Food Freebies

1. Krispy Kreme is also providing free dozens of their famous Original Glazed® Doughnuts on Mondays through Nurses’ Week, which ends on May 12th.
2. How about some coffee with those donuts? Wawa is offering free coffee of any size for healthcare workers and first responders until this crisis is averted.
3. And they’re not the only ones! Through June 1st, head to a Sheetz near you and enjoy free coffee for frontline workers.
4. Starbucks is serving up free tall brewed (hot or iced) coffees to first responders and front-line healthcare workers through the end of May!
5. Free Snickers? Hangry, be gone! Nurses and other essential workers can get a Snickers bar, on the house. Just sign up for your e-gift card and redeem it at Walmart.
6. If you’re a hospital worker who lives near Nando’s, get yourself some free peri-peri chicken takeout. The chain is giving out 50 free meals daily at every Nando’s in North America through May 17th.
7. What’s Polar Pop? First responders and healthcare professionals can go to Circle K and find out. The chain is offering free coffee, tea and Polar Pop to frontline workers.

Shoes & Apparel Freebies

8. Crocs is giving out free shoes daily! If you’re a healthcare worker, check out their site and enter to snag a pair.
9. Comfy scrubs. Check. Frontline medical professionals can head to Barco Uniforms and submit a request for free scrubs for as long as the COVID-19 crisis lasts. They’re donating 10,000 per month!

Travel Industry Freebies

10. Driving around Southern California? Honda is giving away free gas for healthcare workers through May 12th! Find out more about where and when here.
11. Are you a medical volunteer and need to get to Georgia, Louisiana, or Michigan to offer your services to hospitals that need your help? Fly free on Delta Airlines.
12. If you have to travel, you might as well get free parking out of it. Thanks to The Parking Spot, essential healthcare workers will enjoy free airport parking at any of their facilities through May 12th.
13. And, Airbnb is offering free or subsidized housing for healthcare professionals, relief workers and first responders near where they are working.

Family & Mental Healthcare Resources

14. Who takes care of first responders’ families when they’re taking care of us? Care.com can help. You’ll be able to find, manage, and pay for caregivers for your children, seniors, and pets. Access their premium services free for 30 days.
15. Frontline professionals can’t get through this pandemic alone, and Talkspace is equal to the task. They are offering 1 free month of counseling via text, audio and video calls with a licensed therapist using their Unlimited Messaging Plus plan.
16. Maybe you know that it’s time to talk to someone, but you would rather remain anonymous. Through NurseGroups.org, you can “meet” with other nurses to talk about the challenges that you’re facing, and the best part is that it’s both free and confidential.

Techy Freebies

17. Newsflash. There’s a cell phone network specifically built for first responders. FirstNet, part of the AT&T network, is offering 3 months of free wireless service to COVID-19 first responders. Not only that but becoming a new FirstNet customer gets you a $200 activation credit on a Mobile-Responder plan!
18. The American Nurses Association’s free webinar is titled Be Confident Protecting Yourself and Providing the Best Care to Your Patients during this COVID-19 Pandemic.
19. A free course on COVID-19 Pulmonary, ARDS and Ventilator Resources is offered by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.
20. Osmosis.org has a bunch of online resources. From What You Need to Know to Guided Meditation to Yoga, it’s worth checking out. And, if you sign their #Raisethline pledge, you’ll get 3 free weeks of Osmosis Prime.
21. Need some new nursing books? Amazon’s Kindle has you covered. Thousands of options, all free!

The post 21 First Responder Freebies During the COVID-19 Pandemic appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

With respect to medical offices, most every physician, hospital, or medical professional uses an answering service in some form or another. While answering services have tremendous advantages for medical offices – like enabling 24 hour communication, if they aren’t properly configured, they can have some disastrous disadvantages.  If you’re researching medical answering services, we’re here to help guide you in the right direction so that you can avoid potential pit falls and ensure your practice protected.

Avoid HIPAA Voilations

Pitfall: Violating a patient’s private health information.

Medical professionals have to strictly abide by HIPAA. Whether they are using an answering service or not, protecting patients’ private health information is key in maintaining a successful, trustworthy business. However, for medical professionals that are looking to outsource their patient communication to an answering service, many might wonder how safe their business is in the hands of a third party vendor, and how seriously that vendor takes HIPAA compliance.

How to avoid it: Make sure your service is taking HIPAA compliance seriously. HIPAA compliant answering services will have things like:

• A secure messaging system where no patient information gets transmitted over text, email or voicemail.
• A secure online portal where you can check your messages.
• A Business Associates Agreement with all medical customers.

Keeping Medical Data Secure

Pitfall: Hacked systems can lead to data breaches.

Around 1,300 businesses felt the repercussions of a data breach last year, with over 400 million records exposed. 9 million of those records were from the medical and healthcare industry alone. With more and more medical practices switching from paper records to electronic records, data breaches are becoming more common, which means the need for protecting patient information is at an all time high. Medical professionals need to make sure their own infrastructure is secure. And, if they’re using answering services, they need to ensure that the information the answering service keeps is just as secure.

How to avoid it: In order for your answering service to provide secure services to your medical practice and patients, they should have things like:

• Agents that don’t have access to their cell phones or writing implements at their work station.
• Building and rooms that are restricted with keys or pass-codes.
• Firewalled agent computers so outside websites are inaccessible.
• Unique user logins and passwords that can be tracked and assessed.
• Security policy that extends to PCI DSS compliance so that all credit card and payment information stays secured.

