Moonlighting: Medical Answering Service Positions

So, you've decided to take on a second job in order to pay off Christmas bills, save for vacation or get through the recession. What kind of job will allow you to keep your focus on your primary job (the one that pays the bills) and still earn on the side? Health care offers many opportunities for moonlighters, but there's few second jobs that beat working as an operator at a medical answering service. You may, in fact, be the answering service working for a doctor or a group of local doctors. Or you might be one of several people covering for all the doctors associated with one hospital, taking calls for a home health agency or taking orders for a medical supply firm. I've worked over a dozen second jobs and I can say without a doubt, this one is my favorite.

First, let me clear up some misconceptions. Answering services are distinguished from call center services in many ways, but the big one is that clients call you. They want to talk to you and they need help. Calls are almost local. In fact, I answered the phone many times to find a friend or a family member needing to speak to a doctor. You may work directly for doctor, but you'll more likely work for a small company. Hours can be flexible. The pay is little over minimum wage and, as a part-time employee, you'll receive no benefits. But, you'll seldom see your boss, the hours won't take up all of your free time and you can work it completely away from the limelight. No one has to know you're moonlighting.

When I worked for an answering service. I answered called from home health care patients in a ten-county area. I didn't make any medical judgments, unless the person calling was in a panic, reporterted a very high fever or lived way out in the sticks. At those times, I called 911 and then called the nurse to follow-up. Usually, I just connected the nurse to the patient and the nurse decided what was needed.

The benefits of this job?
It was 48 hours a month, done in two complete weekends. It made it easy to plan my social life and other phone workers would usually switch and watch out for each other if something conflicted with my primary job.

We took the phones home with us at the end of the day. We were paid a base rate for each night and that rate increased based on the calls received at 15 minute intervals. For example, we would get extra if we got one phone call every 15 minutes for an hour, etc. Not a lot of work usually, but the bonus could add up. In the case of bad weather or holidays, we were allowed to answer the phones at home. (The cell phones were the company's, so doing this job really required no expense on my part.)

This is not a contract position. Even though it's part-time and rather autonomous, you're still considered an employee. That means that the company helps pays your taxes, pays social security taxes and covers you with worker's compensation insurance. As a side benefit, I received lots of free 'should I go to the doctor or just ride it out" advice from nurse friends. Many were also appreciative of the work I did. For the company I worked for, the dress code was very casual as you rarely saw any customers or supervisors.

The bad parts about this job?
Part-time employees receive no benefits whatsoever, other than the tax benefits. (Of course, that's going to be the case with any moonlighting position.) You were not allowed to participate in the 401(k) plan and you won't qualify for any tuition reimbursements or Christmas bonuses.

Keeping good logs are paramount. If you can't keep good records and keep them quickly, don't even try this job. A nurse was once fired because she failed to respond to a non-emergency call in the appropriate amount of time. I gave her several calls before calling 911. My logs were meticulous, so I could support my work when the nurse tried to blame it on me.

It's 24-hours-a-day. This isn't the case with many answering service positions, but it was for this particular job and is for many companies. The dedicated weekend gave me more free time during the rest of the month. Is free. Most of the time, this wasn't a problem. A few Sunday nights, though, the calls wouldn't stop. This led to a rather blurry Monday morning

Finding these jobs
First, check the phone book and even employment agencies for leads. Better yet, ask your doctor and any nurses you know. I found mine through a nurse who ironically moonlit at my primary job.