Anyone who has experienced parenthood, let alone a medical residency, knows what it’s like to be never quite “off”. When someone could need you instantly, your senses are alert so you can quickly arrive to help. When your practice has a software, IT, or business emergency, don’t you want the same devoted support? Here’s all the ways PCC’s support works for pediatricians, including insight from PCCer and former support team member Jason DaSilva and a reflection from a surprised PCC client.
During an emergency, PCC is there to help, no matter the time. Jason DaSilva explains, “Emergency support is 24/7, and we stand by that -- call us anytime. I’ve gotten calls at midnight before from West Coast clients. It’s a guaranteed 1 hour response time, so even if we can’t answer your call, you’ll hear from us within 1 hour. Don’t be afraid to leave a voicemail -- we’ll all get a notification and we’ll be there for you.”
A meta analysis of studies from the National Institute of Health showed that on-call professions such as healthcare can affect mental health, stress, sleep, and personal safety. Even if your days of “official” on-call duties are behind you, circumstances could leave you bearing the burden of any sudden emergency, whether it’s the departure of an employee, a natural disaster, or a business situation that requires much-needed funds.
That’s why it’s vital to have the software support you need when you’ll most need it -- the last thing you need is a system with tools you don’t understand or with hidden functionalities that could be useful to you. So what does PCC’s on-call support structure look like, and why is it so helpful for pediatricians? Let’s look at how PCC’s Support Team helps practices run smoothly.
Contacting Support
Support at PCC can be reached by phone, email, or fax, but physicians also hear from PCC on a regularly scheduled call with their Client Advocate, whose job it is to determine everything in the EHR is working the way it should and whether anything can be further customized or changed to fit your unique practice. From pediatric practice management to EHR tools, the Client Advocates work in tandem with Support to get you the answers you need.
What kinds of things can the Technical Support Team help with? PCCer Jason daSilva said that they can often help clients avoid trouble down the line with a quick call: “One big thing is when people buy new hardware, we’d rather have them call us first and make sure it’s right for them, that we support it well -- that includes printers or a computer. They can email us the link or call. We’re happy to talk, we love hearing from people.”
PCC support is available 24/7/365 — in addition to comprehensive support during normal business hours, emergency after-hours support is available from 8pm to 8:30am on weekdays and all day weekends and holidays. Emergency support is available for mission-critical problems with your PCC software or network that are disrupting your practice's ability to provide patient care.
After the Call
After PCC clients call support or open a ticket, the support team makes a point to address the question as soon as possible. Most of our tickets are resolved within 24 hours, but even for more complex incidents, your office will hear from a support tech or your Client Advocate to check in and let you know the status of the situation via email.
Once you hear from Support, if they haven’t already solved the issue, they’ll walk you through the best options to fix the problem. For ongoing problems or emergencies, PCC’s support is committed to addressing each new phase -- even if it’s not strictly a software iussue.
Dr. Christoph Diasio, Sandhills Pediatrics, NC on PCC's support:
“About five years ago, North Carolina Medicaid completely switched their computer systems, and none of our claims would pay, and it was a complete black box where we couldn’t understand what was going on, nobody would talk to us because basically nobody’s claims were getting paid. I’m getting emails from PCC Support staff at 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock at night, ‘How about if we try this tomorrow?’ That’s not normal! No normal software company does stuff like that!”
More than Software Support: Training, Development, & Emergency Assistance
PCC support isn’t just for rainy days when you need a quick solution to a frustrating problem. Our support team gets to know your practice personally, and when clients need in-depth help, they even fly out to offices to give on the ground support. Client Advocates can help you with training and using new tools during your scheduled calls so that together, your practice and PCC’s support team can create adaptable, proactive solutions to your practice’s needs.
During an emergency, PCC is there to help, no matter the time. Jason explains, “Emergency support is 24/7, and we stand by that, call us anytime. I’ve gotten calls at midnight before from West Coast clients. It’s a guaranteed 1 hour response time, so even if we can’t answer your call, you’ll hear from us within 1 hour. Don’t be afraid to leave a voicemail -- we’ll all get a notification and we’ll be there for you.”
“As someone who’s worked in support at another company, I’ve never built the type of relationships with clients that I’ve built at PCC.” -- Jason DaSilva
While our award-winning software support team is always there to help, they’re not the only people at PCC ready to step in when you need a hand. From our coding expert Jan Blanchard to our Director of Pediatric Solutions Chip Hart and the knowledgeable team that creates the free video training and educational content on PCC Learn, PCC is ready to help you make the most not only of our EHR software, but to make your coding, billing, and pediatric business management efficient, up to date, and ready to grow. Jason sums up PCC’s dedication to physicians like this:
“Any support person [from PCC], we all have people we get to know over time, and we’ll ask about how they’re doing, and we care about them, it really does feel like a family. They ask about us and stay in touch. We build up a rapport with each other and help them out. People will ask for us by name, and that’s the nature of PCC as a company. It’s a great feeling when people ask for you and go out of their way.”
Our Support staff that are knowledgeable, compassionate, and dedicated to removing obstacles that prevent pediatricians from practicing medicine. Even more special is that some of them have years of experience working in healthcare, and bring that knowledge to help our practices grow! PCC's Lynne Gratton, CCPM, shares in her webinar how her front-line experience with pediatric practices’ front end has helped her to understand “Why Your Front Desk Has the Most Important Job in Your Practice”! Learn more by watching the webinar below.