Giving Out Wrong Information

Pitfall: Operators giving out false information.

New always takes a bit of adjusting. Whether it’s getting used to a new computer or car, everybody needs some time to get acquainted. The same goes for answering service operators. Of course they won’t know everything right away, but the quicker they catch on, the better. If your patients are always being told “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” by your answering service operators, they’re going to start to question the quality of your practice. What’s even worse, is if your operators play doctor and give out false information, which may result in a loss of business, or worse, a lawsuit.

How to avoid it: Equip your operators with frequently asked questions which will help them answer questions and provide up to date, correct information. And remember, any time something changes within your practice, keep your answering service in the loop. Here are some great FAQs to help keep your answering service on top of the game:

• Do you accept insurance? If so, what kinds?
• Do you offer a payment plan if patients don’t have insurance?
• Can patients pay out of pocket?
• What do you specialize in?
• Do you require referrals?
• What are your business hours?
• Do you have multiple locations?
• How long are appointments?
• Do you offer Saturday or evening appointments?

Giving Out Medical Advice

Pitfall: Operators giving medical advice.

Aside from suggesting they call 911 if they are having a true medical emergency, answering service operators should never try to offer medical advice to patients. The only people that should be providing medical advice are the people who are medically certified to do so. Having non-certified people dishing out medical advice can not only put your patients at risk, but can also put your practice in the hot seat for a lawsuit.

How to avoid it: Ask how the service handles situations where the caller asks the operator for advice. Ideally, the operators should have received training on stock responses. For example, saying something like the following will help you avoid issues: “I apologize, but I am not a trained medical professional so unfortunately I cannot provide any suggestions. However, I can certainly get this message over to the on-call doctor and have your call returned as soon as possible.” This response helps inform the caller that the operators are not certified medical professionals, but assures them that help is on the way.

Problems with Hold Times

Pitfall: Patients waiting too long to speak to someone during a medical emergency.

As much as HIPAA compliance and protecting patients privacy plays a part in running a successful practice, the happiness and overall well being of your patients is crucial. When patients in need are greeted with cold hold music instead of a warm voice, it can lead to issues. A patient’s health could deteriorate the longer they wait, and in some circumstances, may even prove fatal. If this happens while a patient is waiting on hold to speak to you or someone in your practice, you may be held liable for patient or medical negligence.

How to avoid it: Here are some ways you and your answering service can combat long queues:

• Making sure they use a system to help distribute calls evenly to appropriate operator groups.
• Always have a phrase like “If this a medical emergency, dial 911” in the greeting before the hold queue.
• Compare past trends in volume to plan and staff up accordingly.
• Encourage customers to provide notice in advance when they are expecting a large spike in volume.
• Provide on-demand hold reports so customers can get an in-depth look at their call activity.
• Utilize Virtual Queuing systems and control your customers experience. In a virtual queue, callers will be given the option for a call back, or they can choose to wait for the next available rep.

The post The Disadvantages of Answering Services for Medical Offices appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Below we’ve outlined common call handling scenarios and broke them down into both good and bad practices so you know what to implement for your own answering service, and what to steer clear of.

#1. A Driving Initial Greeting

Good Practice: If you’re outsourcing, a good call handling practice is to ask a driving question up front to help steer the call. While asking “how may I help you?” would work in a regular office, it opens up a window for callers to start rambling.

A better approach is to ask a question like “are you calling to schedule an appointment?” or “is this an emergency?” so that your virtual receptionists can maintain control over the call. In addition, this approach also works to eliminate any excess talk time, which could eventually burn right through your wallet.

Bad Practice: Aside from asking a general “how may I help you?” to open the call, adding a lengthy, complicated greeting is also a recipe for disaster. For example: “Hello and thank you for calling the pediatric dental office of Dr. Lugiewicz, where we strive to make your child smile. How may I help you today?” is definitely something your answering service should not be saying.

If your service is strictly answering calls for your office only, then it may be fine to have them use that greeting. However, in most cases answering services answer for many different businesses, so they probably don’t have the time to perfect your greeting specifically. Not to mention it will also sound uber unprofessional when it inevitably gets botched.

Pro tip: If you do want your answering service to say a custom greeting, see if your service can add a custom recording that would play each time someone calls. That way you can eliminate the room for error and still make sure your callers know they have reached the right place. 

#2. Multiple Call Paths

Good Practice: Another good call handling practice is to screen callers to see why they are calling, and handle accordingly. For example, existing patients may become frustrated if they have to provide the same information over and over again each time they call, like their date of birth, their insurance, their address, how they heard about you, etc.

Now, while a patient’s address or insurance may change from visit to visit, a good practice would just be to ask “has your address or insurance changed since the last time you’ve been here?” instead of asking “what is your address?” and “what is your insurance?” That way the caller can either reply “yes” or “no” and if “yes”, they can then proceed to provide their new information.

Bad Practice: Asking every single caller the exact same information is a surefire way to tick off your patients, especially if they’re having an emergency. Imagine if an OBGYN practice asked a woman in labor what her insurance is and how she heard about the practice when a baby is literally drop kicking it’s way out. You’d have one unhappy woman on your hands and probably some not so great reviews to deal with.

Having multiple call paths for your operators to choose from is the key to make everyone happy. Not only does it make for a better call experience for the patient, but it also makes it easier for the office staff to prioritize messages and return calls accordingly.

