Phone Skills & Professionalism
This term describes the proper manners and professional behavior expected when answering a medical office telephone.
What is telephone etiquette?
Calls involving annual physicals, routine follow-ups, and rescheduling fall into this triage category.
What is routine?
The abbreviation NP represents this type of patient who has never been seen by the medical practice.
What is a new patient?
The abbreviation EP identifies a patient who has previously received care at the medical practice.
What is an established patient?
Correspondence involving patient care, medical research, and clinical matters belongs to this category.
What is professional correspondence?
Before making an outgoing patient call, a CMAA should know the purpose of the call and have this available for reference.
What is the patient's chart?
A patient experiencing a fever and burning urination would generally fall into this triage category.
What is urgent?
This scheduling method allows patients with similar chronic conditions to attend voluntary group visits.
What are shared medical appointments?
When a patient cancels an appointment, the CMAA should offer this option before ending the conversation.
What is rescheduling?
Letters involving insurance companies, attorneys, suppliers, and office operations are classified as this type of correspondence.
What is business correspondence?
Using this telephone feature could cause a HIPAA privacy concern if other individuals overhear confidential patient information.
What is speakerphone?
Chest pain with difficulty breathing and severe uncontrolled bleeding are examples of this category of medical situation.
What is an emergency?
Hospital rounds, surgeries, and meetings are examples of physician obligations that should be handled this way before scheduling patient appointments.
What is blocking off unavailable times?
When a patient misses an appointment without notifying the office, the incident should be documented in this location.
What is the patient's medical record?
Before discarding an envelope, a CMAA should perform this final check to prevent important documents or payments from being lost.
What is checking that the envelope is empty?
When the physician is unavailable, the CMAA should offer to take this rather than interrupting patient care unnecessarily.
What is a complete telephone message?
Determining whether a patient has a particular disease is outside a CMAA's responsibilities because it involves this clinical activity
What is diagnosing?
New patients are often asked to arrive early to complete these documents and verify insurance coverage.
What are registration forms?
When two patients share the same first and last name, this personal identifier helps the CMAA select the correct record.
What is the date of birth?
Incoming laboratory results and referral letters should be scanned and stored in this location.
What is the patient's medical record?
Sending a patient's medical records to an incorrect fax number could result in this type of incident.
What is a patient privacy breach?
When four telephone lines are ringing, the caller experiencing this symptom should receive immediate priority over callers requesting refills, physicals, or billing assistance.
What is difficulty breathing?
A CMAA scheduling a telehealth visit should confirm internet access, provide connection instructions, and send the patient this.
What is a telehealth appointment link?
This healthcare professional determines what action should be taken when a patient repeatedly misses scheduled appointments.
Who is the physician?
Processing incoming mail in this type of location helps reduce the impact of potential mail-related threats.
What is one central location?