HealthcareIndustry Analysis
Table of contents
Preface: SAS Knows that Growth Depends on Availability
Chapter 1: Start with Programming Basics
Part 1: Frequently Asked Questions
Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
Chapter 2: Evaluating Statistics by Call Type
Chapter 3: Putting it All Together: Call Volume Statistics
Chapter 4: The Cost for Amazing Service
Chapter 5: Gaining Perspective
Taking You Farther, Faster
2
3
4
5
14
19
20
21
23
02www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Healthcare providers know that using voicemail to field missed calls is as
impersonal as a lacking bedside manner. And when it comes down to it, the
more calls you miss, the less you grow. That’s why many healthcare providers
look to Specialty Answering Service to provide exceptional 24/7
live-operator customer support.
SAS Knows that Growth Depends on Availability.
PREFACE:
If you’ve never used a call center, or if you are using a service
and want to do a side-by-side comparison, then this Medical
industry analysis of a few of our valued clients will point you in
the right direction.
A C DB
03www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Start with Programming Basics.
Succinct, straitghtforward scripts are the key ingredient to a successful
phone call. Whether you’re using SAS as an answering service or virtual
receptionist, guiding the operators by way of frequently asked questions or
specific language to employ will ensure that calls flow smoothly for the
customer and operator alike.
We’ve broken programming down into two parts.
CHAPTER 1:
FrequentlyAsked Questions
Part 1
Call HandlingCross Section
Part 2
A C
DB
04www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Part 1: Frequently Asked Ques ons
FAQs allow our recep onists to provide general knowledge via phone rather than take a message. The majority of accounts contain details such as loca on, business hours, phone number, and website. Addi onal ques ons are forma ed with concise, uncomplicated language.
Start with Programming Basics
Here’s how four of our Medical clients personalizedtheir FAQs.
What hospitals is the doctor affiliated with?
What forms of payment do you accept?
What condi ons do you treat?
Can any procedures be done as outpa ent?
What types of issues do you specialize in?
Are all staff members registered nurses?
What are the names of the physicians in your prac ce?
What types of insurance do you take?
Insurance Basics: When people are in need of medical care, they have an abundance of ques ons, the first of which is usually, “Do you accept my insurance?” It is beneficial to include informa on in your FAQs about the types of plans that you work with in addi on to general out-of-pocket costs for self-pay pa ents.
05www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Call handling, or scripting, is what the operators use to interact with your
customers. You might have different instructions based on the caller’s
question or issue, or maybe you want a basic message for all calls.
Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
Start with Programming Basics
As you can see below, scripts run from simple lead capture to more involved scenarios.
EMPLOYEE CALLS
Calling in Sick
Gather Employee’s Name, Number, Shift
Start Time, Client’s Name
Reach on-call and email message
Emergency Testing
Gather First Name, Company, Number,
Location of Mobile
Reach on-call and email message
Client Concern Unable to Log In
Gather Employee’s Name, Number, Shift
Start Time, Client’s Name
Email message
Gather Name, Number
Reach on-call and email message
A
06www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
INTERESTED IN SERVICES
Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
Gather Name, Number, Regarding
Reach on-call and email message
BILLING CALLS
Gather Name, Number, Regarding
Email message
ALL OTHER CALLS
Does this need to be paged out now, or can it wait until the next business day?
Paged Now
Gather Name, Number, Regarding
Reach on-call and email message
Can Wait
Gather Name, Number, Regarding
Email message
PATIENT CALLING
Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
Business Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to dial the
main number.
Business Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to dial the
main number.
After-Hours: Which doctor are you seeing?
Is this an urgent matter?
If YES, gather Name, Number, Email Address,
Regarding
Text on-call doctor
If NO, go to a Closing and let caller know to
call back during business hours.
After-Hours: Which doctor are you calling for?
CALLING FROM A HOSPITAL OR DOCTOR’S OFFICE
B
07www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
Are you a doctor or a nurse?
If DOCTOR / NURSE, gather Doctor’s Name,
Number, Email Address, Patient’s Name,
Regarding
Text on-call doctor
Text on-call doctor
If YES, gather Name,
Number, Email
Address, Regarding
If NO, go to a Closing
and let caller know to
call back during
business hours.
If OTHER, is this an urgent matter?
Text on-call doctor
If YES / NO, are you completely out of your
prescription?
If YES / NO, which doctor are you seeing?
Gather Name, Number, Email Address,
Regarding
Business Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to dial the
main number.
And is this prescriptionfor insulin, a blood thinner,
or a steroid?
CALLING ABOUT A PRESCRIPTION
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C
CALLING ABOUT AN APPOINTMENT
Business Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to dial the
main number.
After-Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to call back
during business hours.
Business Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to dial the
main number.
After-Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to call back
during business hours.
ALL OTHER CALLS
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Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
CALLING FOR AN APPOINTMENT
Are you a new or existing patient?
If NEW / EXISTING, gather Name, Number
Would you like your appointment on
a Tuesday or Thursday?
