Running a home care service is a hectic job. Hundreds of patients depend on you to keep them whole and healthy. When the time comes for a patient to leave home care and get back to the comfort of their home, it’s a bitter-sweet moment. You are sad to see them go away, but you are happier to see them walking on their feet with a smile on their face.
Imagine one of your discharged patients is having difficulty in contacting you. All your lines are busy, and it’s a medical emergency. Leaving them hanging at such times could mean the difference between life and death. You don’t want any of your patients to go through this kind of pain. However, getting more phone lines or staff members for this job is too expensive.
Here’s an easy solution: A hospice answering service.
Home care providers offer an essential service to patients, but they can’t do it all independently. There’s a lot of teamwork involved that involves the agency’s caregivers, nurses, physicians, schedulers, and medical supply providers. Supporting these employees and adding to the support workers can be difficult on a limited budget. As a home care provider, you have many responsibilities. So, it seems impractical to sit by the phone and attend calls all day long.
This is where a hospice call center comes in. With the help of a hospice call center, you can clear up the call backlog and ensure that anyone calling your helpline receives the medical help they are looking for.
HIPAA Compliant Interactions
Patient information is highly sensitive. When you are in the business of gathering information, it’s your obligation to store it safely. So, staying HIPPA compliant matters to home care facilities because they want to ensure their patients that no third parties will have access to it.
Better Patient Scheduling
Scheduling appointments is one of the things that most patients find annoying. When the helpline they dial does not answer during an emergency, it becomes more difficult for them to solve their medical problem, creating panic. In such situations, they are forced to take drastic measures.
Fast and on-time patient scheduling through an answering service can keep patients satisfied and happy. This also helps reduce no-shows and eases doctor concerns. Moreover, it creates a reliable system and assures patients that they are in good hands.
Decreases Workload
With your staff busy attending phone calls, fewer people will be left to fulfill other responsibilities. Hiring an answering service will decrease workload and lower many other expenses. When you are starting and have limited staff or don’t have room in your budget to recruit more, answering service can be extremely beneficial. Through external help, you will be able to ensure you are meeting your clients’ medical needs.
Since your workload will be decreased, your staff will operate more efficiently. An answering service prevents your staff from getting sidetracked. Increased efficiency = improved productivity, which can boost the bottom line of your home care facility.
Helping Patients on Time
Let’s say you are on a call and another patient is trying to call you. Obviously, the call will go to voicemail. However, what if it’s an emergency? This is where a hospice answering service comes to your rescue. Since it’s a medical-related call service, they will be able to solve any immediate emergencies and make sure that you are informed about it later.
An answering service handles patients with dignity, the way their doctor would. When medical professionals provide the answering service, explaining the problem doesn’t take much time. They can offer an immediate solution and assure the patient they are safe and will receive medical help right away.
It often happens that when there’s a rush of calls, some of them do not relate to a medical problem. Taking such calls consumes your time and stops you from attending to patients who need your help. Therefore, an answering service filters the unimportant calls and makes sure that you are not bombarded with useless queries.
A hospice answering service was the first medical answering solution that Call 4 Health came up with. With over 20 years of experience, the company has customized answering solutions for multiple healthcare centers. To manage your overflow of calls, get in touch with us to design a remote reception program. For further information about our services, call (855) 244-3258.
Founded after a personal, heart-wrenching incident more than 20 years ago, Call 4 Health has gone from solely offering after-hours answering services to being a top-rated, complete communications BPO for healthcare facilities throughout the country.