#3. Add FAQs

Good Practice: If your answering service isn’t able to answer basic questions, they’ll wind up spending more time taking messages, which means more time you have to spend calling people back. While all accounts should be programmed with basic FAQs, it’s good practice to include other frequently asked questions that are sure to come up. For example, you’d probably want to include things like:

• Insurance information: Do you accept insurance? What insurance do you accept? Can patients pay out of pocket?
• Key contacts: Who are the doctors at your practice? If your business name is similar to other medical offices, callers may be confused and may ask if they are calling Dr. Smith’s office.
• Location: Many medical offices have multiple locations, which would be important to include within your FAQs. It’s also helpful to add in recognizable landmarks surrounding your practice just in case callers are lost and need help finding your building.
• Services: Depending on the type of medical practice you run, you may offer different services. For example, a mental health clinic may offer counseling services, massage therapy services, hypnotherapy services, etc.

Bad Practice: Not adding any FAQs to your account is definitely a good way to set the operators, and your business, up for failure. Many times people call just to ask questions, so imagine how frustrating it would be to your callers when they can’t find their answer online, and they can’t get an answer from your business, either. A good answering service experience will leave the caller feeling like they got something accomplished.

Pro tip: Adding too many FAQs is also bad practice. While you want the operators to be able to answer questions, there are some things that are better left unsaid. At least, they’re better left unsaid by your answering service. So, make like Goldilocks and find the perfect balance.

#4. Take Advantage of Appointment Scheduling

Good Practice: You may be using an answering service to help schedule appointments. A good practice for scheduling appointments is to use a user-friendly scheduling platform that the virtual receptionists will have no problem accessing or scheduling on. Whether the software is accessed via your website, or it’s a shared platform like Google Calendar, the easier it is to use, the less problems you’ll encounter.

Pro tip: If your practice has multiple  locations, you’ll want to set up calendars for each to avoid double booking. If you’re using your own calendar, you should implement a type of drop down that will allow the operators to select different locations.

Bad Practice: Most people are calling their doctors office to schedule an appointment. So, if you have a web based scheduling system and are not giving the answering service access to it, you’ll end up with angry patients. It can be very frustrating for a patient to take the time to call your office, only to be told they have to leave their information for a call back.

It also creates more work on your side, when you or your office staff have to call these people back to schedule them yourselves. Most answering services are capable of scheduling, so make your callers happy and take advantage of those features!

#5. Setup Emergency Dispatching

Good Practice: If you run a medical practice, you’ll definitely be receiving phone calls for emergencies. Whether little Timmy fell down the well and broke his arm, or little Suzie is breaking out in hives from eating too many cookies, there’s no telling what could come up. But, as a medical provider, you have to be prepared for it all, which means your answering service also needs to be prepared.

Setting up an on-call system is definitely a must. Often times patients or parents of patients will look for guidance from your office first before jumping the gun and going right to the emergency room. Something your callers could think is the worst of the worst may not be that bad, or they may put something really bad off when it actually should be dealt with right away. However, without a doctor to speak to after hours, they may not know! Your on-call system should be easy and straight forward so that your callers can be helped as soon as possible.

Bad Practice: For starters, not having an emergency dispatch protocol is the worst of all the bad practices fathomable. I don’t know how many times I’ve called my doctor after hours with questions or concerns and been left hanging (the answer is zero times, because my doctor knows the deal).

Assuming you do have an emergency protocol, don’t make it complicated. Complicated procedures lead to mistakes, mistakes lead to people not being taken care of, and people not being taken care of leads to no more business for you. So, set up a simple on-call procedure that is straightforward and everyone will be a-okay.

The post 5 Easy Ways Medical Offices Can Improve Their Answering Service appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, is a law that was created in 1996 to help regulate and protect the personal health information of patients.  The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, better known as HITECH, has it’s roots with HIPAA. Some other offshoots of HIPAA include PHI (Protected Health Information) and BAAs (Business Associate Agreements). Essentially, these laws and requirements make it so that doctors or other medical professionals cannot pass your information through unprotected systems making the data vulnerable to prying eyes. With Specialty Answering Service, we understand how important it is for our clients to maintain HIPAA compliance, so we’ve changed our method of doing things as well.

Since the start of HIPAA, medical professionals all over the country have had to completely change how they run their practice to make sure they are adhering to the appropriate guidelines. Tasks that seemed so routine before, like inputting data or filing records, now have to be handled delicately to insure the patient information stays protected.  This means that if you’re using any companies to help in your day to day tasks, like answering your calls or shredding your documents, these companies also have to follow the same rules to insure they are not leaking any private data. HIPAA defines these companies you use as “business associates”, and all of these 3rd party business associates would need to enter into a Business Associates Agreement in order for your practice to maintain complaince.

Business Associates Agreement

A Business Associates Agreement is another offshoot of HIPAA, and is another protection mechanism in place making sure your patients’ health information stays protected. Whenever you do business with a 3rd party, that party needs to adhere to HIPAA even if they themselves are not in the medical industry. A business associate could include any person or company that produces, receives, communicates or maintains protected health information (PHI) on behalf of a covered entity, like a health care provider.

Once this agreement, or contract, is signed (by both parties), you are able to disclose private information without any violation. However, if your 3rd party associate breaks the contract, you could also be held liable for their actions. For example, if you sign a BAA with a medical lab, and they happen to disclose information to an outside party that’s not on the agreement, you could be held accountable. Before you enter into an agreement, you should always consult with a lawyer so you know exactly what you’re agreeing to. If both parties aren’t on the same page, it may lead to fines (which can cost over a million dollars per violation), loss of business, damage to your reputation, and/or lawsuits.

