Business

Benefits of a specialist medical telephone answering service

Published

3 years ago

October 4, 2021

Benefits of a specialist medical telephone answering service

Investing in a medical telephone answering service can help you run and manage your practice more efficiently and drastically improve your patient communication.

Whether you’re a solo practitioner or part of a bigger medical practice, a specialised medical telephone answering service has a lot of benefits.

With COVID-19 forcing businesses to consider whether they’ll bring staff back to the office or continue with remote working (24% intend to increase home working in the future) a remote call answering service for your medical practice could be just the answer.

What is a telephone answering service?

A telephone answering service works just the way a traditional receptionist would in terms of dealing with calls.

Using a team of virtual receptionists, your telephone answering service can deal with incoming calls, take messages, pass calls to the right members of your team, act as a screen against unwanted sales calls, and free you and your team up to focus on the job of looking after patients.

The only difference is they work in a remote capacity, meaning you don’t have to worry about manning the phones in a physical office.

But how can a specialist medical telephone answering service actually benefit your practice?

Improve patient communication

A telephone answering service can give you a reliable, consistent call handling function in your practice.

Instead of risking sending patients to voicemail, leaving them on hold, or letting the phone ring constantly, your call answering team can deal with every call that comes into your practice.

And instead of an automated, robotic voice, patients will be greeted by a real person who can deal with their enquiries quickly and even help them book appointments with you.

This is important as 11% of patients in a recent survey said they’d found it difficult to book appointments with their clinic or GP in the past.

Also Read: Writing A Press Release For Small Business

Improve your reputation for patient care

While you might think patient care begins at the start of a consultation, it actually starts from the moment a patient contacts you.

From the first phone call, patients want to feel reassured and confident that they’re being dealt with professionally, in a personal way.

Calling to book a medical appointment, only to be met by voicemail or an automated message isn’t going to offer any reassurance.

Plus, with a telephone answering service dealing with incoming calls, your practice staff can spend more time caring for the patients in front of them.

This is something in demand now for clinicians.

A report by the BMJ found that patients had struggled to access services, book appointments or access treatments at clinics and GP surgeries through 2019 and 2020.

Save money

The traditional receptionist role – manning a desk, greeting people and answering the phone – is actually highly inefficient and not cost effective.

In a physical clinic, they might be able to greet people and answer the phone, but once they’re on one call, they can’t deal with anything else until that call is finished.

And if you operate a mobile clinic, having an office or desk space just for a receptionist is a massive waste of resources that could be better spent on other areas of the business.

With a telephone answering service dealing with your practice’s calls, you can save money on the wages of a receptionist and use the money to invest in other members of staff with the skills and experience to deal with those patients who do require further in-person consultations.

Free up your time

If you’re a solo practitioner, running your own clinic, you won’t have the time to answer every call that comes through.

If you do answer every call you won’t have the time to actually take care of patients.

Even if you work in a bigger practice, is it a good use of a salary to have someone just dedicated to answering the phone?

By bringing in a call answering service you can free up clinical staff to spend more time with patients and improving patient care.

Extend your opening hours

Just because you run a practice from 9-5 doesn’t mean patients will only try to call you during those times.

Many patients will be working during the day and not have time to call to book an appointment.

Or they might need to book at the weekend.

If your practice doesn’t pick up the phone you’re not offering a great patient experience.

And if you run a private clinic or solo aesthetic business, you risk losing revenue with patients likely to try somewhere else if they can’t get in touch with you.

Get specialist call answering help

Because of the nature of medical and health practices, patients are often calling for sensitive reasons or to book appointments.

These aren’t things a regular call centre answering service can help with.

Operators in call centres don’t receive specific training to deal with this type of enquiry (they literally just take messages).

Nor can they be used to book appointments or help manage diaries.

So if you want to free up time and money, hiring a specialist medical call answering service is the best option.

Grow your practice

If you rely on increasing patient numbers for revenue and profit, then a specialist clinic call answering service can help.

