As the medical profession is one which is very demanding in accuracy, when selecting an answering service for doctors it is extremely important that services which are experienced in handling calls after hours in this field be considered. One of the best ways for a doctor to collect a few names and options is to ask fellow doctors or doctor groups which services they use. You need to assess the number of calls you can expect after hours and at peak times and then question whether the answering service is up to handling the anticipated volume. As the personnel associated with the service will be in contact with your patients, you want people who are friendly and that they come at reasonable cost.
Not every answering service has the expertise to handle medically oriented calls. Of utmost importance is that the operators who take the calls are able to completely understand the medical jargon that they are bound to hear and that they can understand and decipher calls of an urgent nature. It is important that the service can follow the explicit instructions given by the physician but it is also important that the answering service for doctors is experienced in handling questions and taking messages that are unique to the medical profession.
Many doctors offices use an answering service, when you are about to hire a similar service it can be helpful to talk to other members of the medical profession and ask for names and experiences of the service they use or have used in the past. This is a good time to weed out the services that have proven to be unacceptable, ask for names and reasons. Once you have developed a short list, call them and find out the services they provide and their pricing structure.
Once you are interviewing the candidate company ask the ones that interest you what other services they provide other than simply answering the phone. Some services offer round the clock answering service so they can be brought in during those times when your receptionist is not available; they also may offer paging services and call forwarding.
Once you have gone through this vetting procedure you will have come up with a provider which offers the best service, the friendliest service and the best price.
