Category Archives: Industry News

News for the healthcare contact center industry

Industry News

1Call to Exhibit at 2022 HIMSS Conference

1Call, a division of Amtelco that specializes in offering enterprise-wide communication solutions for healthcare organizations, will be an exhibitor again at the 2022 HIMSS conference, taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL on March 14-18, 2022.

1Call can be found at booth 3541 where visitors will be shown demonstrations of their products including the HIPAA-compliant miSecureMessages secure messaging app and care team collaboration miTeamWeb app.

This year, 1Call is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary and invites attendees to join them in their booth on Wednesday, March 16 from 4:00–5:30 pm for food and drinks during a 1Call Happy Hour in honor of their twenty-five years.

HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) is a global advisor, thought leader, and member-based society committed to reforming the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology. Their annual conference brings together health IT professionals, clinicians, executives, and vendors from around the world. HIMSS membership includes more than 110,000 individuals, 480 provider organizations, 470 non-profit partners, and 650 health services organizations.

Follow 1Call during HIMSS22 using the hashtags #How1CallHelps and #Why1CallHelps. For more information on 1Call Seminars, contact 1Call at 800-225-6035 or info@1call.com.

1Call, a division of Amtelco

The 1Call Division of Amtelco is a leader in developing software solutions and applications designed for the specific needs of the healthcare call center marketplace. 1Call features a complete line of modular solutions specifically designed to streamline enterprise-wide communications, save an organization’s limited resources, and make them tremendously efficient, helping them bring wellness to their members and their bottom line.

Industry News

1Call Celebrates 25 Years of Healthcare Communications

1Call, a division of Amtelco, announced they are celebrating their 25-year anniversary and continued growth of the software solutions and applications they create for the healthcare contact center marketplace.

Amtelco, 1Call’s parent company, has been a leading provider of communication applications since 1976. Amtelco was supplying innovative communication solutions for more than twenty years to all types of industries, including healthcare, when leaders recognized an opportunity to focus on the unique communication needs in healthcare facilities. The 1Call Division was created in 1997 to help streamline communications.

1Call’s complete line of modular solutions are specifically designed for hospitals and clinics to help unify enterprise-wide communications, save an organization’s limited resources, and improve efficiencies, all with the goal of bringing wellness patients.

“Reliable healthcare communication is crucial,” said Tom Curtin, CEO of 1Call. “We are honored that our hospital customers have trusted us for twenty-five years with their call center software needs. We have a responsibility to help our customers support the communities they serve, especially during the pandemic.

“Scripted workflows have been incredibly useful right now because information surrounding COVID-19 is always changing. Our intelligent messaging scripts are easy to edit to guide agents through each call with up-to-date information. Web-based communication options continue to be a popular option for remote operators. Our web agent enables customers with running their call centers in a virtual server environment or in the cloud.”

1Call, a division of Amtelco

Over the past twenty-five years, 1Call has been successful at leveraging technology to meet and exceed the needs of their customers and outperform other industry business platforms to position itself in the most competitive way possible.

Industry News

Amtelco Announces Server Version 6.8 for miSecureMessages Secure Messaging App

Amtelco and their 1Call healthcare division announced the release of new server version 6.8 for their secure messaging app, miSecureMessages. This new server release contains many new features such as:

  • High Availability Configuration: Allows miSecureMessages configuration for multiple servers, with automated failover from one server to another if the primary server goes down. This feature provides continuous uptime during server upgrades and maintenance and prevents downtime due to a single server failure.
  • Phone Number Masking: Phone calls placed from the miSecureMessages app displays the organization’s phone number instead of the device’s phone number. (Additional software required.)
  • Shared Device Licenses: Allows devices to be registered for use by multiple miSecureMessages users, enabling organizations to provide their employees with a pool of devices to use at work and keep personal devices off the network.
  • Single Sign-On (SSO) Identity Provider: Keeps track of passwords and performs authentication.
  • Dark Mode (for iOS): The app will switch to dark mode when used on a device that is set to the “dark” appearance in the iOS settings. In dark mode, most screens display as white text on a dark background, instead of black text on a light background. 

“We are excited to release this highly anticipated version of miSecureMessages,” said Tom Curtin, CEO of Amtelco and 1Call. “I would like to specifically thank our group of customers who enthusiastically volunteered their time to test the app update to ensure it would meet the needs of all of our customers. Maintaining personal space while communicating with co-workers is critically important during the pandemic. We are proud to play a small part in protecting employees and their customers, as well as medical staff and their patients.”  

