It's Your Call: Mastering Telephones in Your Medical Practice - Softcover

Elizabeth W. Woodcock; MBA; FACMPE; CPC; Deborah Walker Keegan; PhD

9781568294308: It's Your Call: Mastering Telephones in Your Medical Practice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568294301 ISBN 13: 9781568294308

Publisher: Mgma, 2012

If your practice is like so many others, the telephones ring constantly. Because the telephone requires synchronous communication the practice and the patient must be on the line at the same time it is inherently inefficient and has long been a source of frustration for practices and patients alike. Yet the telephone is the most frequently used means of communication for patients to access your medical practice. With high volume and high expectations the telephone is an area ripe for opportunity. This book gives you the tools you need to take charge of your telephones so you can: Optimize patient access Measure your telephones to understand their current performance Improve the management of each type of call you receive in your practice Staff your telephones to ensure that you have the right number and skill mix of staff Use telephone scripts and tools for message-taking and callbacks to optimize customer service Select a telephone system and its related components to fully leverage technology Prepare for mixed-channel communication with patients, such as texting, e-mail, and Web portal Assess whether you need a consolidated call center, and if so, design and implement one that is right for your practice The telephone is a critical access point that requires appropriate staffing and management to provide value high quality at low cost. Indeed, in some medical practices, more care is provided and/or coordinated via the telephone than ever before. Nurse triage and advice, case management, health coaching, patient navigation, and telehealth are expanding to provide patients with new access channels for care. In addition, patient expectations regarding service and turnaround times associated with the telephones are heightened, with patients requesting answers to their questions now. Gone are the days of patients telephoning the practice and being transferred directly to voicemail, which is checked only a few times during the day. Your patients expect timely and informed responses each and every time they call your practice. This book is organized to make it easy for you to access the key tools you need to improve patient communication and access to your practice. Authors Elizabeth Woodcock, MBA, FACMPE, CPC, and Deborah Walker Keegan, PhD, FACMPE, have peppered the book with best practices highlighted to guide you in optimizing telephone performance. Use this book as a blueprint to measure, manage, and staff your telephones for optimal performance. Embrace the tools in this book to improve patient access by expanding to newer technologies, minimizing the need for patients to telephone your practice.

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About the Author:

Elizabeth W. Woodcock, MBA, FACMPE, CPC Woodcock is a professional speaker, author and trainer specializing in medical practice management. Woodcock has focused on medical practice operations and revenue cycle management for more than 20 years. Combining innovation and analysis to teach practice operations, she has delivered presentations at regional and national conferences to more than 150,000 physicians and managers. In addition to her popular e-mail newsletters, she has authored several best-selling practice management manuals and textbooks, and published dozens of articles in national health care management journals. Woodcock is a Fellow in the American College of Medical Practice Executives and a Certified Professional Coder. In addition to a bachelor of arts degree from Duke University, she completed a master of business administration in health care management from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. Deborah Walker Keegan, PhD, FACMPE Walker Keegan is a nationally recognized consultant, keynote speaker, and author. She is president of Medical Practice Dimensions, Inc. and a principal with Woodcock & Walker Consulting. With more than 25 years of experience, she helps health care organizations improve medical practice operations, enhance physician and staff productivity, and align physician compensation systems. She has developed special expertise in ensuring sustainable improvement in academic, hospital-owned, and private medical practices. She has co-authored four best-selling books: Rightsizing: Appropriate Staffing for Your Medical Practice, The Physician Billing Process: Avoiding Potholes in the Road to Getting Paid" and its second edition, The Physician Billing Process: 12 Potholes to Avoid in the Road to Getting Paid, and Physician Compensation Plans: State-of-the-Art Strategies. She is in high demand as a keynote speaker and has collaborated with Elizabeth Woodcock to offer a series of educational DVDs on hot topics in medical practice management. Keegan earned her PhD at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, her MBA from UCLA, and she is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives. In 2008, she received the Edward B. Stevens Article of the Year Award for " Are you ready for the perfect storm? " published in the January 2008 MGMA Connexion.

Review:

To anyone familiar with Woodcock and Keegan s work, it will not come as a surprise that this book should be considered required reading for anyone involved in managing physician office operations, as telephones are the main lifeline to a practice. --William Pesanelli, mba Practice Administrator The Urology Center, PC, New Haven, CT

As a practice manager you are being asked to do more with less. Patients want to access your services quickly and efficiently and to also feel that personal touch. It s critical that you leverage technology to your advantage to enhance the human interaction. This book gives clear, concise, and practical steps to take control of your key work processes and make the most of your financial, technological, and human resources. --Donna Scowden Practice Administrator Peachtree Park Pediatrics, Atlanta, GA

This book is an excellent, practical resource guide for any physician office seeking to improve its management of phone calls into the practice. No matter the size of the practice, managing telephones is a challenge in any environment and this book breaks it down into simple and easy to implement best practices. --Courtney M. Higdon, MBA Director, Enterprise Patient A4ccess Services University of Kentucky HealthCare, Lexington, KY

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