Volume 11, Issue #06: June 2020
IN THE NEWS
The Future of Healthcare is Here with Help from Telehealth and Hospital Call Centers
Those of us in the healthcare communication field already know the value of telehealth and virtual care. As the COVID-19 pandemic evolved, telemedicine gained worldwide recognition as a critical healthcare tool to keep both patients and medical staff safe.
Telehealth has predominantly been used to bring healthcare to rural areas or isolated populations, such as overseas military personnel and those who work in the maritime industry. Until recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) placed certain stipulations on telehealth providers and would only reimburse for services provided in rural areas with specific audio-visual equipment.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 6, 2020 CMS relaxed restrictions and removed many of the conditions clinicians had to adhere to in order to provide telehealth services to patients residing across the entire United States. Later, CMS expanded its telehealth adoption to include 85 new telehealth services to their covered list and set provider reimbursement rates for telehealth visits to be the same as in-person services.
Click for more information.
Field Service Contact Information
Please note that field service now has a secondary phone number in the event that you are unable to reach us using the primary number.
Field Service Phone Numbers: 800.553.7679 or 608.838.2801
You will need your 5-digit support code to speak with a technician. Each call into Field Service is entered into a HelpDesk Ticket. If you would like to receive any of your previous HelpDesk Tickets via e-mail, please ask your Technician for your case number during each call. This will ensure the correct case can be easily located and sent to you upon request.
Field Engineering Fax Number: 800.356.6642
Field Engineering E-mail Address: service@amtelco.com
Field Service Emergency Line:
In the event of an EMERGENCY and you are not able to get through on the Service and Sales numbers,
please call 608.276.4196.
Software Release
The following software versions have passed Amtelco quality assurance testing and are ready for general release.
• miSecureMessages Android App Version 6.7.3.10 includes the following changes:
• Fix for retry lockout issue with MSM Server version 6.6
• Fix for pagination of Messages Screen
• Support for upcoming features
• Intelligent Series Server Version 5.04.7439.21806 includes the following features:
• Voalte MCR integration
• NICE integration
• License Warning Event generated when the maximum number of trunks is reached
• Doc Halo integration
• Option to strip +1 from the Caller ID and the DNIS
• Auto Dispatch support for transferring to a conference from MergeComm
• Genesis Version 4.10.6 includes the following features:
• Support for Genesis Web
• Option to start Asterisk in Realtime Mode
Genesis – ANI Screening and ANI Match
The Genesis ANI Screening feature and the Genesis ANI Match feature can be used with Genesis systems to route incoming calls and perform specific behaviors based on Caller ID. ANI Screening can be used to handle robocalls by routing them to an IS Client that is programmed to hang up calls. The ANI Match feature can use clients' phone numbers to expedite the calling forwarding process and provide a way for clients to check-in to receive their messages.
Click for more information.
IS – Mass Agent Change Feature
The Mass Agent Change feature enables supervisors to copy select agent settings from one agent to all Agent IDs. This feature can be used to quickly configure a new setting for all agents, or to a make a change to all Agent IDs.
Click for more information.
Employee Spotlight
Susan Kirkpatrick – Implementation Specialist
Susan Kirkpatrick, a fixture at Amtelco since 1998, retired in May – ending 22 years of service to Amtelco and its customers. If you received training from Amtelco during the past 20 years or so, the chances are pretty good that Susan has helped in that endeavor.
Susan has been involved in the call center industry for more than 35 years. Her career started as an operator for a service in Pennsylvania using AT&T cordboards. Susan's responsibilities kept pace as the technology changed from Mitey Mites to Direct Inward Dialing (DID). She became a manager, and then an area manager, within that company. Susan's former employer used all Amtelco-developed equipment over the years.
Her career with Amtelco began in January 1998 as a trainer, and then she was promoted to implementation specialists manager a few years later. In conjunction with the training team, she covered all phases of Infinity and Intelligent Series (IS) training, whether on site or online. Susan has also given in-person Intelligent Series training workshops at many National Amtelco Equipment Owners (NAEO) conferences.
Susan believes changing technology has put a new face on a traditional industry. When Amtelco was founded in 1976, the company sold mostly hardware solutions. As technology advanced, communication became more software-based. Susan served in the Customer Care Department to educate customers after they implemented Amtelco software in their call centers.
In her retirement, Susan looks forward to an extended camping trip out West, writing the next mystery novel best seller, watching her favorite Pittsburgh Steelers play, and taking a cooking class with Bobby Flay.