Originally created for the healthcare industry, HIPAA and HITECH-compliant miSecureMessages work for any business that needs to communicate securely. In healthcare, the app helps to unify hospital and clinical communications, and streamline care team coordination by enabling staff to easily share texts, photos, audio files, and videos for secure, accurate communication while protecting electronic patient health information (ePHI). The app also integrates with existing hospital alert software to help reduce notification time when an emergency code occurs. 

MiSecureMessages can improve communication within any hospital department. The app seamlessly integrates with nurse call systems and other alert software to expedite emergency code notifications. Healthcare call center operators use miSecureMessages to quickly contact on-call staff. Hospital maintenance crews can take a photo or video of a building issue and collaborate to address it, and housekeeping uses it for bed management to quickly inform intake that a bed is ready for a new patient, which improves their bed turnover rate. Lab personal and radiologists use miSecureMessages to promptly communicate critical results.

Industry News

1Call Announces Intelligent Series 5.5 Release

1Call, a division of Amtelco

1Call, a division of Amtelco and a leader in developing software solutions and applications for the healthcare communications and call center marketplace, announced the release of version 5.5 for their Intelligent Series (IS) suite of call center applications.

New features include:

  • Single Sign-On: The single sign-on saves time by providing single sign-on authentication with security assertion markup language or active directory federation services. This feature keeps track of passwords and performs authentication.
  • Conference Bridge: Conveniently provides concurrent multi-party conferences. Moderators have improved control over conferences and can leverage the ANI (automatic number identification) display, manage the total number of participants for each bridge, mute an individual attendee or the entire conference, disconnect individual participants from a conference, and add customizable notes about participants or the conference.
  • Script Event Tracker: The script event tracker gives supervisors detailed information about each step that a script performs, including what happened with and without agent involvement. This provides valuable information about call handling, making it an extremely useful tool for evaluating the efficiency of hospital call center scripts and investigating what happened on a particular call.
  • Artificial Intelligence: Enhances the patient caller’s experience by utilizing machine learning to determine the optimal way to route calls based on prior call history. It uses data about which agents have previously worked with the caller and any dispatches that an agent has started to help determine the best agent for the call. This use of artificial intelligence saves time for both callers and operators to provide a better patient experience.
  • Speech Analytics: Provides a deeper analysis of call logs, including a transcript of the call and describing the overall tone of the caller. This is an important feature for all hospital departments.

“The new features that our 5.5 update provides are not only important to an organization’s many unique call centers, but they also impact more immediate care team communications and patient satisfaction enterprise wide,” said Tom Curtin, CEO of Amtelco and 1Call. “These updates have been designed to be a time-saver for staff and help provide better service to patients.”

Industry News

1Call & Vocera Enhance Care Team Collaboration; Improve Patient Experience

1Call, a division of Amtelco

1Call, a division of Amtelco, now integrates with clinical communication and workflow solutions from Vocera Communications, Inc. Interoperability between 1Call and Vocera solutions, including smartphone applications, hands-free communication devices, and intelligent middleware, ensures that crucial messages are distributed with contextual information to the correct care team members on their device of choice.

“Every healthcare organization strives to provide the best care for patients,” said Tom Curtin, president of Amtelco and 1Call. “Whether it’s a phone call to a clinic or during a patient’s hospital stay, each patient expects to receive fast and accurate answers, along with timely and proper care. The 1Call and Vocera collaboration provides mutual customers with a best-in-industry interface designed to provide better outcomes for patients.”

The interoperability of the 1Call and Vocera solutions eliminates manual data entry and helps eliminate errors in contacting the wrong personnel. In addition, 1Call and Vocera solutions help speed up response times by ensuring an entire healthcare facility has instant access to current information while also safeguarding data.

When used in conjunction with 1Call, users of Vocera solutions can:

  • Access on-call schedules, status, and messages to easily view, edit, and create on-call schedules through 1Call’s miTeamWeb app.
  • Use 1Call’s scripting module in hospital contact centers to guide agents through each call, including code calls, with ease.
  • Access real-time medical staff status and on-call schedules so the correct team members are contacted when personnel receive a message or notification about a patient.
  • Access patient data, securely, so care teams can view recent labs, diagnosis information, and help streamline the process of handling critical events.
  • Track everything that happens on calls, changes to on-call schedules, status updates, and more to generate various reports that help organizations monitor and optimize performance, easily spot trends, and focus on areas that need attention. 

