Hint Health New Practice Phone Setup

Opening a practice, answering a phone

Launching a direct care practice means signing a lease, setting up Hint, building a website, talking to employers and recruiting the first members, often with no staff hired yet. The phone starts ringing the day the website goes live, and every early caller is a potential founding member.

A founding physician cannot see patients, sign contracts and answer every prospect call at once. The prospect who reaches voicemail in launch month is the one most likely to sign elsewhere, because they have not yet met you.

The setup week

Typical setup is about one week from signup to launch. Linking MedReception AI to Hint usually takes one to three days. Registering your number for patient text messages takes about five days, and that registration is what sets the week.

During that week you will also record what Katie should say about the practice before it opens: the opening date, where the office is, whether you are taking founding members and how to join the waiting list if you keep one.

Starting before opening day means prospect calls are answered from the first ad, the first article in the local paper and the first employer meeting, rather than from the first scheduled visit.

What to have ready

You will give us the rules Katie follows. For a new practice the list is usually short:

• Membership tiers, what each includes and what costs extra
• Visit types and how long each one takes
• Each provider's Hint booking link, so Katie can book visits directly
• Who receives transferred calls, even if that is only you at first
• What should happen after hours
• Answers to the questions prospects ask most often

Growing into the rules

As you hire a medical assistant, add a nurse practitioner or sign an employer, the rules change with you. Transfers go to new people, new visit types are added, and employer callers get their own routing. MedReception AI is live with practices on Hint, and the way calls are answered can grow alongside your Hint setup without starting over.

Early on, a founding physician may want every clinical call transferred to them. Later, with staff in place, more of that can go to a nurse. The rules are meant to be revisited.

Founding members deserve a good first call

The first members of a new practice often come from word of mouth. Every one of them talks about the experience of joining, and that experience starts on the phone. An answered call, accurate details about membership and a clear next step are some of the best marketing a new practice has.

Katie gives no medical advice to prospects or members, and clinical questions from early callers are captured for you to answer personally.