Volume 14, Issue #12: December 2023
IN THE NEWS
Providence Swedish Case Study: Improving On-Call Communication Delays and Code Call Workflows with Web-Based Platforms
In 1910, Swedish immigrant Dr. Nils August Johanson founded Swedish Hospital. Over the years, the campus expanded and merged with other health systems to become Swedish Health Services. It is the largest nonprofit health provider in the Seattle metropolitan area, with five hospital campuses, two ambulatory care centers, and a network of more than 100 primary-care and specialty clinics. Providence Swedish is committed to quality and patient safety, and in 2022, the First Hill and Cherry Hill campuses earned the highest hospital safety grade of A from the Leapfrog Group in their biannual Leapfrog Patient Safety Survey.
As part of Providence Swedish’s commitment to quality and patient safety, staff submits a “Quality Variance” to their supervisors if an unexpected incident or event occurs that is inconsistent with the organization’s standards. This process results in service reports internally known as eQVRs. Supervisors at Providence Swedish noticed an uptick in eQVRs related to nighttime on-call providers failing to return calls or pages about patients. It was discovered that communication breakdowns and delays were happening due to how updated on-call schedules were handled by the on-call system.
The team needed an accurate on-call scheduling solution that made it easy to create, view, and update schedule coverage with the ability to easily dispatch messages to on-call contacts using their preferred method of communication. Read about how Providence Swedish utilized Amtelco’s Web-Based platforms to improve workflow and system communications.
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Software Release
The following software versions have passed Amtelco quality assurance testing and are ready for general release. Click on the links below for detailed information on what is included in each release.
IS – pMD Integration
The Intelligent Series (IS) applications can be interfaced with messaging applications by pMD using the optional 2-way Wireless Communications Transfer Protocol (WCTP) messaging feature to integrate with a pMD server. This integration makes it possible for the IS Server to dispatch messages to the pMD applications.
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Telescan – Voice Logger Enhancement
Telescan recently added an upgrade to the VL Backup (Voicelog Backup) program that will allow users to access files directly that have been archived in the cloud.
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Year-End Message from Tom Curtin, Amtelco's CEO & Chairman
It was a busy year! In addition to our usual work with software implementations, adding new customer sites, customer training, and conferences, we revamped the interface for our miSecureMessages secure messaging app to improve the user experience and help speed critical communications. Design elements such as fonts, icons, and buttons were updated to better reflect Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), screens were modified for easier navigation, and new theme colors were added to increase user accessibility and customization.
We also completed our long-awaited solar panel project and now use solar energy to help reduce our carbon footprint and fossil energy usage. We forecast that solar power will offset our energy consumption by 59%.
For the fourth year in a row, Amtelco was recognized as a top employer in the Madison, Wisconsin, area by being awarded a Top Workplaces honor by the Wisconsin State Journal!
I can’t help but reflect upon the journey Amtelco has taken me, my family, our employees, and our customers over the past decades. My dad, Bill Curtin, II, was born to first-generation Irish immigrants in 1919 in Chicago, Illinois. He was assigned to Yale University’s communications program after joining the U.S. Air Force in the 1940s. Once he was discharged from the military, he and my mom, Eleanor, started an answering service in Madison, Wisconsin.
They worked tirelessly to start their business. Dad thought of inventions to address the limitations of communication technology while working nights — those inventions would eventually become the foundation of Amtelco. I am proud that Amtelco has grown from a mom-and-pop shop to a trusted leader in the Call Center and Enterprise Critical Communications industries. We now have more than 120 employees with sales and customer care offices throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Our customers are located in all 50 U.S. states and over 20 countries.
Amtelco is now a third-generation family business. Our cutting-edge technologies are built on a tradition of innovation, reliability, and care. We will honor Amtelco’s history while looking forward to the future beginning in early 2024. Watch for intriguing announcements and exciting updates in 2024!
Family life and the family business have remained intertwined since the beginning. We consider our customers and employees to be part of our family — and family members want to see each other succeed!
I want to offer all of you a heartfelt “Thank you” for your partnership in our Amtelco family. Reliable communication is crucial. We are privileged that our TAS and hospital customers trust us for their contact center software needs.