Working With A Medical Call Center

When you enter a management position within the medical industry, you suddenly learn how much money goes directly to support staff and administrative infrastructure. A large percentage of the cost of running a medical office or treatment center has nothing to do with treating patients, and everything to do with answering telephones and handling paperwork. It’s not that your office admin staff are paid too much - they’re probably overburdened and working under a great deal of pressure every day. The simple fact of the matter is that medical administration is an expensive and multi-faceted reality. Some medical providers choose to turn to external services, such as medical call centers, to take some of the pressure off of their own staff.

Are you considering the possibility that your organization could benefit from a contract with a medical call center? If so, you probably have a lot of questions and concerns surrounding the idea. The answers will vary with the specific third-party provider that you turn to, but there are certain things that you can keep in mind no matter which call service you turn to.

If you decide to work with a medical call center, you’ll want to find one that’s HIPAA certified. HIPPA (which stands for the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) has set out a list of standards and quality control measures, many of which revolve around privacy protection and nondisclosure. Without HIPAA certification, the people answering your calls might not have adequate privacy training, resulting in breaches of confidentiality or security concerns. As you know, in the medical industry these kinds of indiscretions can result in huge lawsuits and media storms. You’ll want to check for HIPAA training and approval from any company you’re considering working with.

You’ll also want to make sure that any center you choose to work with is protected by multiple levels of data storage and back-up. A single tier of data security isn’t always going to be enough to protect your client information in the case of a disaster. You want to make sure that information is regularly backed-up, and stored in multiple on-site and off-site locations.

If your medical office or center is overburdened, looking to downsize its administrative branch, or looking to extend its hours of telephone support to be accessible around the clock, turning to a medical call center is a great solution. Just make sure you pick one that’s secure and trustworthy.

By: Kurt Duncan

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MedConnectUSA is a leading provider of medical answering services and telemessaging services. MedConnectUSA has been serving the health care industry since 1991. MedConnectUSA handles routine and emergency calls for the medical industry only and all calls are answered by HIPAA trained, US operators.