Page 23 - Layout 1

BUSINESS OF
MEDICINE

and professionally
exits the call in 6
seconds. In “per
call” billing, that
counted as an en-
tire call. In “time
based” billing, you
are only credited
for those 6 sec-
onds. This works
very similarly to
cell phone plans.
You’ll select a
package of min-
utes that is appro-
priate for your call
volume. If you
keep getting over-
ages, you are wel-
come to increase
your time to a
higher plan. Like-
wise, you can “bump down” to a lower plan if you aren’t using also require different information from the caller. The ability to
your allotted minutes. This system will allow you to effectively customize the way calls are handled makes a huge difference and
utilize your service in the most cost-effective way. adds to your practice’s value to your patients.

7. Disaster Recovery. Does your office have a plan if your entire My wife recently had sinus surgery. That evening, I found myself
system goes down? What happens if your phone lines suddenly dialing her doctor’s number to let him know that she was in much
go out completely? Your medical call center should have a staff more pain than we were expecting. It was a tremendous relief to
capable of handling a sudden influx of calls if-and-when your hear him say that everything we were experiencing was normal for
telecommunication systems are down. The call center itself the first night after surgery. That’s all I needed! I just wanted to hear
should also have a disaster plan in place. Do they have back-up somebody tell me that this was all part of the process and there was
generators in case a storm or nearby construction knocks the nothing to worry about. It was extremely comforting to have that
power out? Are they able to route calls to another location if connection after regular business hours.
the phone lines are cut? It’s imperative that your practice is avail- That call between a patient and a doctor is crucial to healthcare
able to your patients 24 hours a day, even during a crisis. A med- and it’s important to have a medical call center that can provide what
ical call center with a disaster recovery plan in place is the best your practice needs after-hours or even during the day. These steps
way to do this. will help assure that you have selected a quality service that keeps
you connected to your patients.
8. Customization. From the flavor of ice cream to the tempera-
ture of the room, everybody has a different preference. Your Dan Kilday is an account representative with TAS United,
group of physicians may have a variety of inclinations for how a bilingual medical call center that has answered calls for health-
they want their calls handled and dispatched. It’s important to care professionals in San Antonio for over 30 years. He can be
find a medical call center that isn’t using a “one size fits all” dis- reached at dkilday@tasunited.com.
patching protocol. You may have one provider who prefers text
messages. Another may prefer to be called or emailed. They may

visit us at www.bcms.org 23