Healthcare organizations have embraced the technological advantages of Hosted VoIP phone service, thus improving their operational efficiency and patient satisfaction with their communication practices. Hosted VoIP provides these organizations with the flexibility they need for their scheduling, call routing, and after hours on-call processes.
This applies to the wide range of specialists as well as general practitioners and to many healthcare providers, such as:
- Medical practices
- Dental offices
- Home health organizations
- Physical or occupational therapy providers
- Chiropractic practices
- Mental health providers
- And more
There are some common features that greatly support the communication flow within these organizations.
Time of Day Call Programming – Many times, the workweek schedule doesn’t follow a traditional 8 to 5, Monday through Friday schedule. Practitioners may have days where they are scheduled for hospital rounds, surgery, etc. On these days, their office will most likely be closed for appointments. Routinely, a lunch hour is carved out for calls to be handled differently.
Hosted VoIP allows for a preprogrammed time of day / day of the week schedule. Such a schedule can allow for different call flows and auto attendant greetings.
Auto Attendant – This is a key feature for most healthcare organizations. Many use an auto attendant upfront in the call flow, so calls can be directed to the appropriate teams, whether it be for appointment scheduling, billing, nurse team, prescription renewals, etc. Such a process allows for efficient call handling and improved communications with patients.
On-call Processes – One feature stemming from the after-hours auto attendant is how to engage on-call medical practitioners. Many providers have their after-hours calls directed to a remote answering service. This is usually done through an on-call option on their auto attendant. Alternatively, those practitioners who take on-call contacts can have a soft phone on their smartphones.
All on-call practitioners can be in a ring group, but only the individuals on-call would turn the app on. They can select to take the call from the app or they can call the patient back from the app. They never need to deliver their personal cell phone number for caller ID.
There are several other ways this can be handled. Your Hosted VoIP provider should be attentive to your after-hours needs. They should recommend the best solution that meets those needs.
Call Queues - Queues can be beneficial for your highest volume menu item from your auto attendant. This depends on the call volume for your practice or clinic, and the number of associates available to take calls. Lower volume options would simply need a ring group involved.
In either situation, when a team is answering calls, it is best to create a distribution email for voicemails. This will ensure that voicemails get routed if no one answers. And, no one person is responsible for making sure all calls or messages are returned and appropriate action is taken.
Healthcare organizations come in different sizes and levels of complexity. They require different features to fulfill their needs and improve their communication practices. Home health organizations are entirely different than a medical practice, thus requiring a different level of programming and feature deployment. For example, these organizations are also very focused on day-to-day staffing assignment and availability.
One way to manage the differences between client and employee calls is to introduce alternative numbers into the business. These numbers should have a separate auto attendant, exclusively for staffing needs.
Healthcare companies have embraced the benefits of the Hosted VoIP technology. However, they must be wary of the expectations of “self-management” of the system that many VoIP providers require. Self-management can be a complication that medical practitioners or organizations do not need. The skill set and complexity of running a medical practice or organization is much different than managing a technology platform.
Some Hosted VoIP providers take care of the programming, installation, and on-going administration of the platform. This allows their customers to focus on other aspects of managing their organization. So, as your organization looks to shift to a Hosted VoIP platform, investigate the initial and on-going management requirements.
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