“The integration between the Vocera and 1Call systems makes it easy for clinicians to contact the right team members and securely communicate about patients,” said Brent Lang, chairman and CEO of Vocera. “We look forward to seeing the positive impact of this collaboration and how this integration simplifies workflows and eases the cognitive burden for care teams.”

1Call, a division of Amtelco

The 1Call division of Amtelco is a leader in developing software solutions and applications created for the specific needs of the healthcare call center marketplace. 1Call features a complete line of modular solutions specifically designed to streamline enterprise-wide communications, save an organization’s limited resources, improve efficiency, and help bring wellness to their patients.

The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to improve the lives of healthcare professionals, patients, and families. Founded in 2000, Vocera provides clinical communication and workflow solutions that help protect and connect team members, increase operational efficiency, enhance quality of care and safety, and humanize the healthcare experience.

Industry News

Amtelco Solution Helps Customers Transform Agent Experience

1Call, a division of Amtelco

Amtelco announced that their Genesis Intelligent Series application version 5.4 is compliant with Avaya OneCloud™ Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions, helping customers enhance call processing to prioritize critical calls and improve call routing and management. Avaya is a global leader in solutions that enhance and simplify communications and collaboration.

Amtelco’s solution is an all-inclusive healthcare call center software suite featuring multi-channel integrations with built-in speech recognition, text to speech, and voice services. The software helps customers track metrics with customizable reporting, enhance accountability with call logging and video screen capture, connect remote agents, and manage on-call scheduling. Customers can also run it in a virtual server environment or in the cloud. The application is now compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with Avaya Aura® Session Manager 8.1 and Avaya Aura Communication Manager 8.1 via SIP trunk.

“We are excited that our latest application release has successfully completed Avaya DevConnect compliance testing,” said Tom Curtin, Amtelco president. “Our mutual customers can confidently deploy it with the Avaya Aura 8.1 platform, helping them get more out of their communications infrastructure.”  

Amtelco is a Technology Partner in the Avaya DevConnect program—an initiative to develop, market, and sell innovative third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology. As a Technology Partner, Amtelco can submit products to Avaya for compliance testing, where a team of DevConnect engineers develops a comprehensive test plan for each application to verify its Avaya compatibility. This enables customers to confidently add best-in-class capabilities to their network without having to replace their existing infrastructure, helping speed deployment of new applications and reduce both network complexity and implementation costs.

1Call, a division of Amtelco

Learn more about how Amtelco is part of Avaya’s DevConnect program and Avaya’s other partner programs. The 1Call Division of Amtelco is a leader in developing software solutions and applications designed for the specific needs of the healthcare call center marketplace. 

Industry News

TriageLogic Ebook Details Changes in Patient Behavior During COVID-19 Pandemic

TriageLogic

TriageLogic® released a study they conducted of their telephone nurse triage system during the COVID-19 pandemic that analyzes caller data, protocols used, and general changes in patient behavior to shed light on the efficacy of remote care in the modern medical age.

COVID-19 altered many patients’ perceptions of healthcare. So much of the population was afraid of contracting the virus, and this fear was exacerbated by the potential risk of exposure in a hospital setting. As a result, telephone nurse triage took on a critical role, not only helping patients determine the circumstances under which they should seek emergency treatment, but also slowing the spread of the infection. 

TriageLogic already had experience providing homecare advice to patients, scheduling telehealth appointments, and directing emergency cases to the appropriate providers, and these only became more important during the pandemic. To evaluate how those patients’ needs changed, the company reviewed patient demographics, medical conditions, and outcomes reported through their nurse triage call center from January to October of 2020. The resulting data is published in their ebook 2020 Telehealth in Review: Symptoms, Outcomes and COVID.

It supports the assertion that nurse triage and remote care are essential advisors when it comes to directing patients to emergency services or safe and accessible alternatives. Key findings from the study include:

  • Women called two to three times more frequently than men, possibly due to OB/GYN patients. 
  • Gender ratios were roughly the same for pediatric patients.
  • More than one-in-four adults who called the nurse triage service required urgent medical attention, yet 86 percent of patients indicated they were not originally planning to go to the ER.
  • Women ages 18–45 tended to have more serious symptoms than other adult patients and were 1.5 times as likely to need urgent care than men their age. 
  • Women were also more likely to underestimate the severity of their symptoms compared to all other patient groups. 
  • Triage protocols determined that 30 percent of patients who were planning to go to the ER did not actually need urgent care, prompting nurses to advise them on alternative nonemergency options. 
  • Patients tended to underestimate symptoms that were signs of a serious medical condition, including abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, chest pain, high blood pressure, and COVID diagnosis or exposure.
  • Patients were more likely to delay seeking care during the pandemic when compared with data collected prior to COVID.
  • Telephone nurse triage has provided a safe and effective way to advise patients on the appropriate levels of care, saving lives and reducing burdens on healthcare systems during the COVID pandemic.

