6.0 of this article can be downloaded to your hard drive. Short circuit phone tag with patients Computer service can save time giving lab results by Neil Baum, MD Neil Baum, MD, is a physician in private practice in New Orleans. He writes a monthly column for American Medical News on topics of managed care, marketing and practice efficiency.
Telephone tag is expensive and a poor use of physician time.
You send a patient to the lab for a test. The patient is anxious about the results and calls your office before the results are available. However, each time the patient calls he or she is placed on hold while a nurse or staff member retrieves the chart, or spends time searching a pile of unfiled reports only to tell the patient to call back in a few days. Then the chart has to be returned to the filing cabinet. The other alternative is to have the appropriate staff member call the patient.