Spotlight on: 1Call, a Division of Amtelco

Providing the one complete communications system designed to bring it all together

The 1Call division of Amtelco, formed in 1997, is dedicated to serving the unique call center and communication needs of healthcare and higher education organizations.  1Call focuses on developing, implementing, and maintaining features and technology designed to improve communications, contain costs, and help keep organizations prepared. 

Exceeding Customers' Needs: Every patient deserves the best care possible.  1Call helps healthcare organizations meet patients' needs by continually developing new ways to streamline communications.  1Call's goal is to provide healthcare organizations with the tools to efficiently handle callers' requests with a single phone call, thus saving time, eliminating confusion, and providing patients with the best service possible.

By continuing to meet and exceed customers' needs, the list of 1Call customers continues to grow.  1Call has systems in over 200 hospitals, medical centers, and universities, both large and small.  A few of the current 1Call customers include Allina Health System, Anmed Health Medical Center, Bassett Healthcare, Bethesda Healthcare, Billings Clinic, Fairview Health System, Hennepin County Medical Center, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Sherman Hospital, St.  Francis Hospital, University of Augusta Health Care System, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and University of Washington Medical Center.

Innovation in Action: 1Call utilizes high-performance, open-architecture hardware and software to offer robust systems that provide enterprise-wide communications.  Frequent software releases give customers access to the newest features and technology.

The 1Call systems furnish seamless integrations with existing legacy IT and PBX networks to save costs and bring information together in a single location.  In addition, the 1Call systems use Amtelco's own XDS boards for telephony integration, offering the advantage of readily available off-the-shelf technology, while also simplifying service issues.  To meet their specific needs, each 1Call customer can design a custom system to streamline communications by simply selecting the modules needed. 

The 1Call Modules Include:

• Call Center Systems: The powerful PC-based Infinity system is used by hundreds of hospitals and healthcare organizations.  Infinity can be used in small or large organizations with as few as three agent/operator stations or as many as 200.

• PC-Based ACD Agent/Operator Stations: Infinity agent/operator stations allow users to make the most of triage, scheduling, physician referral, appointment taking, and other IS programs by adding essential functionality, including ACD call routing, call recording, statistics and reporting, desktop access to all IS modules, screen-based speed dialing, on-call schedules, and Web-based directories.

• Flexible Call Scripting: Script calls for operators for any application, including patient-to-physician referral, physician-to-physician referral, appointment taking, and class registration.

• On-Call Scheduling: Lets physicians and staff members enter their own on-call schedules.  The automated schedules ensure that the information operators see is always current.

• Pro Show Appointment Reminders: Be proactive; automate appointment reminders for patients to help keep physicians' schedules full.  Send reminders via e-mail, cell phones, PDAs, text-to-speech phone calls, or IVR. 

• "Just Say It" Speech Recognition: Give internal and external callers an easy way to reach the correct person or department when they "just say it."

• IVR: Automate routine phone calls, such as appointment taking, appointment reminders, class registration, help desk, and physician referral.

• Call Conferencing: Create multi-party conferences easily, with or without operator assistance.

• Voice Logger: Automatically record all incoming and outgoing calls, capturing the data needed to ensure accuracy. 

• Browser-Based Applications: Provide convenient access to on-call schedules, directories, patient census, and paging.

Speeding Response Times: In addition to these comprehensive modules, 1Call has also developed a unique notification system.  When every second counts, organizations need to respond quickly.  1Call's Red Alert emergency and event notification system has proven to help organizations get their personnel to the right place at the right time.  Red Alert issues automated alerts by phone, mobile phone, SMS, e-mail, pager, or other methods, ensuring that responders quickly receive alerts.  Red Alert is ideal for use in every department for handling code calls, staff shortages, meeting reminders, contingency planning (JCAHO), emergencies (HICS), network outages, scheduled (and unscheduled) events, and weather emergencies. 

Featuring 5-Star Service and Support: 1Call works closely with each organization and has a reputation for complete, professional system support, offering training, installation, and technical support staff on-call on a 24-hour basis.  1Call's 5-Star service and support is more than just a slogan; it's included with every 1Call system:

• An Informed Customer Care Group: Project managers and the innovation development team work with customers before, during, and long after installation.

• Experienced Trainers and Installers: Receive detailed training and a smooth installation to help streamline communications.  Continuing education opportunities ensure customers are able to utilize the newest features.

