It’s no secret that medical centers are busy places. Staff and patients go in and out of them each day, and there’s often a plethora of administration to handle. The sad truth is that not all medical centers offer the same high standards and levels of customer service.

As a patient, you expect to receive a particular amount of service from the medical center you visit. You also hope your medical needs to get attended to with care and professionalism. One of the downsides of a growing population is that there aren’t enough medical centers available to people.

With those facts in mind, how are today’s medical centers coping with demand. And, all the while, providing an outstanding level of service and patient satisfaction? There are a few reasons, some of which I’ve written about below.

Embracing technology

Decades ago, everything in a medical center got documented on paper. They’d have to file records in vast storage facilities, or build new basements to cope with the increased demand. As you can imagine, keeping to that same ritual of record-keeping would be a logistical nightmare today!

That’s why modern medical centers are embracing technology to help them cope. Databases store relevant patient information such as medical histories, test results, and x-ray scans. Such systems aren’t just for the sole use of medical center staff either!

These days, many patients are allowed to access their private records on the Web. Of course, privacy is something of a concern to those patients. That’s why medical centers must comply with HIPAA rules from the U.S. government.

Some tech-savvy medical centers also offer appointments by text message. As you can imagine, that’s perfect for today’s busy patients. Others might offer their patients the use of a smartphone app to book appointments. They also get used to send private yet secure messages to their physicians.

Revolutionizing telephone systems

As you already know, medical centers are busy places. As soon as they open in the morning, they’ll receive a deluge of calls from patients that want to book appointments. If your medical center only has one phone line, no-one would ever be able to get through!

Instead, the leading centers use a medical answering service. The way such services work is simple:

• The patient calls the medical center phone number as usual;
• An automated attendant system routes them to the right department. For instance, appointments, prescriptions, general inquiries and so forth;
• A call center agent takes down the patient’s details and deals with the call according to the nature of the inquiry.

To any patient phoning their medical center, it’s as though they have a huge team of call center handlers. But, the only difference is the calls get answered from a different location. That leaves medical center staff to concentrate on other tasks. As you can see, adopting such a system improves efficiency and productivity.

Going the extra mile

One final point to bear in mind is that successful medical centers also go the extra mile for their patients. For example, they might send them emails asking for feedback. And, should anything be amiss, the staff can take care of any issues for the patient.

If only all medical centers were such well-oiled machines!