When “do it yourself” doesn’t go the way you expected
Premium medical practices need tight communication with their patients and prospects. Because when you’re in the business of surgical procedures, patients need a personal touch. However, the decision between establishing an in-house medical contact center or outsourcing can be a tough one when you want control of over how you handle new and existing clients and the cost of doing business. Here are some things to consider:
The Burden of Infrastructure
Setting up an in-house medical contact center requires substantial investment in infrastructure, technology, and human resources. From sophisticated telephony systems to hiring and training staff, the initial costs can be prohibitive for many medical practices. You also have to consider the ongoing maintenance and upgrades further which can be more of a financial burden then a cost-cutter.
Staffing Challenges
Recruiting and retaining skilled personnel for a medical contact center is a continuous challenge. Trained staff are essential for handling sensitive patient inquiries, scheduling appointments, and providing accurate information regarding elective procedures. High turnover rates and the need for constant training can disrupt operations and compromise service quality, leading to patient dissatisfaction and potential reputational damage.
Scalability Concerns
As patient volumes fluctuate, scalability becomes a critical issue for in-house contact centers. Scaling up to accommodate increased demand may require additional hiring and infrastructure investments, which can strain resources and disrupt workflow. Conversely, during periods of low demand, maintaining excess capacity can lead to inefficiencies and wasted resources. Finding the right balance between capacity and demand poses a significant challenge for in-house operations.
Language Barriers
Patients want to be able to receive clear instructions, understand treatment options, and feel reassured about their care – especially in their own language. With the diverse patient population, a medical contact center that is able to converse fluently in different languages can be a competitive differentiator that facilitates empathy and builds trust. Beyond language, being able to understand cultural differences is also hugely important for personalizing the patient experience. Medical practices may be missing out on capturing more patients if they only speak one language.
Availability After Business Hours
Practices often avoid extending availability outside the hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm because it’s either difficult to ask staff to stay longer or the cost of hiring additional staff outweighs revenue generated from call volume. However, many patients research outside of business hours such as after work or on weekends. With this high statistic, it’s important practices consider how many more prospects could be captured with extended hours of coverage. When many other practices may be closed, there’s an incredible opportunity to initiate a conversation that gets potential patients further engaged and hopefully, into the office.
Measurement & Reporting
The only way to determine whether your lead management process is effective is to track and report on performance. Key performance indicators (KPI’s) should measure performance with every touch point – from driving marketing leads to the website, to engagement and conversion rates at each point in the process. Often times, medical practices don’t have the processes and technology in place to measure and report on inbound calls and web leads. This can leave practices in the dark on if there are performance gaps or areas for optimization.
The OptiCall Advantage
Outsourcing medical contact center services to specialized providers like OptiCall offers a viable solution to many of the challenges associated with in-house operations. By leveraging OptiCall’s expertise and infrastructure, healthcare providers can benefit from:
- Cost Savings: Outsourcing eliminates the need for upfront investments in infrastructure and staffing, allowing healthcare providers to redirect resources towards core clinical activities.
- Specialized Expertise: OptiCall’s dedicated team of professionals are trained in elective medical procedures and our proprietary methodology that’s proven to boost inbound leads by 10-15% above medical practice average. We also have staff on hand that is bilingual to cater to Spanish speaking patients.
- Scalability and Flexibility: OptiCall’s flexible staffing model enables healthcare providers to scale their services up or down based on demand, without incurring additional overhead costs.
- Extended Hours of Coverage: OptiCall is available 7 days a week, with business hours Monday-Friday until from 8:30am-`0:00pm EST and weekends 12:00-6:00pm EST. This ensures your practice is available when patients call when it’s convenient for them.
- Measurement and Reporting: OptiCall is focused on driving results. Every month, your practice receives comprehensive reporting on all patient interactions and outcomes. We use this data to optimize performance, so you can have peace of mind you are getting the best service available.
Sometimes it makes sense to have your own medical staff manage your inbound calls and web leads. If you are trying to understand what the best path forward is for your practice, we can help. Contact us to understand if outsourcing to OptiCall is right for you.
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