THE TELEPHONE IS THE FIRST POINT OF CONTACT FOR NEARLY EVERY patient of your practice and the only contact for most referral sources. You know the problems: too many calls coming in, too many messages going to doctors and technicians, long waits on hold or, worse, getting a busy signal. It could be because you have won rave reviews with referring physicians and patients. But if that isn't the primary reason for bottlenecks on your phone system, there may be other
explanations: your people, your communication in the practice, or just the time of the calls. Show
Get the Right Person There are specific skills you will want the staff members handling your phones to have including: Good phone workers should also have plenty of experience with the specialty of the practice and with the physicians there. They'll need to know the answers that physicians would give in many situations. Putting patients on hold to go find out the answer is a major cause of the phone lines being tied up when other patients are trying to call in, creating frustrated and irritated patients. Trained and experienced phone receptionists will more efficiently hear what's bothering the patient, determine the urgency of the call and provide the appropriate solution: an appointment, some advice or call routing to another desk. Savvy phone receptionists will "hear" what the patient doesn't say, too. Vague and manipulative patients leave out important details that are essential to giving a smart appointment.
Enhance Working Conditions Quiet and private work areas without a lot of background noise are part of the solution. A comfortable chair and an uncluttered desk with plenty of reference material handy with the answers to the most common questions complete the picture. Finally, people in telephone-intensive jobs need good phone equipment. That may mean a comfortable headset. Too Many Calls the Problem? Distribute the Load. When patients are calling about their accounts, they frequently have one of those documents in front of them. Having that call answered by a patient account representative rather than the receptionist takes pressure off that busy desk. When routing calls to the billing department, it may be possible to get them to the right desk by separating the accounts among the employees. For example, in the office with two insurance billers, one could handle patients with last names beginning with A-L, and the other with names M-Z. In this way, the operator or receptionist would know immediately who to route the call to. Other practices make the distinction based on insurance class or account type. Another example of the specialized telephone line is the pharmacy line. This is a number dedicated to patient and pharmacy calls regarding prescriptions. It's answered by an answering machine or voice mail with a clear set of instructions to leave the patient's name, refill desired, and the name and phone number of the pharmacy. An office clerk can clear these messages hourly and, once charts are pulled, a medical assistant can handle getting the authorizations and making the callbacks. It's a service to pharmacists who would rather speak to your machine than wait on hold. Patients may also find the number convenient for this purpose but, if you publish the number to patients, be sure to include in the answering message your regular incoming phone number for urgent calls. Communicate to your patients the best time to call by putting the message in your patient information brochure, and be sure every new patient and established patient recieves one. Another way to divide and conquer is to provide a private line for VIPs to call, answered by the office manager or other designated (non-receptionist) employee. Service to these individuals will get better, they'll be made to feel special, and service to patients calling in on the main number will also improve. Level the Peaks Answer All Day Get Rid of Some
Calls Giving patients more take-home literature and face-to-face education sessions in the office may be the answer. It doesn't have to be the doctor doing all of this; technicians, office managers and receptionists can each have a role in contributiing to better, more informed patients. Some physicians, in an effort to try to put a patient more at ease about a medical concern will instruct the patient to "call me in a few days and let me know how you're doing." It's more efficient to instruct pa-tients to call only if they're not getting better. You can also stay in control of lab results calls by not asking patients to call in to get them. Instead, let patients know that you will notify them by postcard or phone call of the result. In this way, the nurses or medical assistants can make the calls when time permits, rather than having a bunch of interruptions or messages to return. Shorten the Calls It's also helpful to answer with an identifiable practice name that helps the patient confirm that he or she has reached the right party. Simply answering "doctor's office" frequently causes the patient to ask, "Is this Doctor Smith's office?" It's much more efficient to answer with the name of the doctor or, in a larger group, with the name of the practice, eliminating this little dance. It's also helpful to take command of the conversation as part of the answering process: "Are you calling for an appointment?" If it sounds like the caller needs medical advice, "The medical assistant can help you with that—where may she call you?" Delegate the Calls? Create a grid with job positions across the top (physician, medical assistant, office manager, receptionist, etc.) and the types of calls you get (vision-related issues, insurance accepted, etc.) written down the left-hand column. Then, identify who can handle which types of calls on a routine basis without having to check with others. It may be that the medical assistant could handle many of the prescription refills in the office after checking the chart for instructions, for example. You'll want to classify the types of drugs receptionists and technicians are authorized to refill and the protocol for bringing those refills to your attention at the end of the day. You may decide that your receptionist is unlikely to do much damage with a one-month authorization for an eyedrop medication, but your office protocol might require all non-maintenance medications to come to your attention before any authorization of renewals, such as an antibiotic prescribed for treating an infection. Give the Reason First These are all ways that your employees can shorten the calls, redirect calls and keep people off hold or from receiving busy signals. Increasing patient satisfaction is getting harder as managed care pressures continue to put more barriers between the doctor and patient. Don't let your phone be one of them. Mr. Denning is a principal consultant with Practice Performance Group, La Jolla, Calif., and can be reached at 1-800-452-1768 or . How should the medical assistant handle a problem from an angry caller?How should the medical assistant handle a problem from an angry caller? Listen calmly to the upset person. What is the proper callback verification procedure? It should always be documented.
How should a medical assistant handle a situation when a patient is angry quizlet?The best response when dealing with an angry patient is to escort them out of the office and reschedule their appointment. The term terminal phase refers to stages of professional communication.
How should the medical assistant handle a call if the caller refuses to give any information and insists on speaking to the physician group of answer choices?MEDA 100 REVIEWER. What is the best way for a medical assistant to enhance effective communication?Essentially, medical assistants can improve their communication skills by taking the following suggestions:. Pay closer attention to the words you're using when you're with a patient.. Always mind your manners when you're speaking to a patient.. Put more effort into to listening to each patient you encounter.. |