The future medical industry is predicted to be one with a virtual receptionist a constant in every practice. Judging by the popularity and many uses of such a service especially when it comes to boosting the efficiency level of a clinic, this future is almost a reality.
Features and Benefits of a Receptionist System
The good thing about the virtual receptionist is that it can be programmed to suit the needs of your medical practice. As such, you can personalize it to reflect your goals as a medical practitioner. To do that, you can either program it yourself or allow the software provider to do it, given that you have some specifications outlined beforehand.
Aside from being HIPAA certified, a receptionist system is also helpful in increasing your client base. Here are reasons why:
1. It boosts the efficiency level of your staff as it frees them from mundane telephone tasks. With that, your employees can focus more on their administrative requirements thereby increasing your clinic’s overall productivity while boosting the quality of your services at the same time.
2. It takes care of appointments in your behalf. So while you are busy doing more important office tasks, the virtual receptionist tirelessly accepts calls, plots as well as cancels appointments. In addition, the appointments plotted or cancelled are immediately reflected in your central database so the information is stored and accessed in all your available portals, i.e. online calendar and spreadsheets. Business
3. It is linked to another system that sends out reminder messages on cue and with little need of human intervention. The automation happens between two systems such that there is little need for you to intervene. For instance, upon setting an appointment, the system will ask your patient as to how and when he or she would prefer to receive reminder messages. Your patient will then choose from a list of options that will be read out for them. Once a choice has been selected, it will be stored by the system and the data transferred to the appointment reminder list so a reminder message will go out on the pre-selected date.
4. Since most systems are patterned to speak and sound like humans, a certain sense of warmth and professionalism is retained all the time. These ensure positive responses from a majority of your patients.
On the other hand, the virtual receptionist system is also beneficial to doctors like you in the sense that your time and investment will be well allocated. With the help of such artificial intelligence, you can be confident that you will always have patients regardless of the season and the economic condition.
In case an appointment has been cancelled last minute, you know that the system will call those who are in the waiting list to offer the newly opened slot. This reduces your no-show rate and possible losses due to cancellations.
Lastly, the virtual receptionist has a flexible payment term. As such, you can choose if you want to do a one-time payment or a monthly subscription fee – whichever suits your budget better.