Running any office is complicated, but running a medical office comes with it’s own set of hoops that you have to jump through on a daily basis. To try and make your job a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of vendors below that a medical professional may partner with, and why you would need to make sure you’re covered with a BAA:

• Cloud/IT Data Base: No matter what system or software you use, all of your patient data is stored somewhere in cyberspace. You’ll want to enter into a BAA with whatever party you’ve chosen to do business with to insure that this information stays protected from hackers, or any other outside source looking to steal information. Data breaches are more common than you would think, so it’s important that you keep this information protected at all costs.
• CRM Providers: If you use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform to manage all of your patient data, you’ll need to enter into a BAA with the CRM vendor to insure that information stays protected. There are many CRMs that are medical based, like Veeva and Evariant, so they already know the deal when it comes to HIPAA. It doesn’t hurt to always cross your t’s and dot your i’s.
• Answering Services: If you outsource your calls to an answering service, you’ll want to make sure that the answering service is HIPAA compliant. This means that the messages they send to you cannot contain any patient information. For example, Specialty Answering Service complies with HIPAA by sending standard messages that alert you that you have a new message and to log into your secure online portal for more details. We can also sign a BAA to insure that we are staying compliant under HIPAA. Other answering services may comply with HIPAA by sending messages via fax. However, not all answering services are HIPAA compliant, so if you’re in the market for an answering service or on call service,  make sure you do your research before partnering with one.
• Billing: If you do not process or send out invoices in your own office, then you’ll want to sign a BAA with your medical billing company because they’ll have access to patient information.  Any and all patient data needs to stay protected, and this would include billing records.
• Lawyers/Legal Firm: An important aspect of running a medical office is making sure you have proper legal representation just in case things don’t go according to plan. Even if you’re not in any sort of predicament, it’s always smart to have back up just in case. When you do hire a lawyer, you should also enter into a BAA with them as they would need to have access to patient records. If you do not, you might find yourself getting hit with a double whammy.
• Insurance Providers: Due to the high costs of the medical industry, most medical practices partner with various insurance providers. Since the insurance provider would have access to patient health records, you would need to sign a BAA with them to keep that information protected.
• Medical Labs: If you’re in the medical industry, then chances are you partner with some sort of lab to analyze any blood or culture samples you take from your patients. They are essentially an extension to your practice, so entering a BAA with any labs you work with is crucial.
• Medical Transportation Services: If you partner with a medical lab, then you most likely also partner with a medical transportation service. These services would be used to to transport any blood or culture samples to a lab for further testing. Included with these samples are the patient records, which the transportation service would have access to. So, you would want to sign a BAA with them as well to protect those items.
• Appointment Reminder Notifications: Usually, medical offices will send out some sort of reminder when a patient is due for their annual check up, or if they have an upcoming appointment. If you use a 3rd party company to send out texts, emails, phone calls and/or post cards, you’ll want to make sure they are adhering to HIPAA in addition to signing a BAA.
• Shredding Services: If you run a larger practice, then you may need to hire a 3rd party to shred documents/records that are no longer needed. Since they’ll have access to all of the information you give them, you’ll need to enter into a BAA with the company to insure that information gets destroyed correctly and nothing gets left behind.

Not Every Company You Work With is Considered a Business Associate

Sometimes you may work with vendors that might not need to be regulated under HIPAA, and therefore would not need to sign a BAA. The vendors listed below may not need to enter into a BAA with you, however, please check with your lawyer to make sure:

• Janitorial/Medical Waste Services: Typically, janitors or companies that dispose of medical waste do not need to adhere to HIPAA since they aren’t handling any patient information. However, they do still have to come into your practice so they will have indirect access to medical records.
• Website Hosting/Developers: If you pay an outside source to create and/or manage your website, you probably don’t need to sign a BAA with them. Generally speaking, your website shouldn’t have any patient information on the surface. However, if your website also serves as an online portal for your patients to log into, or a repository to gather patient email addresses for newsletter mailings, then you’ll want to make sure your 3rd party associate is HIPAA compliant and you may want to enter into a BAA with them as well.
• Business Consultants: If you have a business consultant, you may want them to enter into a BAA depending on how involved they are. If they don’t have access to your patient records, then you’re probably fine. However, you should consult with a lawyer before making any decisions.
• Direct Mail Companies: Direct mail refers to a marketing effort used by all types of industries to try and target a larger audience. For example, these promotional efforts could include brochures or pamphlets regarding your medical practice. Since these companies can realistically send mail to anyone, you may not need to enter in a BAA if you’re not giving out your own patients’ addresses.

These examples are just a few of the many types of business associates a medical professional may partner with. No matter how many or how little business associates you have, it’s always important to make sure everybody’s up to code. When you stay current on HIPAA regulations, you can insure that all of your patients’ health information stays protected. Happy patients equal more business and more business equals happy medical professionals. Everybody wins!

The post List of 14 Companies HIPAA Considers Business Associates appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Once you’ve made the decision to outsource phone support to an answering service, the next thing you have to decide is how you want the service to handle your calls. Obviously, call center representatives aren’t going to know the ins and outs of your practice. However, there are many ways to give the people answering your line a better feel for what it is that you do and the type of assistance your callers will require.

