Most solo chiropractors automatically believe that they need a front desk receptionist. Not true.
Yes, it’s nice to have those extra set of hands in the office to help with patient administration. But if you find yourself having to keep hiring a new front desk receptionist every month, and feel that the additional demands (payroll, benefits, calling in sick, poor performance, etc) employees put on your business aren’t worth it, consider getting an answering service.
You can forward all calls to the answering service. The operator will answer the phone the way you tell her to in order to appear like she is actually in your office. Some of them can schedule your appointments for you and will notify you via fax or email (some by phone).
As far as handling patient flow, get your patients to pre-pay their copays and schedule multiple appointments ahead of time. This will reduce the check-out and check-in process. They come in, you greet them and instruct them to take a room; do the treatment, and send them on their way.
Here is one service I am trying out: Answering Specialists, Inc. Compare at $39 a month, vs. a receptionist at $15.00/hr, 40 hrs a week = $2,400 a month. Are you willing to do a little more walking and calling in order to save $2,361?
UPDATE (11/10/2010): Answering Specialists did not work out well after all. I have switched to AnswerConnect and am currently evaluating their service. I will let you know if they are worth it; check back soon. So far, not too bad.
Of course, an answering service is good for the small to medium sized practices. I have massage therapists and an acupuncturist in my space whose presence (and their patients) adds “buzz” to the environment, so the answering service works well for us. We check out our own patients, and the patients get used to it after a while.
Dan Perez, DC
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FYI answer connect is horrible and inflexible as to being able to handle what happens on the phone. They are unable to use natural social instincts when answering the phone and wast a lot of time and money. I used myreceptionist for years and they were great.. I just wanted to cut costs and so I tried to match genbook with an answering service and answer connect was my first try. They are nice but really awful and many of the calls did not go through (maybe an east coast to west coast issue…they are in Portland OR and I am in NYC). I would not recommend them at all.