• Knowledgeable Field Engineers: Call or send an e-mail, and field engineering specialists will assist with all technical questions.

• On-Line Resource Library and Tech Helper: Available 24/7 for instant answers any time of the day or night.

• The Largest Healthcare Call Center User's Group: The NAEO (National Amtelco Equipment Owners) group gives valuable support and a creative community for sharing ideas.

Early History: 1Call has a strong history in the telemessaging industry.  Amtelco, the parent company of 1Call, was founded in 1976 to provide computer-based telemessaging equipment to the answering service industry.  Amtelco's history actually begins in 1947, when founder Bill Curtin and his wife, Eleanor, opened TAS of Madison.  They started with 13 accounts, which in 1947 meant 13 phones on a desk, with no easy way to identify which phone was ringing. 

Being a creative type, Bill sought a way to identify which account was ringing and reduce the number of costly phone lines needed.  The result was Telesignal, the first concentrator/identifier, invented in 1951.  In 1954, Bill Curtin received a U.S. patent for Telesignal.  This was the first of 27 patents credited to the innovation of Bill Curtin and Amtelco.  After struggling with various legal obstacles that took many years to overcome, Bill Curtin marketed his inventions to others in the TAS industry in 1976, leading to the formation of Amtelco. 

Amtelco Today: Under the leadership of Chairwoman of the Board Eleanor Curtin, and President Tom Curtin, Amtelco currently employs over 150 personnel in hardware engineering, software engineering, customer care, field engineering, manufacturing, and administrative staff, located at Amtelco's main office in Wisconsin.

Amtelco also has twelve sales offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, including six 1Call sales offices.  In addition to the healthcare and higher education industries served by 1Call, the Amtelco TAS group handles the TAS industry, and the Amtelco XDS group provides computer telephony boards to developers around the world. 

A Bright Future: 1Call is dedicated to continuing to provide healthcare and higher education organizations with the modules and features needed to offer more services while containing costs.  By working closely with customers, 1Call will continue to develop innovative features and products. 

For more information, call 800-356-9148, email to info@1call.com, or visit www.1call.com. 

Highlights

1954: Bill Curtin, Amtelco's founder, receives a US patent on Telesignal, the first concentrator/identifier. 

1976: Amtelco is founded to develop, install, and service products in the commercial telephone answering service market.

1977: Amtelco installs its first computer telephony integration (CTI) system, named Video III.

1983: Amtelco develops EVE (Electronic Video Exchange), the first paperless CTI product.

1988: PC-MX, Amtelco's first-generation PC-based CTI product, is introduced.  PC-MX is a patented product that featured paperless messaging and voice processing features.

1993: The Infinity system is introduced.  Infinity is the third-generation, PC-based CTI product.  Evolving from the PC-MX system, the open architecture Infinity system allows users to take advantage of updated off-the-shelf PC technology.

1997: Amtelco launches 1Call Division to develop products and service healthcare and higher education markets.

1998: 1Call develops over 150 new features on the Infinity platform. 

1999: Infinity software version 5 is introduced, allowing Infinity systems to use a single chassis or expand to as many as five chassis.

2000: The eCreator system is introduced, using scripts to simplify complex calls for appointment taking, class registration, and physician referral.  Infinity software version 5.1 and Voice Logger are introduced.

2001: 1Call offers eLink hosted services, and Infinity introduces eResponse, giving organizations an easy way to respond to email messages.

2002: eCreator software version 2.0 is introduced, including IVR and appointment reminders.  Infinity adds conference bridge call conferencing.

2003: 1Call introduces Red Alert emergency notification, "Just Say It" speech recognition, and Infinity software version 5.2.

2004: Infinity IS (Intelligent Series) is introduced with Infinity software version 5.3.  Infinity IS features innovative enhancements for messaging, on-call scheduling, directories, and dispatching.  The resource library is also introduced, which allows customers to share Infinity, eCreator, and IVR scripts.

 2006: Infinity software version 5.4 is released with Infinity IS enhancements.  Red Alert adds mapping capabilities, making it easy to trigger alerts for specific areas. 

2007: 1Call introduces discovery forums, which are led by customers and give participants another way to network and share ideas.

2008: 1Call introduces Infinity software version 5.5 with Infinity IS enhancements, the Infinity IS Soft Agent, and receives a patent for "A System and Method for Intelligent Script Swapping."

1954 to 2008 50+ years of innovation lead to 27 patents and 23 awards for Bill Curtin and Amtelco.

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