A study by TrackableMed found that across 18 states in 22 medical practices, of the 7,000 calls that came in, 42% were missed. That’s almost 3,000 calls that went unanswered during business hours.
This figure represents missed opportunities to increase business and a poor patient experience. It also translates to staff placing many callers on hold by necessity. Instead of being greeted by a cheerful receptionist who asks how they can help, they’re faced with an overwhelmed person who abruptly puts them on hold. The result is high abandonment rates.
As you can imagine, this significantly affects how potential and existing patients perceive your practice.
One of the solutions many in the medical field are turning to is reliable, HIPAA-compliant healthcare scheduling assistance. No more missed calls or placing potential patients on hold for extended periods. Instead, they’re met by a caring professional happy to assist them. By implementing notifyMD®’s answering service appointment scheduling, our virtual receptionists become an extension of your office staff, increasing patient satisfaction and revenue.
Medical receptionists are responsible for much more than scheduling appointments and reminders. They welcome patients, prepare records, process insurance, handle billing, and more. It’s no wonder that work overload and burnout are common among medical staff and the healthcare workforce.
As hospitals and medical practices look to become more patient-centered, addressing how they greet patients, process phone calls, and schedule appointments is essential to their success formula.
At notifyMD®, our secure appointment-scheduling healthcare solutions consist of virtual medical receptionists who become an extension of your staff. Their job? To answer every call and provide the best patient experience possible while representing your values and voice. The result? Filled schedules, increased revenue, and happy patients who share their experiences with others.
Here are just a few of the many benefits you can expect from secure answering service appointment scheduling:
Our appointment-scheduling healthcare services seamlessly integrate with your scheduling software, ensuring up-to-date appointments in real time. This prevents scheduling conflicts and double-booking, keeping your office running smoothly.
Patient outreach
takes a proactive stance, ensuring appointments are up-to-date and patients follow best practices for their health and well-being.
From making first-time appointments to rescheduling canceled appointments and collecting patient information, you, your staff, and your patients experience our virtual receptionists as an extension of your team.
In many cases, it’s evident when you reach a third-party answering service. At notifyMD®, our customized approach ensures your patients feel like they’re reaching your staff, providing a seamless, caring, and compassionate experience. Every practice has unique values and protocols that should extend to your appointment scheduling services.
We recognize no two practices are the same, and neither should their answering service be. To that end, we offer different service levels to align with your current needs. As your practice grows, so will your answering call services, from scheduling appointments to routing calls, taking messages, and utilizing our nurse triage services for the ultimate peace of mind. notifyMD® offers features tailor-made to suit your needs.
When a patient calls your office and is greeted by a helpful receptionist who immediately addresses their needs, whether scheduling for healthcare visits or transferring to the on-call provider, they feel valued. When they know they’ll receive this service 24 hours a day, they feel assured and at peace. It’s a far different experience than immediately being placed on hold or leaving a voicemail.
At notifyMD®, our answering service with appointment scheduling integrates with many of the software platforms medical offices commonly use. A few of these include Epic, eClinicalWorks, Athenahealth, NextGen, and many more. This integration ensures all appointment data is synchronized, eliminating conflicts and streamlining workflows.
Yes, our HIPAA-compliant scheduling service is customized to meet the needs of every medical practice and numerous specialties. notifyMD®’s virtual receptionists are trained in your practice’s protocols, ensuring the correct response when your patients call.
During the onboarding process, we work with medical practices to understand their call-handling preferences. This understanding enables us to develop a call flow document tailored to the practice, ensuring that our 100% U.S.-based virtual receptionists follow specific protocols when addressing patients’ questions, scheduling appointments, and forwarding urgent calls to on-call providers. We also provide training on the use of the notifyMD® app and portal, ensuring a seamless transition.
Through our portal and the notifyMD® app, medical practices gain 24/7 access to our reporting and analytics features. Our analytics include the number of calls received, response times, and average handling time. This information demonstrates that your virtual assistant is handling calls optimally and helps identify peak periods, guiding staffing decisions. Medical offices can also track our answering service, featuring appointment scheduling with real-time monitoring.
notifyMD®’s appointment scheduling services are designed to minimize wait times and ensure every patient’s call is answered. Urgent calls are immediately routed to the on-call provider. Detailed call logs with records of all messages and response times are available 24/7.
At notifyMD®, our virtual receptionists receive extensive training in HIPAA compliance, medical terminology, and essential soft skills, including empathy and active listening. We also train them in client-specific protocols and specialty-specific knowledge.
Our 100% HIPAA-compliant scheduling ensures that our procedures meet the security standards and patient information protection mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. You can be confident that your patients’ data is safe and secure and that their privacy is protected.