When running a modern practice, large or small, you need a HIPAA phone system that offers solutions to multiple pain points when it comes to managing communications both with patients and between staff members.
If you are a healthcare provider looking to modernize your practice in 2018 you know that a big part of office management is having a reliable phone system for your inner-office workings and outbound patient calling. Before implementing any type of cloud based solution there are seven key factors that you should consider to make sure you get the most out of a communication system.
HIPPA Compliance
Reviewing a technology platform’s privacy and security rules is often a good place to start when looking for a vendor. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act of 1996 obligates all healthcare providers to safeguard the privacy of personal health information (PHI) of their patients, therefore you should never go with a phone provider who does not offer a signed BAA upon start of service or in-depth review of encryption and security practices.
Sharing is Caring, and it Cuts Costs
Cloud communications can bring multiple sites and locations all under one administration roof. This will not only save money spent on individual phone lines, but it also lets all users dial any phone linked to your account as an in-network extension. This functionality should also offer basic functions like hold, transferring calls, and send to voicemail. RingRx offers network wide encryption to ensure that any device or phone being used cannot be tapped at any point on the IP network.
Pooling Personnel
If you work or run a larger healthcare organization, chances are one of your goals will be to reduce wait times when a patient calls. You may have multiple office managers and doctors wide-spread across multiple locations or have doctors on-call. With a system-wide calling queue, you can be sure that your call is routed to the right doctor or manager at the right time. Remote staff or a nurse on-call can use a personal device or smartphone to quickly answer calls and keep efficiency levels high. Make sure that the phone system you choose offers a powerful way to keep in touch with colleagues, staff, and patients with a simple interface and device freedom.
Make/Receive Calls with Caller ID from any Device and Location
When switching to a cloud-based provider, many doctors want to keep their current number and offer a toll free solution for their patients. RingRx allows you to spin up a new local number, keep your existing number, and easily add a toll-free number on a whim. Our smartphone app is built specifically for this purpose so any doctor or provider can access the phone system remotely, view caller ID information, and easily transfer calls to staff. When you need to make a work call, the outbound caller ID displays the office phone number.
See Who is On-Call to Route Calls Correctly
Scheduling is a huge part of running a medical practice. Any provider that claims to offer a solution specifically for healthcare should include a real-time on-call solution that makes routing calls to the correctly doctor easy and transparent. RingRx supports groups of any size and make managing after hour shifts simple and error-free. When the right staff is there to answer a practice can easily alleviate patient frustrations when there may be questions or necessary follow up.
Easily Retrieve Voicemail from any Location
Any cloud communication provider should offer HIPAA compliant voice recording as part of their services. These types of digital files contain identifiable health information and require encryption in transit and rest. With a HIPAA-certified cloud service, voicemails can be securely managed and shared among other members of your practice and accessible from your own smartphone device.
Web Based Faxing
Time to face the music. Fax is dead. It’s time to upgrade how you securely send messages through online faxing. Save money of printers, hardware maintenance, paper, and ink and do all your faxing through the Internet. A good VoIP provider should offer a secure, HIPAA compliant fax solution that can be used with multiple devices at any time and any location.
At the end of the day, it is important that healthcare organizations recognize that HIPAA compliance is only one small facet of an over-arching cloud phone system solution. When running a modern practice, large or small, you need a phone system that offers solutions to multiple pain points when it comes to managing communications both with patients and between staff members. Make sure to choose a provider that has built a HIPAA-first solution but offers a robust set of features that makes integration with your practice seamless and increases efficiency.
Why not give RingRx a try? We offer a signed BAA upon start of our service and a free, 30 day trial. Our solution is contract free and plans start as low as $15 per month.
