My patient coordinator is in consultations all day. Who answers the phone?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
When a cosmetic practice's patient coordinator is in consultations all day, nobody answers the phone unless the practice plans for it. The person best placed to book a new patient is the one who cannot pick up. The fix is to separate the first answer from the coordinator's time: something answers, and she calls back those who need her.
Why does this happen in cosmetic practices?
It happens because the coordinator's job is two jobs. She sits with patients after they see the surgeon, going through dates and paperwork, and she is also the voice a new enquiry is supposed to reach. A consultation can run an hour. Every call in that hour goes to a front desk that cannot answer procedure questions, or to voicemail.
What should the first answer do?
The first answer does not need to know everything. It needs to do four things well, and then hand over cleanly. Anything beyond these can wait for the coordinator.
- Pick up quickly, at any hour, in the practice's name.
- Answer the simple questions: where you are, who the surgeons are, how a consultation works.
- Take the caller's name, number and what they are interested in.
- Offer a consultation time, or promise a call back and say when.
How do you protect the coordinator's time?
Give her a list instead of a ringing phone. At the end of each consultation she should see who called, what they asked and what was booked, in one place, and call back only the people who need her. A coordinator returning a handful of informed calls does more than one who was interrupted all afternoon.
How does Margin cover the phone for a busy coordinator?
Mia, Margin's AI receptionist, can answer only the calls your team misses, so the coordinator and front desk still pick up when they are free. She answers questions, books the consultation onto the portal calendar and tells the office. When a caller asks for a person, she tells the team and steps aside.
Everything she handled is in the portal: each call with its transcript, each text thread, and a short list of people waiting for a call back. What she says about price and clinical questions is gone through on the audit first.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Booking onto your calendar
- Your portal: every call, text and booking
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for cosmetic and elective medical practicesSee the portal with a sample businessThe Surgery Accelerator, for plastic surgeons
Related questions
Should the front desk or the patient coordinator answer new cosmetic enquiries?
Whoever can pick up fastest should answer first, and the patient coordinator should follow up. In a cosmetic practice the first answer needs to be quick and friendly, while the detailed conversation can be a booked call back.
Can a cosmetic practice hire a second patient coordinator instead?
Yes, and if consultations are full it may be the right move. A second coordinator still goes to lunch and goes home at five, so a cosmetic practice may need cover for those hours as well.
How quickly should a cosmetic practice call back a missed enquiry?
As soon as the coordinator is free, and ideally within the same hour. A patient who enquired with a cosmetic practice and waits until the next day has had an evening to contact someone else.