This data has been made available to the medical community at large to provide a transparent understanding of patient conduct and needs as the healthcare industry continues to evolve. 

TriageLogic

TriageLogic is a URAC-accredited, physician-led provider of top-quality nurse telehealth technology, remote patient monitoring, and medical call center solutions, all for the purpose of encouraging positive patient behavior and improving access to healthcare. Founded in 2007, the TriageLogic Group now serves more than 9,000 physicians and covers over 20 million lives nationwide. They continue to partner with private practices, hospitals, and corporations throughout the United States. Email them at info@triagelogic.com.

Industry News

Customer Service Book Released

Peter Lyle DeHaan Publishes New Book: Sticky Customer Service

Peter Lyle DeHaan released his latest book, Sticky Customer Service: Stop Churning Customers and Start Growing Your Business, on June 17. Sticky Customer Service addresses all aspects of customer service, with the telephone taking center stage.

Sticky Customer Service: Stop Churning Customers and Start Growing Your Business

“Customer service is part of every business, including healthcare,” DeHaan says. “Practitioners and leaders in the medical field can take these general business principles and readily apply them to patient interactions, informing day-to-day actions to lead to better outcomes and higher patient retention.”

In Sticky Customer Service, you’ll discover:

  • The three key areas where customer service occurs and why they must work together.
  • How to avoid common errors that too many businesses make.
  • Why delighting customers is not the best approach and sets up future failure.

“Customer service isn’t a once-and-done effort,” DeHaan states. “It takes ongoing work to truly meet your customers’ expectations.” In Sticky Customer Service, unearth practical, action-oriented insights to help turn customer service from an embarrassing weakness into a business strength.

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan

Sticky Customer Service is book one in the Sticky series. Future titles include Sticky Leadership, Sticky Sales and Marketing, and Sticky Living.

Sticky Customer Service is available now in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Industry News

1Call Announces that Amtelco Wins Top Workplaces 2021 Award

1Call, a division of Amtelco

1Call, a division of Amtelco, announced that Amtelco received a Top Workplaces 2021 honor by Wisconsin State Journal Top Workplaces. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage LLC. The anonymous survey measures fifteen culture drivers critical to the success of any organization, including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few. 

“During this very challenging time, Top Workplaces has proven to be a beacon of light for organizations, as well as a sign of resiliency and strong business performance,” said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. “When you give your employees a voice, you come together to navigate challenges and shape your path forward. Top Workplaces draw on real-time insights into what works best for their organization, so they can make informed decisions that have a positive impact on their people and their business.”

Amtelco president Tom Curtin continues to be proud of the entire Amtelco employee team. “While 2020 proved to be very different from any other time in recent history,” Curtin said, “the Amtelco team stepped up and customer support became the top priority for every one of us. Our customers provide essential call center services to their communities, so we reached out to them to find out how we could help. Since our beginning in 1976, many challenges have arisen, and each time the Amtelco team prevailed, as we did once again in 2020.”

Industry News

1Call Announced Amtelco’s U.S. Patent for Auditing Communication Sessions

1Call, a division of Amtelco

1Call, a division of Amtelco, announced that Amtelco received a U.S. patent for “Auditing Communication Sessions.” Existing call center systems only allow rudimentary forms of call auditing, limited to a single method (such as listening to the communication session in mute-mode). If the communication occurs via text message, web chat, or electronic mail, call center managers can’t appraise the interaction. 

“The ability to audit different types of communication sessions helps to ensure that a patient’s experience with the hospital call center is satisfactory,” said Amtelco and 1Call president Tom Curtin. “A good patient experience is critical for both patients and a healthcare organization.”

Amtelco’s improved auditing enables hospital call center supervisors to assess communications from different platforms to help ensure a satisfactory patient experience. The healthcare industry asks patients to provide information about their care experience with a hospital via the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. Unacceptable survey outcomes can result in hospitals losing some reimbursements.