Seeking healthcare, whether it’s for physical or mental needs, can be a tiring and complicated process. Patients can get frustrated when trying to find a provider in their network, so they are typically looking for quick, pleasant, and efficient service. Additionally, they expect much of it to be done online whether that’s for scheduling an appointment or communicating with the clinic team. To make sure you’re providing excellent customer service, here are some tips to help:
Have multiple contact channels.
To accommodate all the different clients that your clinic will get, offer various ways for them to contact you: phone, email, chat message and online platform. Many healthcare software systems allow patients (after they’ve created an account) to view your clinic’s availability, schedule an appointment, and contact you for other questions. When dealing with new patients or those who do not wish to use the system, the email and phone options come in handy. Make sure the staff is regularly monitoring the clinic’s group email for inquiries, and 
they should also keep an eye on social media if they have any accounts. Some patients also try to reach out on there.
Go with a patient-first approach.
As mentioned earlier, dealing with the healthcare system can be stressful for many and not all appointments will be for a routine check-up. When dealing with hard subjects like health, it’s important to help the patient feel comfortable and not intimidated. The front desk staff should be equipped with tip sheets of frequently asked questions to reference, and they should be comfortableand friendly when conversing with patients. A well-trained, positive staff on the front end of your clinic will set the mood for the clinic culture, so it’s important to hire the right people.
Ask for feedback.
Even after you’ve invested time into training and software, your services needs to be backed up by feedback from your patients. Is the training truly working? Are the patients comfortable talking with the staff and feel like they are heard? Have there been issues with setting up appointments? It can be hard to pinpoint issues through biased eyes, so getting the good and the bad from your patients will help evaluate the situation objectively. Additionally, you can use the feedback to your advantage when marketing your clinic by asking them to leave the review on places such as Facebook or Google My Business.
On the back end, if you’ve been having issues with your systems and billing, the expert at Outsource Receivables Inc. can help. Billing office services are important to your clinic presence and succinct communication on balances owed are important. Avoid having untrained staff review medical bills with patients. Always ensure a skilled medical biller is on hand to answer questions and ask for payment of balances owed to the clinic
Overall, the patient experience will be the make or break point of many medical offices, so it’s essential to focus on maintaining and improving your customer service needs.