The benefits of hiring an answering service for your medical practice are numerous and robust. You can dramatically increase your patients’ satisfaction rates without losing money to more salaries and overhead. If you have decided you want to reap the rewards of a medical answering service, then be sure to choose one with operators who are fluent in both Spanish and English. Here are the top four reasons why a bilingual answering service could be your practice’s ace in the hole.
1. Increase in Nation’s Spanish Speakers
According to Pew Research Center, the number of Spanish speakers in the United states will increase to between 39 million and 43 million people over the next three years. Since there is a strong chance that at least some of these people will become your patients, you should make sure your practice is prepared. With a bilingual medical answering service, you can provide care to anyone who calls your office, no matter which language they are more comfortable using.
2. Access to Ready-Made Operators
Even if you already realize it will help your practice to offer Spanish communication, it can still be difficult to implement this service. Recruiting new employees is time-consuming, especially if you are hunting for such a specific skill. It can even be detrimental to your practice if you hire someone who is good at Spanish but does not have other desirable employee qualities.
Instead of being crippled by these issues, you can purchase the services of a trusted bilingual medical answering service and call it a day. Exceptional answering services thoroughly vet their employees and make ongoing training part of their business models. When you hire a company that prioritizes excellence, you can relax knowing that operators will not only speak to your patients in their preferred language, but will do so with kindness and respect.
3. Offer More Comprehensive Services
When your patients are sick, they want to know you will go the extra mile to care for them. One way to make a lasting impression is to offer a variety of amenities, including bilingual answering services. Spanish-speaking patients who talk to your medical answering service will instantly feel better when they realize they can set appointments and request information in the language they prefer to use.
Even patients who do not primarily speak Spanish will notice you offer diverse communication options, and are likely to be impressed by that fact. This extra tier of service may improve patient loyalty and even increase the amount of referral business you obtain.
4. Show All Patients You Care
Some researchers have cited language barriers as one of the main detriments to the overall health of multicultural populations. When bilingual communication services are not available, critical medical information can be lost in translation, and the results can be disastrous. You care about all your patients, so you should do everything you can to combat the threats posed by language barriers.
Your practice’s medical answering service can be just one of several ways you convey your commitment to all your patients. When you offer diverse communication options, your patients who prefer to speak Spanish will know their needs are being met from the outset of your relationship. Meanwhile, you can proceed with treatment more confidently knowing you are taking steps to provide the best possible treatment.
Getting with the Times
Choosing a leading bilingual answering service like VoiceNation can help you offer a higher level of service to a greater number of people. Spanish is becoming more ubiquitous in the United States every day, and offering an enhanced medical answering service can help you stay ahead of the trend.