While answering services may not be able to see patients for you, what they can do is screen calls and schedule appointments, and in some cases, push the information they gather from your callers directly into your CRM software. There’s a lot to consider before you take the plunge, so take a look at the tips and tricks below, and you’ll be well on your way to getting the most out of your call center!

1. HIPAA Compliance: This is a must anytime Protected Health Information is changing hands.
2. Scheduling Appointments: We’ve included a few key points on the calls that drive your practice.
3. Emergency Calls: When time is of the essence, flawless programming is of the utmost importance.
4. Prescription Refills: Some refills just can’t wait and may warrant separate call handling.
5. The Right FAQs: While operators can’t give out medical advice, they can certainly address general questions.
6. Customer Relationship Management & Other Integrations: CRM and other software integrations will give your staff more time to focus on in-office patients who need your undivided attention.
7. Hospital & Consult Calls: Depending on the nature of the practice, consult calls may be considered emergencies.
8. Specific People: When people ask for doctors and staff directly, this ensures that the operators know who they are.
9. Overflow & After-Hours: In many cases, call handling will be different based on your business hours.
10. Download the Mobile App: Find out how technology can keep you informed and on time.
11. Stick to the Basics: Common call types and straightforward scripts make life easier for operators and callers alike.
12. Repeat Callers: Even the most fine-tuned practice can let return calls fall by the wayside. Be prepared for repeats.
13. Triaging Techniques: Use pointed questions or an IVR recording to filter out priority calls.
14. Look for a Free Trial: Don’t rely on anyone else’s opinion. Do your research, make use of the trial period, and choose the service that’s right for you.

HIPAA Compliance

First things first. Any kind of medical practice, or any office where Protected Health Information (PHI) is changing hands, is going to need a HIPAA compliant answering service. Data privacy for covered entities is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, so you’ll want to make sure that the service you choose is up to speed.

1. Patient information cannot be transmitted via text or email; however, those message delivery methods are still viable, adhering to the following:

• A generic text or email that states something along the lines of, “You have a new message. Please dial your forward number for more information.” This may require specific programming or software that will enable you to customize the outbound message.
• PHI must not be included.

2. Fax remains HIPAA compliant, so that is another option for message delivery.

3. Some services may give you access to an online portal where you’ll be able to view all of your messages and listen to call recordings in a secure environment.

4. If you have requested text notification, you may want to delegate internally who will be receiving what. For example, urgent messages might be sent to the on-call physician, while general messages could be addressed by an office manager.

Scheduling Appointments

The majority of people who call a doctor’s office will probably want to schedule, cancel, or reschedule an appointment, and hiring an answering service that has the ability to manage your calendar will take a lot off your plate. While you’ll have to do your research on which scheduling platform integrations are available with prospective call centers, in most cases, your service will be able to book appointments directly on your website, integrate with Google Calendar, or use proprietary scheduling software.

Typically, if a service is HIPAA compliant, operators should not be able to view or edit previously scheduled appointments, so cancellation and reschedule requests will need to be handled outside of the calendar. You may want operators to take a message for those calls. For same-day cancellations, it might be beneficial to transfer callers to you during business hours to avoid unnecessary prep for a no-show appointment.

Appointment Setting 101

Consider these questions when you’re establishing appointment setting parameters.

• What days and times can appointments be scheduled?
• Can operators schedule more than one patient per time slot?
• What is the duration of each appointment, or do you offer services of varying lengths?
• Should your lunch hour be blocked out?
• Do you offer evening or weekend appointments?
• Do you have multiple practice locations, but all intake calls are directed to the same line?

Also, try to think of every possible scenario so that the scripting makes sense.

• If you have a different protocol for new patients as opposed to existing patients, you’ll want to address proper scripting. For example, existing patients may only need to provide their name and number for a quick look up in your system, whereas if a new patient calls, you may need to ask for their insurance information, address, referral source, date of birth, etc.
• If your practice sees children, or if caregivers frequently call in lieu of patients (e.g., elder care, hospice, etc.), perhaps you should have your service set up a screening question to ask if the caller is the patient or if they’re calling on behalf of the patient.
• If you only accept certain medical plans, it would help to ask upfront if the patient will be using insurance to avoid scheduling self-pay appointments that the patient cannot afford.
• If you have several doctors in your practice, or if certain doctors are not accepting new patients, operators should inquire as to which doctor the patient would like to see, and each practitioner should have their own calendar.
• Emergency appointments may be best scheduled by your office staff rather than the call center, as operators will not be able to “tweak” availability or move things around to accommodate an urgent need.

Emergency Calls

In addition to scheduling appointments, another call type that you can be sure you’ll receive is emergencies. Unless you have an ironclad immune system or ridiculously good luck, you’ve likely been sick at some point. When you don’t feel well, sometimes you just want to talk to your doctor. If it is after hours or no one is available, you may be left telling your story to a message machine. And with busy practices, who knows when that message will be picked up? Having a live operator field emergency calls rather than pushing everyone to voicemail gives patients a sense of relief.

Emergency Scripting Considerations

• Adding screening questions will help ensure that only true medical emergencies are being handled right away. For example, the operator could open with, “Are you calling regarding an emergency?” And a secondary question could be asked such as, “Can this wait until business hours, or do you need to speak with the doctor urgently?”
• Most services have some sort of ER system in place. Before signing up with a call center, it’s of the utmost importance that you decide on the appropriate protocol for calls that warrant immediate attention. For example, your account can be programmed to transfer emergency calls directly to the on-call practitioner.