For one, it ensures you never miss an incoming call, which could include new patients trying to register with you or trying to book appointments.

Plus, because it frees you up from answering calls, you can spend more time working on your practice when not seeing patients, rather than spending all day handling calls.

For a solo practitioner, this provides vital time to market your business and attract new patients.

Also Read: What is Third Party Logistics (3PL)?

Avoid unnecessary calls

As well as dealing with patient calls, you likely get a lot of calls from salespeople trying to sell services or products.

These calls are a huge distraction when you’re running a busy practice, and you don’t have time to deal with them.

Not only can a telephone answering service for your medical practice screen your calls for you, but it can also have you removed from sales lists so you don’t have to deal with these calls in the future.

Invest in a telephone answering service to improve your medical practice

If you want to find out how you can benefit from outsourcing for call answering services, contact Pulse by Face For Business.

We’ve got a team of virtual receptionists who specialise in call answering for the health and medical sectors who can help you better manage your calls and appointment booking.
Click here to find out more about Pulse by Face For Business or get in touch.

World

Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum Says Wants to Hire Student Protesters Backlash Underway

Published

46 mins ago

May 6, 2024

Manoj Nair

Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum Says Wants Hire Student Protesters Backlash Underway

Andrew Dudum, CEO and founder of Telemedicine Company Hims & Hers is facing flak on the social media after his reported statement that he wants to hire students and protestors who are taking part in the protest in support of Palestinians in Universities across the US.

A number of tech sector founders has also condemned his statements.

Dudum had posted on X,

“If you’re currently protesting against the genocide of the Palestinian people and for your university’s divestment from Israel, keep going. It’s working. There are plenty of companies and CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline.”

He also posted a link to a page showing open positions at Hims & Hers.

X users have expressed their disapproval and have even called for a boycott Hims & Hers, and others said they are selling their stock in the company.

Cofounder of Palantir Technologies as well as the managing partner of early stage venture capital firm 8VC Joe Lonsdale responded on X and said

“Real moral courage doesn’t involve joining a mindless mob, chanting anti U.S. and other woke pablum, following instructions not to debate or discuss your positions at all yet being indignantly righteous, while large numbers in the mob chant for violence and block Jewish students.”

While Hims & Hers spokesperson said Dudum were not available for comments, old posts by Dudum have been unearthed which puts in context his actions. Days before the horrific attack by Hamas’ terrorist against Israel on October 7, Dudum had posted –

“In pursuit for peace: Our leaders need to embrace nuance.”

Dudum further explained that he is a Palestinian American and had roots in and family in the West Bank and Gaza and said Hims & Hers’ values are based on a respect for human dignity and life.

Dudum wrote

“It is upon those values that I believe all leaders and CEOs should use their platform today to call for an immediate cease fire. To actively recognize Israel’s right to defense and also recognize the means and manner in which they are responding violates international law. I ask us to find nuance, and share our voice today to help save innocent lives.”

Deadly protests have hit U.S. college campuses through last month and protest encampments have sprung across more than 40 colleges nationwide.

Police crackdown is on and there have been more than 1,900 arrests or detainments following a wave of activism at universities across the country.

Hims & Hers is a Telemedicine Company that links consumers with licensed healthcare professionals, enabling access to high-quality care for conditions related to sexual health, mental health, and more. It also offers its own range of products and is in a partnership with Los Angeles-based Hustle & Co. on media relations.

Also Read: Brazil Dam Collapse Amid Heavy Rainfall and Flood; Watch Video Here

World

More Trouble For Microsoft, OpenAI: Eight US Newspaper Publishers File Lawsuit For Copyright Infringement

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2024

Manoj Nair

More Trouble For Microsoft, OpenAI: Eight US Newspaper Publishers File Lawsuit For Copyright Infringement

Trouble for Microsoft and OpenAI over copyright infringement is not coming to an end, as they face several lawsuits for violating copyrights.

On Tuesday, eight US newspaper publishers sued Microsoft for illegally reusing articles in AI products.

