Physicians Answering Service

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive assistant to the board at a private retina clinic.

What challenge were you trying to address with Physicians Answering Service?

We needed help fielding calls after hours.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our doctors have a rotating system so patients can get through to one of them no matter what time it is after-hours. Physicians Answering Service has a whole system of which doctor to contact and when based on which one’s on call.

They keep track of a lot for us and make sure they field those calls appropriately. The team also takes our calls on the weekend and jumps in when we need to leave early. For example, in the last few days we’ve had to shut down early because of the weather.

What is the team composition?

I have 3–4 people I reach out to whenever we need to contact them.

How did you come to work with Physicians Answering Service?

They were hired before they came on.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together for at least 10–15 years.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They’re always willing to do whatever we need, even if we need them to take over earlier in the afternoon instead of after-hours. They’re really flexible at a moment’s notice. They’re always available. They’ve never dropped the ball. In my time working with them, there have only been a handful of times where I’ve needed to go back and learn what happened with a call.

How did Physicians Answering Service perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very proactive and they usually reach out to me. As long as I send them scheduling changes, they’re always really good about implementing. They’re very on top of things.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that their team is small. I can get everyone one email and get information to the entire company all at once. They’re local, too. There’s always a human being on the other end of the phone and very few phone tree options; we’ve found other options but we’ve always stayed with them because of that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re consistent and proactive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be as communicative with them as they’re going to be with you. As long as you give them tons of information, they’ll make sure it gets done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the practice manager at a private specialty medical clinic.

What challenge were you trying to address with Physicians Answering Service?

We needed help answering the phone after hours.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re our answering service for after hours. They either call the on-call doctor or take messages for us. We provide them with an on-call list every month. We receive a fax document with a short text message after every interaction.

What is the team composition?

We have one main contact and two managers we touch base with occasionally.

How did you come to work with Physicians Answering Service?

They were already in place when I took this position.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $2,400 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2010, and our work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

It’s been helpful because they’ve been able to deliver a pre-recorded message about COVID-19 to our patients.  

How did Physicians Answering Service perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re always good about following up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m happy with them and we’ve stuck with them for over a decade.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could provide clearer text in their messages. One time, we received a message about a patient that passed away but the message was not clear. When we contacted the number that was left, the person was upset because we didn’t realize her husband passed away.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to make sure you have a contact for your account manager and build a relationship with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Administrative Services Manager at ORM Fertility, a fertility clinic specializing in in vitro fertilization (IVF). I manage our clinical administrative team, serve as our system specialist, and train staff and new hires.

What challenge were you trying to address with Physicians Answering Service?

We were looking for call centers to serve as our after-hours service since we operate every day of the year.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Physicians Answering Service helps us take after-hours calls for patients calling with non-emergent and emergent needs. They triage calls based on information we have given them, helping us determine whether the patient needs to speak to a doctor immediately or if they can take a message.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Minta (Call Coordinator). If we have any issues or questions, I direct them towards her, or to a manager if it’s serious.

How did you come to work with Physicians Answering Service?

We’ve been partnering with Physicians Answering Service since before I started at the clinic. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Physicians Answering Service began in January 2012.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They do a great job overall. Years ago, we had sit-down meetings with the managers where we broke down and analyzed all of the different scenarios of patient calls that could come through. They really did their due diligence and took the right steps to ensure that their staff was getting the proper training to maintain a high level of service for our customers. 

How did Physicians Answering Service perform from a project management standpoint?

Things have always run very smoothly with Physicians Answering Service on board. Whenever we had issues years back, they stood up and acknowledged what was happening then quickly took the right steps to get back on track. Our team was really pleased with that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provided detailed information to our clients. Physicians Answering Service is great at keeping records. Minta has been incredibly helpful, she’s always on top of things and catches any discrepancies quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything has been great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be thorough and detailed in how you want calls answered. They know what they’re doing and can take it from there.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the administrative coordinator for a pediatric clinic. We have about 14 medical providers within our organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Physicians Answering Service?

Their team provides an after-hours phone answering services for all of our different providers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work on a tiered level of calls, so they keep track of who is on call for what types of calls and when. Non-urgent calls are turned into messages that they deliver to us the next day and calls that need immediate response are forwarded to an RN triage service that we retain as well. That company may contact our doctor on call from there if necessary.

What is the team composition?

I have one point of contact for scheduling and I typically speak with several different managers or supervisors as needed. I’m not sure, however, how many people in total are staffed for taking our calls.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost has been around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2000 and the engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The after-hours coverage that they provide has been very helpful for us. I only hear about the problems when they bring those to us, and I rarely have to deal with any of those, so everything has been going pretty smoothly. We are definitely satisfied with the service their providing.

How did Physicians Answering Service perform from a project management standpoint?

When they do have any questions or issues that they need addressed from our end, we have established a very good line of communication for them to use as support. They come to us with any concerns that arise, and they’ve been very responsive to us when we do the same.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really appreciate their response to our concerns. It is always clear that they treat our business and needs seriously and take action as soon as they can. I never feel like I have to be chasing or nagging them about anything which makes our lives a lot easier.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they need to improve that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They make it very easy to work with them, so I don’t think there’s anything in particular that you need to do in order to be successful with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the clinical director at a hospice agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Physicians Answering Service?

We hired them to help with incoming calls we were receiving after business hours.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team answers any home health and hospice calls that come into our direct line from the end of our business day until the beginning of the next. They send messages to our on-call triage nurse and other appropriate channels. They also do follow-ups when they’re unable to reach specific individuals.

