Practice Management Alert

Many patients speak to your staffers by phone before they ever set foot in your practice. If you’re like many practices, you have entry-level staffers working your front desk and answering your phones. Have you trained them to represent your practice optimally on the phone?

Here’s the challenge: Unlike previous generations, the millennials taking calls at your front desk didn’t spend their teenage years speaking on the phone. They’ve been texting, browsing and gaming on their phones, but they haven’t been making voice calls.

Consider these statistics:

• 50 percent of adults aged 18-24 says a text conversation is just as meaningful as a phone call.
• Adults under 45 send and receive more than 85 texts a day, according to Experian Marketing Services.

Millennials routinely report that they hate phone calls. They see them as a slow, inefficient form of communication. They’re not used to the verbal give-and-take that phone calls require, and many haven’t spoken on the phone often enough to feel comfortable in phone conversations.

The problem for most practices is that they serve older generations who still use and value voice calls, and their experiences with your younger staffers on phone calls can color their experience of your whole practice. If you want to » » set the stage for good patient engagement, it may be time to train your younger staffers on better phone techniques.

Here are some telephone tips from MGMA16 conference presenter Stephen Dickens, JD, FACMPE of Medical Practice Services. These techniques can improve patient experience and are useful for providers and staff of all ages:

Think about tone of voice. It tells patients who you are, builds trust, and can strongly influence patients, Dickens says. If you want to emphasize a point, become firmer or deeper—never louder, he advises.

Tip: Sit up straight, even though the caller can’t see you. Your attentive posture comes through in your tone of voice.

Be polite and user-friendly. When taking a call, answer by the third or fourth ring maximum. Make sure you give your name, role, and a greeting. Speak slowly and clearly, and don’t speak with food or gum in your mouth.

If you need to put a caller on hold, ask for permission. Let them know how long you expect they’ll be on hold.

If you are transferring the call, let the caller know that you’re transferring the call. Mention the name of the person you’re transferring them to, and why that person is the best person to help them.

If you are taking a message, make sure the patient feels unrushed and heard. Get as much information as possible.