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by Greg Cryns

Your business image may be damaged without employing a professional answering service firm.

If you are a manager of any notable size of office or especially a doctor, you'll need someone answering the phone for you when you aren't there. I personally hire the services of a professional answering service, rather than having to contact my voicemail constantly to check for emergencies or worried calls from 

patients. Using a professional answering service helps me relax when I am away from my office. I don't need to worry about whether my clients are being handled properly. In the event of an emergency the answering service will put it through to tell me that I better call back immediately because, for example, Mrs. Jones is about to have her baby, or Mr. Smith has a recurrence of that stomach pain and may need to be hospitalized. It really takes the worry out of being a doctor to have someone answering the phone for you.

Answering services come in many varieties. If you work in a large hospital like I did until recently, there is an in house answering service. The desk will be answering the phone and telling me if there is anything that needs my attention. Unfortunately, they are inefficient at judging the difference between an emergency and something routine that can wait for the next day while I'm out for dinner with my family. They would really call about just about everything, ringing my pager for routine medical questions that I could have easily answered in the office the next day, or pestering me about people wanting to reschedule at all hours of the night.

It's important that the people you have answering the phone are efficient and professional for legal reasons and for the long term safety and health of all of your patients. A doctor I know had an answering service couldn't be bothered to call him in the middle of the night, no matter what. After several nearly serious mishaps, including one with a patient who had a serious reaction to a medication prescribed by him, the doctor told his answering service that if there is any doubt they should call him when answering the phone just in case there is really a very serious medical emergency. Unfortunately, they were tragically negligent. Someone, complaining of stabbing pains in his stomach should have been hospitalized immediately, but his doctor wasn't told by the answering service, so couldn't do anything about it. The man almost died from acute appendicitis, which just goes to show you how important it is to demand the highest of service.

So, you need a good answering service to preserve your sanity but make sure you investigate the professionalism. A good policy might be to get referrals from your friends!

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