Reputation matters significantly when running a medical office. Patients choose a physician according to the reputation of his clinic. Building a stellar reputation allows getting more customers to improve your bottom line. Various things affect reputation in medical practice. Luckily, this article includes sure-fire ways to build a stellar reputation for your medical office.
Monitor online reviews
It is very important to know what other people say about your practice. Fortunately, this is easy with a simple search for your practice name online. People never hesitate to share views about the quality of service received from a medical office. So, expect positive reviews if your service quality is at par. Alternatively, the presence of more negative reviews means the service quality in your practice is lacking. Understanding what people say about your medical office allows knowing good things to keep up and where to improve. This allows building your reputation.
Mind customer testimonials
Apart from online reviews, happy customers never hesitate to recommend a medical office to others. Testimonials are written affirmations from satisfied customers regarding service quality, performance, and value. You can use the testimonials to show new customers what to expect from your medical office. The testimonials are very useful for social proof and visual content on your website.
Afterhours call answering
Patients expect to speak to their physician regardless of time and day when facing trouble. So, expect to receive calls in your practice even after official business hours. Outsourcing the services of a physicians answering service is a proactive idea. This allows your customers to have a handy live agent to respond to their queries 24/7. The answering service comes with other perks including medical dispatch and appointment scheduling. This significantly builds medical office reputation.
Appropriate handling of upset patients
Patients usually have a lot on their minds by the time they pick up the phone to call your medical office. So, your customer service agents should be ready to handle all types of callers including angry ones. About 89 percent of customers switch medical service providers because of poor service. A professional team of agents from an answering service treats all callers well, this requires addressing customers’ concerns swiftly. Showing customers that you care about their problems builds a stellar reputation.
Patient surveys
Building a client list is a great idea for any business. So, ensure to collect a list of all your customers to allow following them up. This allows ensuring that their needs and concerns are addressed appropriately. Equally important is using the client list to send out surveys. These allow determining the level of service customers received from your medical office.
Additionally, use the surveys to ask satisfied patients to write testimonials, rate your service quality. and give feedback on areas that need improvement. Your doctor answering service comes in handy to send out the surveys. Ensure to ask customers to refer your practice to their friends and family. Knowledge of your strong and weak points allows making appropriate adjustments to reinforce your medical office presence in the market.
Be accessible to address patients’ concerns
The first thing people do when having issues with their health is to call their physician. This can be to book an appointment with a physician or to inquire about drug refills or appropriate dosage. Handling this requires having a reliable and highly efficient team. Ensure to have various options in place that help patients get solutions to their problems. Outsourcing an answering service is a smart idea. The live agents are available 24/7 to respond to callers.
Include appropriate information on your website including the Frequently Asked Questions section. Here, patients can get responses to some of their basic questions without calling your office. Additionally, a team of professional, friendly, and highly trained live operators is a handy solution to give callers immediate responses. This gives customers a positive experience to make them always speak highly regarding your medical office giving it a stellar reputation.
HIPAA compliance
It is mandatory for medical practices to safeguard the medical records of their patients. This is essential during storage, sharing, and transmission of medical records. The safety of these records is crucial to avoid the chances of ending up in the hands of the wrong people. You risk lawsuits and fines resulting from HIPAA noncompliance. This negatively affects reputation in medical offices.
A professional doctor answering service is your best bet to ensure that your medical office complies with HIPAA regulations. Keep in mind that the live operators from the agency receive regular training to keep at par with industry regulations. Ensuring the safety of medical records is a sure way to build a stellar reputation.
Conclusion
The reputation of your medical office is very important. Achieving this requires having a strategy that guarantees a high level of service quality with immediate addressing of patients’ concerns. With this, your medical office reputation shoots through the roof.