The 98-page long lawsuit further accused the tech companies of attributing erroneous information to the publishers.

The eight newspapers that have filed the lawsuits include the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune.

They allege that OpenAI’s ChatGPT used their copyrighted articles to perfect its language models without permission.

The lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court on Tuesday. The publishers claim that OpenAI’s large language models, GPT-2 and GPT-3, were perfected using datasets containing text from their newspapers.

The language models are designed to produce text based on human inputs and reproduce copies of the publishers’ works. Microsoft has been indicted for using newspapers for its Bing search index but seldom provided links to the original articles. Four months ago, The New York Times also filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the tech giant of using data from its past content. It also asked for consent for usage, criticizing the use of full article excerpts in chatbot responses.

The latest lawsuit filed by the eight news outlets also demanded consent and fair value for using their content to perfect the AI language models. The lawsuit alleged that the AI tools literally regurgitate their content without directing users to the content source.

The lawsuit filings stated, “This lawsuit arises from defendants purloining millions of the publishers’ copyrighted articles without permission and without payment to fuel the commercialization of their generative artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and (Microsoft’s) Copilot.”

The eight newspapers that instituted the lawsuits are as follows:

The New York Daily News and The Chicago Tribune, both owned by Alden Global Capital
The Orlando Sentinel
The Sun Sentinel
The San Jose Mercury News
The Denver Post
The Orange County Register
The St. Paul Pioneer Press

OpenAI’s Response

OpenAI did not directly respond to the accusations but stated that it takes great care to support the news and media outlets. It also stated it is in continuous partnerships and conversations with various news outlets around the world to explore new opportunities, discuss problems, and seek out solutions.

Microsoft also stated that OpenAI has entered into fruitful partnerships with a number of publishers, which includes The Financial Times, The Associated Press, Spanish conglomerate Prisa Media, and Germany’s Axel Springer.

Net Worth

Alan Patricof Net Worth 2024: How Much is the American Investor Worth?

Published

3 days ago

May 3, 2024

Vishnu Chaudhary

Alan Patricof Net Worth 2024: How Much is the American Investor Worth?

Who is Alan Patricof?

Alan Patricof is a prominent figure in the American investment landscape, renowned for his contributions to venture capital. With a career spanning over four decades, Patricof has been instrumental in shaping the growth of numerous global companies, including America Online, Apple Computer, and Audible. His legacy extends beyond business, with involvement in community organizations and government initiatives.

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Alan Patricof Career

Alan Patricof’s career in venture capital began in the industry’s early days. He founded Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., a precursor to Apax Partners, one of the world’s leading private equity firms. Later, he established Greycroft Partners, focusing on early and expansion-stage investments in digital media. Throughout his career, Patricof’s vision and leadership have played a pivotal role in advancing the venture capital field.

Alan Patricof’s Net Worth

As of May 3, 2024, Alan Patricof’s estimated net worth stands at over $1 million. His wealth is derived from various investments, including holdings in Boston Properties Inc. and successful ventures in digital media. Despite humble beginnings, Patricof’s entrepreneurial spirit and strategic acumen have propelled him to financial success.

Alan Patricof Age

Born in 1934, Alan Patricof is currently in his late eighties. Despite his advanced age, he remains active in the business world, leveraging his wealth of experience to mentor emerging entrepreneurs and drive innovation.

Alan Patricof Family: Wife and Children

Alan Patricof has been married to his wife Susan for over 48 years. Together, they have three children and seven grandchildren. Family holds great importance to Patricof, and he credits his upbringing and heritage for shaping his values and work ethic.

Alan Patricof Height and Weight

While specific details about Alan Patricof’s height and weight are not readily available, his stature in the investment community is undeniable. Patricof’s impact transcends physical measurements, as he continues to leave a lasting legacy in venture capital and philanthropy.

Also Read: Mike Markkula Net Worth 2024: How Much is the Former CEO of Apple Worth?