When it comes to choosing a doctor, patients really have a lot of options. Patient satisfaction is the number one factor when it comes to patient retention at any doctor or physicians’ office. A Medical Answering Service will aid in keeping patients happy, by providing a personal touch to your office. A trained professional will always be available to speak with your patients 24/7, so they wont get frustrated having to deal with an answering machine. You do however need to ensure your patients’ information is safe, and your answering service is HIPAA Compliant.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), was created in 1996 to protect individuals’ private health information. The most common HIPAA violations include:
- Unencrypted Data
- Employee Error
- Data stored on devices, such as smartphones or laptops
- Lapse in Notification of a Data Breach
If you violate any of the HIPAA regulations, whether knowingly or not, you are considered liable and face the possibility of heavy fines and in some cases even jail time. This is why it is very important to do your research and hire a HIPAA Compliant Answering Service.
TeleMed offers several HIPAA Compliant services such as the PatientPortal, which is a way to send messages back and forth between staff and patients, or MyOffice, which can be used during office hours as overflow, during meetings and lunchtime, or you can use it all day so that your receptionists wont need to worry about the phones at all. Contact us today with any questions.