Emergency Message Notification

If calls are to be transferred, determine which hours operators should connect calls to you vs. sending a message.

If there is a reach on-call, you may want to find out if you are able to call in to the service and have them patch you through to the patient so that you can protect your own privacy.

You may use any combination of emergency notification such as:

• Warm Transferring Calls – the operator will remain on the line with the caller and give you the opportunity to accept or decline the call. If the call is declined, the operator returns to the caller and continues with information gathering or closes the call.
• Reaching On-Call Staff – after the caller disconnects, the operator will dial through your on-call staff list as many times as you would like. Note that voicemail messages including patient information are not HIPAA compliant. Instead, the operator can leave a message such as, “This is your answering service. You have a new urgent call. Please dial your forward number for assistance.”
• Texting – for a HIPAA compliant text message, the message itself cannot include patient information.
• Emailing – this is compliant, as long as the email does not include patient information.
• Paging – this is compliant, as long as the page is numeric only, as opposed to alpha-numeric.
• Faxing

Prescription Refills

While prescription refill calls are generally not urgent, there are times when a refill request cannot wait. For this call type, you’ll want to add a screening question – perhaps something along the lines of, “Have you already run out?” or, “Are you about to run out?” If the patient has already run out, and it is critical that they re-up, these calls could result in some sort of transfer or urgent text. If the patient still has some time before they run out, your service could give the caller the option to call back during normal business hours or leave their information and have the office follow up with them on the next business day. Patients can also be referred to their pharmacy, as pharmacists can often submit electronic refill requests on the patient’s behalf.

The Right FAQs

Though FAQs aren’t really part of your “call handling,” they do help out the operators substantially. You don’t want to overload them with information regarding your practice, but they should be able to answer basic questions and have a few details on the more common questions that your callers ask. For example, your FAQs could include the following:

• Your location
• Your business hours
• The office phone and/or fax number
• What insurance plans you accept
• Can a patient pay out-of-pocket? If so what are the prices?
• What services do you provide? Is it a standard family practice, or do you specialize in anything in particular?
• List the names of all the doctors in the practice
• Is there an email address where callers can send general inquiries?
• Is there a website?
• Do you have a cancellation policy?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) & Other Integrations

We can all agree that perhaps the most annoying aspect of your first appointment with a new doctor is the time spent filling out a seemingly endless clipboard of paperwork. Perhaps even more annoying than filling it out is the job of the individuals who have to enter every piece of data into the office’s CRM system. Tedious, right? While an answering service can’t do all of your work for you, the right service can be a huge asset to any medical office’s front desk team by asking essential information in that first phone call and sending the details to your records system.

• A Medical Answering Service with CRM integrations are a huge time-saver. By pushing each caller’s data directly to your database, you’ll have the information at your fingertips. Sure, you’ll still have work to do – but less time spent filling up your database is more time spent ensuring that your patients have the best possible in-office experience.
• Calendar integrations eliminate the need for you to book appointments on your own. (See the section on Scheduling Appointments).
• With an email integration, your service may be able to send out new patient paperwork that can be completed prior to the office visit. Alternately, they can push data into your outbound mail system, e.g., MailChimp or Constant Contact, so that you can email important documents in one click.

Hospital Calls or Consult Calls from Other Medical Professionals

Does your office receive calls from neighboring hospitals, practices, or home care services that may be treating your patients? If so, consider how these calls should be handled when they reach the service. Some information that may be helpful to you would be:

• Name of the medical facility they are calling from
• Caller’s name and/or Doctor’s name
• Call back number
• Patient’s name
• Patient’s date of birth
• Location of the patient (if admitted, floor and room number)
• What the call is regarding

Depending on the facility, issue (e.g., an emergency consult), or time of day, a message alone may not be suitable. You may want certain calls transferred to the office during business hours, and for after-hours calls, a reach on-call protocol may be necessary.

Specific People

Sometimes, callers will ask to speak directly with a doctor or staff member. While you may not be available to speak with them, you’ll still want them to know that their call is important to you, and you will be in touch with them as soon as you are available. A Specific Person path really comes in handy, especially if you have a number of practitioners and support staff in your practice. Generally, your script would be programmed with a drop-down list of all the individuals that may be requested along with a small identifier next to each name. For example, whom did the caller ask to speak with?

• Dr. Jones (Neurologist)
• Dr. Smith (Physical Therapist)
• Dr. Richardson (Counselor)
• Ms. Williams (Office Manager)

This way, if someone calls and asks to speak with the office manager but doesn’t give a name, the operator will be able to look at this list and see that Ms. Williams is the office manager. If it is important to you to have your answering service seem like your actual office, this minor tidbit of information could create that feel.

Overflow & After-Hours

Even if you are fully-staffed during business hours, chances are good that you’ll miss a few calls. And no matter what office you run, there will always be someone who tries to reach you after-hours. If you’ve ever called your doctor’s office, only to be met with a super annoying voicemail system instead of a live operator , then from a patient’s perspective, you can see the value in using a service for overflow and after-hours calls. The value for your personnel is that they don’t have to waste precious minutes listening to voicemail. Messages have already been taken and are available for review, so you can immediately begin returning calls and getting patients the assistance they need.

