An Unexpected Business Dinner
Dr. Hawkins November 11th, 2008
Do you remember when you wanted to be a doctor so that you could help people and treat diseases? Did you ever anticipate the amount of “business” that would be required in order to practice medicine? I am hiring. I am firing. I am making out work schedules and calling in people to cover when the person on the schedule cannot come in to work. Okay, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking I should just hire an office manager (you could be right, but keep reading). I run a solo Internal Medicine practice and when I crunched the numbers (another business skill I never learned in medical school but sort of learned along the way) the cost of an office manager was not in the budget. I had to figure out what my overhead was going towards, what I could cut (or add) and what I could do to get out of the office before eight in the evening every day.
As I was complaining to a colleague over dinner (a colleague with a much more business-oriented mind), she suggested that I look into eliminating personnel. At first I could not imagine cutting back at all. I felt like a whirling dervish from the moment I unlocked the front door until the last note was signed or the last insurance form completed. Not only that, but I had trouble keeping staff, letting any go just did not seem possible. She must have read the perplexed (panicked?) look on my face. She suggested that I look into a virtual receptionist. I asked her half seriously, “You want me to hire a robot?” She laughed and I laughed but I still waited for her response.
She told me that she was able transfer the duties of a front desk receptionist to the equivalent of a virtual medical office receptionist. The best part was the service is that it is available 24/7. Apparently this one program could act as a patient appointment scheduler, appointment reminder, medical answering service and 24/7 medical reception. This colleague and friend asked me to consider what I was spending on a receptionist, office management software and a medical answering service combined. Then she told me what she pays for access to this web-based doctor appointment scheduling program. Even though I do not have the strongest mind for business, I know how to save money.
Of course I had a lot of questions. For instance, is this system secure? I did not want my patient information out on the ether for everyone to see. In turns out that many programs are fully HIPAA compliant and secure. Will my patients think this computer is an impersonal way of communicating? She first asked glibly, “How congenial is your front desk staff now?” Point taken. She went on to explain that her online medical office assistant has a natural voice dialogue and responds interactively. As far as the software operating as physician answering service, her program operates as a 24/7 medical answering service, schedules appointments (!) and even triages patient calls. I could not believe this it first, but when I investigated on my own (Yes, I checked. It seemed a little too good to be true), she was right. Some packages will identify emergent calls and put them through to appropriate emergency contacts immediately. The medical appointment scheduling feature was amazing. Parents can call my office or use an online appointment scheduler to set up a time to see me, essentially self-service patient appointment scheduling. I picked up the tab at dinner that night, but as far as I am concerned it was a business expense!
- Medical Receptionist
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