Communication technology is evolving faster than our ability to keep up with it. We’re getting inundated by messages from everything from cell phones to faxes. Although your inclination may be to disregard the messages piling up on your desk each day, that won’t bode well for your practice. Once considered a matter of etiquette, communication management today determines how well you tap into critical business and clinical information.

This month, I’ll begin a series of articles with strategies to help you re-spond effectively to external communication and push your practice to peak operating efficiency. Let’s start with the telephone.

Research shows that more than 50% of calls aren’t returned. If your reason for not returning calls is because you’re "too busy," do you really think that you’re any busier than the person calling you?

If you don’t return calls to people you don’t know, have you considered that you might be ignoring a patient with a serious problem, or a physician phoning with critical information about a patient?

Ignoring calls won’t make them make go away, but it may motivate patients and referring doctors to seek another ophthalmologist — and managed care companies to seek another provider. Most managed care companies require their participating providers to respond promptly to patient calls.

Not responding to a patient calling you about a serious condition, such as a retinal detachment or endophthalmitis, could also be the basis for a lawsuit. Your compassionate, caring response to patients’ calls will not only limit your liability, it will make your patients happy, make them feel better, and encourage them to tell others about you.

Of course, you must be available in order to respond to phone calls. This means being available after hours as well as during the day.

For after hours calls, you should have a competent answering service and be available, ideally, via a pager. Answering machines aren’t satisfactory because it may take too long for you to get an important message.

To handle calls effectively during the workday, have your receptionist screen incoming calls to determine whether:

• it’s necessary for you to come to the phone right away
• you can return the call later (try to avoid interruptions while seeing patients)
• someone else in the office can handle the call.

When you must speak to a caller right away, instruct the receptionist to give you a clear message with the following information:

• the caller’s name and return phone number (in case you’re disconnected)
• the purpose of the call
• the patient’s chart, if the call is in reference to a patient.

The receptionist should tell the caller that providing this information will let the call be handled more efficiently.

If you can return the call later, give the caller a realistic time period to expect your call, such as between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., so the person doesn’t have to sit next to the phone all day. The idea here is to treat callers as you would like to be treated.

You should also develop a phone triage policy to help the receptionist determine if the caller really has to talk to you or if another member of the staff can handle the call. For example, you might indicate that requests for appointments be directed to the appointment secretary and questions regarding contact lens care be routed to the contact lens technician. On the other hand, you might speak to certain callers routinely, such as physicians, optometrists or your spouse.

If you won’t be available to return calls, have the receptionist let the caller know that another staff member will be returning the call.

Developing a policy for responding to phone calls is vital to the success of your practice. Referring doctors and patients may find it easier to call another ophthalmologist than to put up with a complicated phone routine, or to wait for you to return a call. Handle phone calls promptly and everybody benefits — your referral sources, your patients and you.

Next month we’ll discuss strategies for communicating effectively by e-mail.