Access Google Calendar and schedule
appointment
Text doctor and office staff
CALLING TO CANCEL / RESCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT
Is this a life-threatening emergency?
EMERGENCY CALLS
Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
Gather Name, Number, Original
Appointment Date / Time, RegardingText doctor and office staff
If YES, refer caller to 9-1-1 or emergency
room.
If NO, gather Name, Number, Regarding
Offer to take a message.
IIf YES, gather
Name, Number,
Regarding
If NO, reiterate to
dial 9-1-1 or go to
emergency room
Text doctor and office staff
Text doctor and office staff
ALL OTHER CALLS
Gather Name, Number, Regarding
Text doctor and office staff
10www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
ARE YOU A NEW PATIENT OR AN EXISTING PATIENT?
New Patient Existing Patient
D
Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
Is this an urgent matter?
If YES, have you ever had an appointment
with the doctor before?
If YES, gather Name,
Number, Regarding
If NO, gather Name, Number, Regarding
Text office manager and email office staff
Attempt 2 warm
transfers
Text doctor
and email office staff
If NO, tell caller to dial
911 or visit the nearest
ER.
Gather Name,
Number, Regarding
Text doctor and email
office staff
Is this an urgent matter?
If YES, gather Name, Number, Email Address,
Regarding
If NO, would you like to schedule an
appointment or request medication?
Text office staff and email office manager
Text doctor and email office staff
If APPOINTMENT or MEDICATION,
Warm Transfer twice during Business Hours
If No Answer,
Reach On-Call
If No Answer,
Reach On-Call
11www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section
12www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
CALLING TO RESCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT
Gather Name,Number,
Regarding
Text doctorand
email office staff
Warm Transfertwice during
Business Hours
CALLING FOR A SPECIFIC PERSON
What is the name of the person you’re trying to reach?
Gather Name,Number, Regarding
ALL OTHER CALLS
Gather Name,Number, Regarding
Text office managerand email office staff
Warm Transfer once during Business Hours
Text the person the caller requested and email office staff
13www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
The details above are just the tip of the iceberg.
There are all kinds of things that you can add to your script,
such as Appointment Confirmation Emails, Custom
Integrations for Online EMR software, Continuous Reach
On-Call for emergencies, and more!
14www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
CHAPTER 2:
Evaluating Statistics by Call Type.
Depending on the nature of your medical practice, inbound call statistics can
vary. For example, primary care physicians often see a major uptick during flu
season while allergists will be in full swing when spring and fall pollen is at its
worst.
Understanding your call traffic helps SAS staff accordingly, and the data
trend will give you an indication of which months might cost you a bit more or
a bit less so that you can plan ahead from a financial standpoint.
Check out the 2017 call volume breakdown for these four clients.
Whether you’re looking for the total number of
calls or calls segmented by type, we have you
covered. Knowing peak hours will help you
determine whether to use SAS 24 hours a day
or just for after-hours or overflow support.
48%50%
62%
58%
45%
10%2% 2% 5%
59%
6% 22%
10%
9%
48%
9% 2%
16%
10%
4%4%
21%
3%3%
10%
50%55%
18%
16%
4%2%2%
16%
21%
8%5%
16%
11%
7%2%
2%2%2%
9%
9%2% 5% 5%5%
13%
53%
57%
12%
12%
12%
3%1%
47%
11%
11%17%
7%
16%16%
5%
18%
2%
14%
3%
5%
21%
17%
10%4%
15www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
January 2017 February 2017 March 2017
April 2017 May 2017 June 2017
July 2017 August 2017 September 2017
October 2017 November 2017 December 2017
29calls
42calls
19calls
45calls
57calls
93calls
45calls
38calls
51calls
29calls
42calls
56calls
LEGEND:
Dialed Out
Urgent
Emergency Testing
Employee Sick Log-In Issues
Potential Client All Other Non-Urgent
Info Only – AnsweredQuestion, Solicitor,Wrong Number
10%
5%
3%
3%
A
86%78%
23%
65%
2%10%
6%1%
14%1%
86%
60%
83%
52%50%
6%
34%
1%9%
22%
6%
20%7%
9%1%
73% 65%
14%
2%
19%3%
12%
12%
21%
1%
18%
79% 80%
7%7%
2%
7%3%
4%11%
7%7%
6%
January 2017 February 2017 March 2017
April 2017 May 2017 June 2017
July 2017 August 2017 September 2017
October 2017 November 2017 December 2017
70calls
85calls
52calls
59calls
82calls
54calls
83calls
65calls
58calls
76calls
92calls
108calls
16www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
7%
1%
B
LEGEND:
Urgent Matter
Non-Urgent
Call Back Later - After Hours
Call Main Number – Business Hours
Other
Info Only – AnsweredQuestion, Solicitor,Wrong Number
38% 35% 33%
28%
8%
17%
14%
39% 43%
25%
5%
9%