• Typically, services will allow you to set up some sort of business hours/after-hours handling. During your open hours, the operators will have one set of instructions, and after hours, they’ll use a different script.
• If the practice is open and calls are set to roll over to the service when no one is available, operators can let your patients know that due to a high volume of calls, they are taking messages on the office’s behalf. If callers are leery about leaving a message, you may also give them the option to try back later.
• After hours, operators can let your patients know that the office is closed, but they would be happy to take a message and have the call returned when the office re-opens. Or, if it’s an emergency, the script can be built with a reach on-call step to get in touch with the on-call staff.

Download the Mobile App

As technology continues to evolve, people and businesses are forced to evolve with it. Many answering services now offer a mobile app that you can download to retrieve your messages. Having this feature available to someone who can’t sit idly by a computer is a must in patient care industries. If you’re out and receive an urgent message, you can log in to your mobile app, view the details of the call, and possibly even listen to it, if your answering service offers call recording.

• For offices with rotating on-call staff, or in cases where callers request a specific person, your call center may be able to provide a unique login ID for each of your staff members.
• Permissions may be set to provide complete access to all calls, or partial access, where only calls that pertain to the particular individual may be seen.

Stick to the Basics

When you start using an answering service, your first reaction is often to overload the operators with information about your practice, and hope for the best. Would that same approach work for a new in-house receptionist who is just learning the ropes? Not likely. So, while it is important that you provide the service with key FAQs such as address, hours, and a description of what you do, callers and operators alike will have more successful interactions if you stick to the basics. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Providing too many options for the operator can be overwhelming and may result in mishandled calls. Remember that your call center is there to lend a helping hand, not to run your business for you.
• Keep in mind that while your service may answer for 100 doctors’ offices, no two accounts are the same. Thus, what works for one account may not necessarily be appropriate for another.
• It’s always a good idea to have an All Other Calls path in your script. If a caller’s request or issue doesn’t match the primary path options, the operator will still have an avenue by which to document the nature of the call.

Repeat Callers

Even if messages are gathered and sent swiftly, a busy practice may need more than 24 hours to return a patient’s call. That being said, not every patient can wait 24 hours. They may grow weary of sitting by the phone and dial your office again instead, stating that they called yesterday and haven’t heard back. How should your service handle these calls? Should the operator simply take another message? Should the call be considered urgent? Or should they try and patch the call through to the office? Preparing your service for these types of scenarios will ensure that calls are handled as efficiently as possible and minimize frustration on the part of the caller.

Triaging Techniques

What if you only want to use an answering service for after-hours emergencies? If that is the case, then many of the tips above won’t apply – but, there are still options that you can explore to keep call handling crisp.

• Have a screening question up front. For example, “You’ve reached the emergency after-hours service for Dr. Smith. This is Gabby. Are you calling with emergency?” If the caller responds in the affirmative, the operator could reach out to the on-call doctor. If it is not an emergency, you might want the operator to say something along the lines of, “I apologize, but this line is for emergencies only. Please try calling back during regular business hours.”
• Include a brief list of what is considered an emergency, e.g., bleeding, pain, post-op complications, suicidal thoughts, etc. You certainly don’t want to leave this judgment up to the operators, so having a short rundown of emergent issues will help them triage calls appropriately and follow the proper procedures for true emergencies.
• Add IVR to your line. This would be an upfront recording and could say something such as, “You have reached the after-hours answering service for the Office of Dr. Jones. If this is a true medical emergency, please hang up and dial 9-1-1, or go to your nearest emergency room. If you need to speak with the doctor urgently, please press 1 to be transferred to an agent.”

Having these types of screeners will filter out legitimate emergencies from callers who just want a direct line to you and your staff. In turn, you may have less usage and a lower monthly invoice.

Look for a Free Trial

If you’re in the market for a medical answering service, be sure to do your due diligence before signing on. While online reviews may be useful to a degree, nothing compares to your own experience and opinion. That’s where a free trial comes in. Most services will offer a trial period that will give you a solid understanding of how your calls will flow, the professionalism of the operators manning your phones, the availability and help offered via customer support channels, your average minutes usage, and more.  To find the best fit for you, take advantage of everything the free trial offers, and place test calls if you’re not ready to forward your lines. The sooner you sign on with the right service, the sooner you’ll be home for those family dinners you’ve been missing!

The post 14 Medical Answering Service Must Haves appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

With patients zipping in and out of your office, insurance questions, copays, follow-up appointments – and your ringing phones – things can get really hectic at the front desk. Wouldn’t it be great if you had a backup dental answering service that could pick up the slack when your phones are going non-stop? Yes. It would.

If you’re in the market for a professional telephone answering service to support your dental practice, there are 5 key features that any good service should have:

1. 24/7 Answering: Your service should offer overflow support for when you’ve stepped away from the desk or are at lunch, and after-hours coverage is a must. You may also want to forward your phones 24 hours a day. Whichever way you slice it, 24/7 live operator assistance ensures that no one will wind up in the dreaded voicemail system.
2. HIPAA Compliant: Businesses that handle Protected Health Information (PHI) will need their answering service to be HIPAA compliant. This usually means that medical professionals won’t be able to call in for their messages, but will need to access them in a secure web portal. If the service allows text messaging, messages must be encrypted and sent through a system that is separate from traditional SMS texts.
3. Appointment Scheduling: The majority of calls your practice receives will be for scheduling, rescheduling, or canceling appointments. Having a provider that can manage your calendar eliminates the need for your staff to return scheduling calls. You’ll want to provide your service with a calendar where you’ve pre-filled available appointment days and time slots. Also remember that to maintain HIPAA compliance, the service provider won’t be able to re-schedule or cancel appointments as they will need to view PHI in order to accomplish that. Make sure they when developing your script, paths for cancel and reschedule will simply be sent securely to you office.
4. Personalized Scripting: Most services will have stock scripting that they use for all accounts. While that may be fine for your needs, you should still have the option to edit the script whenever you would like, make it more personal, and tailor it to the specifics of your office.
5. Free Trial: Any live-voice service worth its salt will offer a free trial. Often, this includes 2 weeks of free service or answering a certain number of minutes during the trial period. You’ll also want to carefully review your script, make necessary adjustments, firm up call handling and procedures, and get the feel for how the operators work. Always try before you buy.

