Because of the sensitive information handled by a medical practice and the compliance requirements of HIPAA and HITECH, you have to be pretty picky when choosing new technologies for your office.
This obligation is especially true when dealing with communication methods, since you certainly don’t want to accidentally expose confidential patient data. As a result, many medical offices are slow to adopt new technology.
If your phone system could use an overhaul, however, it might be time to consider switching to a VoIP service instead. There are several benefits to choosing VoIP over other options, including some that are vitally important to running a secure medical practice.
Here are just a few of the benefits of VoIP to consider for your medical or healthcare practice:
- Reduced Costs
Phone service can be expensive, especially if you have to make a lot of long-distance calls or need add-on features such as caller ID or call forwarding. Given the number of features the typical business phone system uses, switching to a VoIP service will almost certainly save you money.
At Phone.com, we have an enormous selection of powerful and affordable VoIP features that are included at no additional charge in our business phone service.
- Easier Access
If you need to make changes to your account, make adjustments to your automated phone menu items or otherwise need access to your phone system, having to manage everything on a landline system can be a major pain. In some cases you might even have to call your phone company and have them do part of the work for you.
With VoIP service, the hassle disappears. Simply log in to your account and you’ll have instant access to everything your service has to offer. Make changes, update info and even turn some features on or off from your computer or mobile device.
- Instant Collaboration
If you need to collaborate with a colleague, having a traditional phone service isn’t going to help you much.
With a VoIP system, however, a wide range of options opens up to you. You can call, sure, but you can also try connecting through video conferencing. You can send a text or an audio message directly from your business line. You can even send a fax without having to mess with the fax machine. All at no additional cost.
- Critical Data Access
VoIP services are digital in nature, making data handling a breeze. You can more easily manage important information about patients, storing them within the contact details of your system’s address book.
Perhaps more importantly, all of that data is stored securely so you won’t have to worry about critical data accidentally being leaked through your phone system. The only people who will have access to your data is the people that you choose to give it to.
- HIPAA Compliance
Patient privacy is essential when dealing with any sort of new technology in your medical practice. This is especially important given the number of major data breaches that have occurred in recent years. Fortunately, this is another way that VoIP service can help your practice.
Choosing a VoIP service that is HIPAA-compliant ensures that patient privacy is given the care that it deserves, giving you a safe and secure communication channel that has both the features you want and the privacy you need. Not only will individual devices be safe and secure, but your entire phone system will be both HIPAA- and HITECH-compliant to keep you and your patients safe.
There are more reasons than these why VoIP might be right for your medical practice, of course. The real question is, do you need more reasons? Cost savings, more features and HIPAA-compliant data security make a pretty compelling argument. Look at your current phone system, then look at what VoIP has to offer… you just might find that it’s time to make an upgrade.