1%
17%
23%
7%
14%
17%
27%
5%
19%
13%
1%
24%
3%
14%
21%
42%
23%
5%
14%
16%
37%
26%
6%
13%
2%
16%
41%
23%
4%
14%
17%
1%32%
28%
9%
9%
3%
19%
45%
22%
7%
13%
1%12%
41%
24%
5%
10%
20%
43%
27%
3%
11%
1%
15%
January 2017 February 2017 March 2017
April 2017 May 2017 June 2017
July 2017 August 2017 September 2017
October 2017 November 2017 December 2017
152calls
149calls
156calls
180calls
218calls
262calls
197calls
230calls
283calls
200calls
241calls
195calls
17www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
C
LEGEND:
General Message
Appointment Set
Appointment Refused
Cancel / Reschedule Appointment
Patient Emergency
Info Only – AnsweredQuestion, Solicitor,Wrong Number
20%
22%
23%
12% 12%
12%
18%
38%32%
30%2%
2%
2%
2%
25%
28%
31% 30%37%
10%18%4%4%
5%
17% 17%
17%
2%5%
14%
14%
6%
6%
6% 6%
3%
3% 3%
3%
3%
1%
1%
1%
1%4% 4%
10%
10%
11%
11%
17%
16%
1%1%
15%
3%4%
4%
8%
10%
3%
13%
12%
21%
18%
4%3%
31%
3%
6%
16%
37%
29%
19%3%1%8%
13%
5%
22%
12%3%3%7%
13%
12% 20%
33%4%2%
2%
8%
11%
13%
11%
38%
6%5%
7%
7%
7%
8%
2%
6%
16%
January 2017 February 2017 March 2017
April 2017 May 2017 June 2017
July 2017 August 2017 September 2017
October 2017 November 2017 December 2017
185calls
258calls
288calls
281calls
316calls
227calls
294calls
320calls
250calls
233calls
120calls
84calls
18www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
D
LEGEND:
General Message
Dialed Out
Emergency
Existing Patient
Reschedule Appointment
Call Transferred New Patient
Specific Person
Info Only – AnsweredQuestion, Solicitor,Wrong Number
1,901CALLS
19www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Taking an average of the data for all four medical clients,in 2017, we answered approximately:
5,524MINUTES
totaling
3.12MINUTES PER CALL
with a typical length of
CHAPTER 3:
Putting it All TogetherCall Volume Statistics.
Client
Answered calls 402 932 2,546 3,722
1,267.53 3,334.36 8,321.65 9,172.94
3.15 3.58 3.27 2.46
A total minutes
Average call length minutes
A B C D
20www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
At SAS, we strive to provide cost-effec ve service that is designed to improve your day-to-day opera ons and make your life easier.
$
939.75
1,655.30
3,145.01
9,671.19
11,276.98
137.94
262.08
805.93
Based on our data, the average healthcare provider can expect to pay around:
Consider this. According to Glassdoor.com, the average salary for a full- me recep onist is around $29,000. That’s more than twice the annual invoice total for our busiest medical office clients, and it doesn’t take into account overhead costs such as insurance and equipment!
AVERAGE COST PER MONTH& PER YEAR
Average Monthly Cost
2017 Invoice Total
CHAPTER 4:
The Cost for Amazing Service.
$536PER MONTH
$6,437PER YEAR
&
Client
A
B
C
D
21www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Ul mately, what are the benefits of using Specialty Answering Service over having an answering machine manage your missed calls? Reviewing the call and cost data as a whole, the answer is clear.
If you’re looking for ways to jus fy cost, this generaliza on will do the trick:
You receive 1,901 calls per year.
As a result of your busy prac ce, you miss 323 of these calls, or about 17%.
Instead of leaving you a voicemail, callers just dial the next provider in the phone book.
We’ll guess mate that 200 calls would have resulted in new pa ent appointments.
According to a BlueCross BlueShield of California cost list from 2015, found on TrueCostOfHealthCare.org, the average insurance payout for a moderately complex new pa ent exam is between $84 and $122. So, we’ll go with $100.
Then, factoring in those pa ents who are uninsured, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tells us that the average new pa ent appointment is $160.
The average cost of having SAS capture the missed calls might be somewhere between Client B and C’s invoice total. We’ll round it up to $6,500.
CHAPTER 5:
Gaining Perspec ve.
22www.specialtyansweringservice.netAnswering Service Industry Analysis: Medical
Insured Pa ent Uninsured Pa ent
200 appointments x $100 =
$20,000
You lose $20,000 per yearin new pa ent fees.
$20,000 - $6,500 = $13,500
200 appointments x $160 =
$32,000
$32,000 - $6,500 = $25,500
Now, let’s imagine two scenarios:
Gaining Perspec ve
You lose $32,000 per year.
You gain back $13,500 of the revenue that blew out the window when your answering
machine picked up.
You’ll have $25,500 netrevenue.
Without SAS:
With SAS:
21
Taking You Farther, Faster.
Contact SAS today, and get ready to openthe door to con nued growth, happier pa ents, and a healthier bo om line!
With Specialty Answering Service on your side, you will have the freedom to worry less about what you’re missing and the me to focus on the reason that you became a healthcare provider: improving people’s wellbeing, one visit at a me.