.3 million agents. By 2028, this number is expected to grow to 2.3 million. India, Mexico, and Brazil are also call center savvy.

While the U.S. also has a large and growing workforce in the industry, outsourcing trends are leaning toward offshore regions primarily due to costs.

While all call centers are different, most provide inbound and outbound services that include answering calls, taking orders, setting appointments, and, in some instances, technical support. They may also process payments and handle complaints. While operators primarily answer phone calls, they may also interact via email, chat, and social media.

Because of the vast number of calls they receive, these operators follow scripts for the various industries they serve. These pre-written scripts streamline conversations, providing structured prompts and responses. While they can boost productivity and reduce inappropriate responses, they can also sound robotic. Sometimes, you can tell the person is reading, and exactly when they lose the trail and start to struggle. At these times, callers tend to ask to speak to a manager or hang up.

What Is an Answering Service?

Comparing what a call center is to what an answering service is can be confusing. There are, however, some specific differences.

An outsourced answering service tends to be more industry-focused, with trained professionals specific to the type of business they serve. Depending on the service, they may learn about a company’s specific policies and procedures to ensure a communication level that matches the staff’s.

Answering service operators are like virtual receptionists, taking calls and messages, forwarding urgent calls, scheduling appointments, and answering basic questions. They may work during overflow periods or after hours on weekends, evenings, and holidays. Their job is to ensure that people who call are greeted professionally by a person instead of finding themselves on hold or leaving a message on an answering machine.

Key Differences Between Call Centers and Answering Services

The key differences between an answering service vs. call center:

Call Centers

• Provide patient billing
• Offer technical IT support
• Use dedicated agents
• Requires significant onboarding and system integration
• Recommended when organizations need to outsource entire departments
• Require higher volume commitments
• Prioritize efficiency

Answering Services

• Provide call handling, after-hours coverage, and appointment scheduling
• Offer nurse triage and virtual switchboard services
• Act as an extension of the team, adopting protocols and the practice’s language
• Trained in urgent message escalation
• Recommended for healthcare providers of all sizes, from independent clinics to large hospital systems
• Scalable and there when you need them
• Excel at compassionate and personable interactions

Why Healthcare Practices Often Choose Answering Services

Medical answering services, like NotifyMD®, are designed to support providers of all sizes—from independent clinics and specialty practices to large hospital systems—who need a more flexible, responsive solution for patient communication, including call handling, virtual switchboard, after-hours coverage, appointment scheduling, nurse triage, and urgent message escalation.

Healthcare practices often choose medical answering services due to their personalized touch and specialized training. They need someone who can operate as an extension of their practice, knows the terminology associated with their specialty, and is trained in their voice and procedures.

When patients call, this seamless experience ensures they feel like they’re reaching a team member and not a third-party answering service. Practitioners can be confident they know when to direct urgent calls to the emergency on-call provider and when to take a message or schedule an appointment.

Some practices also utilize nurse triage services. These services are ideal when a practice needs knowledgeable after-hours support. These registered nurses follow protocols that ensure patients are directed toward the level of care they need, whether that means a referral to the emergency room, a scheduled appointment, or instructions for in-home self-care.

Some medical answering services, such as notifyMD®, provide additional services that can streamline operations, supporting patients, staff, and practitioners. These services include:

• Patient Outreach: Virtual receptionists contact patients to remind them of appointments, schedule lab tests, or follow up to ensure they comply with the medical provider’s directives.
• Automated Solutions: This service provides efficient and cost-effective communication solutions.
• Immediate Requests: The notifyMD® app lets you request your virtual assistant almost instantaneously, ensuring a practice that runs smoothly with the needed staffing levels.
• Secure Messaging: Improve patient compliance by sending appointment reminders and instructions using HIPAA-compliant secure messaging solutions.

When a Call Center Might Be a Fit

Call centers are typically best suited for healthcare organizations that need to outsource entire departments–such as patient billing, IT support, or complex case management–using dedicated agents, customized workflows, and long-term contracts. These solutions often require significant onboarding, system integration, and ongoing oversight.

Choosing the Right Solution for Your Practice

So, regarding the ongoing answering service vs. call center debate, which is right for you?

The right solution for most healthcare practices is a medical answering service that offers trained virtual receptionists specific to your specialty. These specialties may include cardiology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, dentistry, and many more. Working with an operator who understands your practice, including common terminology and protocols, ensures a seamless experience for you, your patients, and your staff.

At notifyMD®, we provide medical answering services for nearly every physician specialty. Our HIPAA-compliant, HITRUST-certified virtual receptionists are trained to align with the values of your practice and answer calls according to your procedures. To learn more about streamlining your operations and elevating the patient experience, contact notifyMD®.