What is the team composition?

We have one primary contact.

How did you come to work with Physicians Answering Service?

Our previous executive director selected them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested between $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been engaging with them since March 2015.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Their team is extremely efficient in taking the calls and routing them to the appropriate service line we offer. They’re able to ask the appropriate questions to get information.

How did Physicians Answering Service perform from a project management standpoint?

Two years ago, their facility burned down. I'm not sure if they were able to contact people in that instance, but I wish they would've notified us. We found out ourselves after the fact.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re pretty friendly, which is key to customer service. It works well when there is a phone call at 2 am with an upset patient.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Like I said, I would've liked them to have communicated to us about their facilities burning down directly. Other than that, they’re very on point. Everything else runs pretty well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re easy to work with. If you have any updates or changes, it just requires one email to the primary contact. They’re quick to respond to your needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager at Clackamas & Oregon Pediatrics, a primary care medical home facility.

What challenge were you trying to address with Physicians Answering Service?

We needed services for answering our patients after hours. We worked with another company previously, but we were looking for a change. So, we hired Physicians Answering Service.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Currently, we are only open up until a certain time at night. So, Physicians Answering Service takes over any parents that are calling in to receive any after-hour care services, for example, if their child is sick or if the pharmacy is calling in about a prescription.

Our calls get forwarded from our phone system to theirs. Physicians Answering Service also has access to our direct line, to which clients are able to call. The team customizes their greetings based on our account, which gives the clients peace of mind. 

The families give all of the information needed including what the problem is and who their primary care physician is. That information then gets forwarded to our provider who is designated to cover those phone calls during that timeframe. The service will then send it out through a secure, HIPAA-approved means of communication. 

What is the team composition?

They have a supervisor who is always on-site, and they also have staff who answer the phone. 

How did you come to work with Physicians Answering Service?

We reached out to Physicians Answering Service to see what they had to offer and if it would work better with our company. After meeting with the management team and the supervisors that they have, we found that their goals fit with what we were looking for, especially because they were so personable.

When they came to meet with us, they brought their management team, their supervisors, and the individuals who worked on the call schedule. It felt like they were going above and beyond to answer any questions we had, which made us feel important. We haven’t regretted our decision to switch over to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in the summer of 2013 and we’re still working for them.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They’re very attentive and willing to bend over backward to help fix whatever might be broken. Periodically, the application might delay sending out the calls, but it’s instructed to our families that if they don’t hear from our physicians within 20–30 minutes, they should reach out to the service again.

Physicians Answering Service is able to get back to our patients with 5–10 minutes of them initially placing the call. That’s something that we put into place with the team.

How did Physicians Answering Service perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great in terms of communication. Physicians Answering Service offers services if I’m delayed in getting something signed so that they can do their part. They always reach out to see if there’s anything they can do to help, responding quickly when I ask anything of them. This open communication has helped to build our relationship.

Additionally, they help us to onboard providers very quickly. The team is great to work with when we have any concerns about our statements or bills. They are always willing to work with us to address and issues, taking our feedback seriously.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very personable and willing to do whatever needed. They’ve even customized our on-call to make it feel like we’re in charge of our services. Physicians Answering Service does whatever it takes to help us do our work well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Sit with them before you start working with them and outline your goals. Work closely with Physicians Answering Service to achieve those goals, because they’re open to your ideas. Take the time to build the relationship, and don’t be afraid to ask for exactly what you want.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an administrator at a nonprofit organization. We work with youth from birth to 18 years of age, sometimes up to 20 years old in a variety of programs.

What challenge were you trying to address with Physicians Answering Service?

We needed help with our after-hours, crisis support, and shift coverage.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They serve as the mediator between a crisis that happens in one of our 24-hour programs and our staff. They'll route calls to our in-take staff that provide support in the needed areas. They're the bridge that lets us know when staff are needed at our after-hours program or after hours-intake as well.

What is the team composition?

I have contact with two members of their team.

How did you come to work with Physicians Answering Service?

They were hired before I started.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together 20 years ago, and our engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I've been really pleased with their services. They've been extremely responsive.  They're in constant communication with us throughout the month when changes happen. As for the after-hours phone service where they're triaging the phone calls and connecting with our staff, we haven't received any complaints and feel very satisfied with the services they've provided as well.

How did Physicians Answering Service perform from a project management standpoint?

Whenever we've requested shift coverage, they respond immediately. I've never had to wait longer than a minute for them to update our accounts. They're very easy to work with and are very friendly to our staff. I haven't had any complaints and they've communicated very effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've been very approachable and easy to communicate with. It's not easy to triage in crisis situations and they've been really good about maintaining professionalism while also connecting individually with that person.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be nice to standardize information in crisis situations and the information they gather and convey to our staff.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to reach out directly to them.  If there are certain goals that you have in mind, communicate that with them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

physician

For what projects/services did your company hire Physicians Answering Service?

answering service

What were your goals for this project?

reliability accuracy friendliness to patients and to my staff

How did you select this vendor?

previous use with last practice

Describe the project in detail.

They are my answering service

What was the team composition?

manager and many operators

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The secure startel texting is good platform.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Usually very reliable

What did you find most impressive about this company?

consistency

Are there any areas for improvement?

They don't always follow my "rules"--if I don't answer secure text back with "got it--thanks", they are to attempt again, call me, etc. This occasionally has not occurred. The startel sometimes doesn't work (poor wi-fi for instance), so f/u call important