Whatever call center you decide on for your dental office, having round-the-clock live phone coverage will unburden your front office and give patients the high level of care they deserve.

The post 5 integral parts to a cavity-free dental answering service. appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Generally, SMS messaging is not encrypted or secure. Some wireless carriers store text messages, and with the use of public Wi-Fi and open cell phone networks, the potential exists for texted data to be compromised. In addition, sensitive information may fall into the wrong hands by way of malware, or a lost or stolen phone.

Thus, in order for texting to be used in health care, technical safeguards must be in place to ensure confidentiality, and maintain the integrity of protected health information (PHI). This is usually accomplished by establishing a private, secure texting network where all electronically-transmitted PHI is encrypted.

There are 5 necessary steps that covered entities can take to manage cell phones used by individuals working in the health care profession.

1. DECIDE whether mobile devices will be used to access, receive, transmit or store patients’ health information, and understand the various threats and vulnerabilities associated with their use.
2. ASSESS how mobile devices affect the risks to the patients’ health information your facility maintains by performing a risk analysis.
3. IDENTIFY the risk management strategy for your facility, and employ safeguards to ensure privacy.
4. DEVELOP, DOCUMENT and IMPLEMENT mobile device policies and procedures for your facility.
5. TRAIN staff on privacy and security awareness, discuss the facility’s policies and procedures, and ensure that everyone knows how to follow them.

Ultimately, the use of text messaging in health care is for the good of the patient. Essential data such as lab and imaging results can be at the providers’ fingertips, response times may be reduced, interventions can be applied more quickly, and patient outcomes will improve.

For more information on HIPAA, and how to ensure that your organization is HIPAA compliant, visit the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The post Is text messaging HIPAA compliant? appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.

Example A: Go ahead, Bob.

In this scene, Betty was a superstar. She did everything right during the live call. Despite Bob’s attempt to weasel Dr. Marvin’s number out of her, she politely told him that she could not give out that number. Instead, she attempted to reach the doctor on the other line, letting him know who was calling and giving him the opportunity to either take the call or have Betty take a message. No personal information was exchanged and the call was handled promptly and professionally.

But let’s take a look at what happens when Bob shows up at the call center’s door asking for his physicians information. The Mid-Manhattan Exchange is responsible for a slew of HIPAA answering service violations, leaving the call center vulnerable to a serious security breach.

Example B: Lake Winnipesaukee

Violation #1 – Who’s allowed into your call center?

Bob, masquerading as Detective Roberts from Homicide, knocks on the door and is permitted to waltz onto the call center floor with ease. The door isn’t being monitored by anyone other than Betty and her colleagues. And you can pretty much bet there are no security cameras.

Violation #2 – What about signing in?

Betty doesn’t bother to check or verify “Detective Roberts'” identification even though he is flashing a very obvious Blue Shield badge. He hasn’t been asked to sign in. And he hasn’t been given clearance to access the facility by call center security. He just asks for information and receives it. No questions asked – except by Bob!

Violation #3 – Protected information is in plain sight.

Way back when, we used to write down messages on those little pink notepads, just like Betty and her colleagues. Those days are gone, and for good reason. All of that paper leaves a visible trail of protected information that could quickly fall into the wrong hands.

Violation #4 – Stop writing. Start typing.

Betty and her colleagues are using paper and pens to write everything down. This opens the door for fraud or misconduct in the workplace that could result in a data breach. When call center representatives document calls, the records should be solely electronic and they should become inaccessible to representatives as soon as they are entered. Otherwise, your call center can pretty much forget about HIPAA compliance.

Violation #5 – PHI is called Protected Health Information for a reason!

Now, granted, Betty gave out Dr. Marvin’s address and not a patient’s personal records. But the principle is the same. When it comes to call center transactions, protected health information can’t be shared with just anyone – not even if they are pretty convincing as a detective in a trench coat. It can’t be discussed aloud in public places where other people may be able to overhear. It can’t be transmitted via email unless encrypted, and it can’t be sent via text message. Messages documented by your call center can only be communicated by fax.

So, what has Bob taught us? Well, first off, never trust a guy in a trench coat. Unless he’s Clark Kent or something. And second, if you are a call center employee, verify verify verify. Don’t just let anyone onto the floor. Don’t just give anyone information, whether on the phone or in person. Don’t discuss PHI in public, don’t have sensitive paperwork or messages hanging around, and avoid using pen and paper as much as possible. Learn the proper security protocols set forth by your employer, and follow them to the letter. It not only protects those whose lines you are answering, but it protects you and your medical answering service from shady characters like Bob Wiley. Enough said.

The post A lesson in HIPAA compliance in answering services from What About Bob. appeared first on Specialty Answering Service.