healthcare industry analysis - specialty answering service€¦ · answering service industry...

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

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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


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


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.


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


Client Concern Unable to Log In

Gather Employee’s Name, Number, Shift

Start Time, Client’s Name

Email message

Gather Name, Number


A


INTERESTED IN SERVICES

Start with Programming Basics // Part 2: Call Handling Cross Section

Gather Name, Number, Regarding


BILLING CALLS


Email message

ALL OTHER CALLS

Does this need to be paged out now, or can it wait until the next business day?

Paged Now



Can Wait


Email message

PATIENT CALLING


Business Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to dial the

main number.


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



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


main number.

And is this prescriptionfor insulin, a blood thinner,

or a steroid?

CALLING ABOUT A PRESCRIPTION


C

CALLING ABOUT AN APPOINTMENT


main number.

After-Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to call back

during business hours.


main number.

After-Hours: Go to a Closing and let caller know to call back

during business hours.

ALL OTHER CALLS



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


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



ALL OTHER CALLS




ARE YOU A NEW PATIENT OR AN EXISTING PATIENT?

New Patient Existing Patient

D



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


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




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


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!


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%


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%





70calls

85calls

52calls

59calls

82calls

54calls

83calls

65calls

58calls

76calls

92calls

108calls


7%

1%

B

LEGEND:

Urgent Matter

Non-Urgent

Call Back Later - After Hours

Call Main Number – Business Hours

Other


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%





152calls

149calls

156calls

180calls

218calls

262calls

197calls

230calls

283calls

200calls

241calls

195calls


C

LEGEND:

General Message

Appointment Set

Appointment Refused

Cancel / Reschedule Appointment

Patient Emergency


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%





185calls

258calls

288calls

281calls

316calls

227calls

294calls

320calls

250calls

233calls

120calls

84calls


D

LEGEND:

General Message

Dialed Out

Emergency

Existing Patient

Reschedule Appointment

Call Transferred New Patient

Specific Person


1,901CALLS


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


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


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.


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.

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