MEDI-CALL SERVICE – How it Began

Way back in 1990, EVP had an idea. We believed that traditional answering services were under serving and over charging physicians, and that they were an impediment to efficient after-hours doctor-patient communication. We knew that we could provide something better. EVP began interviewing physicians. We documented and analyzed the physician’s after-hours experience. We sought to recognize and classify the problems associated with the typical answering service. We wanted to improve the experience. Physicians identified the problems, we set about to devise a solution. Utilizing information gleaned from hundreds of interviews, and additional physician feedback, we created a revolutionary new kind of Medical Answering Service, “EVP Medi-Call Service” aka “Medi-Call Man”.

Exclusively serving the Medical Community since 1990, "Medi-Call Man" has transformed the Medical Answering Services market. Designed from the ground up by physicians, for physicians, “Medi-Call Man” renders all other answering services obsolete. He is the solution to your after-hours problems. In fact, over 1,400 physicians currently trust us with their after-hours answering service and emergency response needs.

The following information is presented two ways, GRAPHICALLY (for our left brained friends) and TEXTUALLY (for our right brained friends). Either way you choose to view the information, it is meant to simply provide a sample overview of the Medi-Call Service and should in no way be considered exhaustive. Our goal being to explain what it is, how it works, and to demonstrate it’s benefits.

Our customers range from solo-practitioner offices, to multi-physician practices, to multi-specialty clinics, to medical schools, to large multi-state specialty medicine corporations. Practically ALL specialties and subspecialties are represented within our customer base. Your particular “Medi-Call Service” may be similar to the overview, but it can be as individual as you are.

What Is It?
Let’s face it. When a patient experiencing an urgent situation calls a physicians office, they want one thing. They want to talk to their doctor. The less time that passes between their phone call to your office, and their receiving a return call from you, the more satisfied they are.

Typical answering services will tell you that patients want to hear a live voice, a human voice – an overworked, underpaid, non-medically trained, operators voice.

EVP believes that patients want to hear a live voice – BUT - we believe the voice should be - a medically knowledgeable voice, a concerned and caring voice, a “DOCTORS’ voice – YOUR voice. That is the primary function of our Medi-Call Service, to improve communication between physician and patient. Medi-Call Man is the “Doctor-Patient Connection”.

How Does It Work?

Step 1 – You forward your phone to your Medi-Call Service – Medi-Call Man takes it from there.
As a Medi-Call customer, you are assigned a unique Medi-Call Telephone Number. During lunch or after hours, to activate your service, you simply forward your office telephone to your Medi-Call Number. To deactivate your service, you simply un-forward your telephone. You never get a busy signal, or get put on hold, when turning over your calls to Medi-Call Man.

Step 2: - Medi-Call Man answers your phone.
When a patient calls your office, Medi-Call Man answers the call on the first ring. Your patient hears your unique, professionally recorded greeting. Patients know immediately that they have reached your office, and they are quickly provided the information they need.

EVP’s Customer Care Specialists are trained to assist you in the creation and design of your greeting. We customize your Medi-Call Service to your specification, to your protocols. We work with you to identify your different call types, which type of call requires emergency notification and which type of call should be handled the next business day, by your office staff. You Decide!
Based on your specifications, your Medi-Call Service answers your calls exactly as you want them answered every time – with a consistently professional image. Medi-Call is never rude, never gets tired or sick, and never has a bad day. Medi-Call can answer hundreds of calls at the same time, he currently answers about 350,000 per month (more than 4 million a year) and never puts anyone on hold.

Step 3: Triage – Identifying Calls as Either Urgent or Non-Urgent
We create your specific Medi-Call Service based upon your greeting, and your practice specific database, both designed exclusively for your practice. Medi-Call Man classifies each call based upon your specifications (urgent or non-urgent, colleague or patient etc). He engages callers, performs triage screening and routes calls accurately and reliably every time, according to your preferences. Every call is resolved per your instruction and every message delivered to the appropriate person. He doesn’t bother you with non-urgent messages or requests. No operator intervention or interpretation is required, eliminating the potential for human error.

Our customers report that call volume for on-call physicians is typically reduced through the use of our Medi-Call Service, sometimes dramatically reduced.
If a call is identified as non-urgent – it would proceed to step 4. If identified as urgent – it would proceed to step 5.
(Link to 4 and 5?)

Step 4: Non-Urgent Callers May Leave Non-Urgent Message
When a call is identified as a non-urgent issue, Medi-Call Man invites the patient to leave a confidential message for their physician’s staff, to be returned the next business day. Office staff can retrieve, sort and review non-urgent messages the next morning. Staff members have a chance to access, review, and prioritize patient messages. Medi-Call Man allows your office staff to manage patient demands by function, not just by patient, which results in more efficient callbacks and greater patient satisfaction.

Step 5: Urgent Calls –Collect Patient’s Call Back Telephone Number
Because the accuracy of information you receive while on-call is critical, Medi-Call Man collects the patient’s call-back telephone number, on every urgent call. This eliminates operator transcription errors. You receive the patients CORRECT telephone number EVERY time.

Step 6: Urgent Calls - Patient Records Urgent Message
After collecting their call back telephone number, Medi-Call invites the patient to leave a detailed, confidential urgent message for the on-call physician. Patients appreciate that ONLY the person that can help them will hear their message. They are no longer forced to share personal and confidential health information with a complete stranger. Patients no longer have to worry about whether someone they have never met is going to transmit their information accurately. No operator intervention or interpretation is required, eliminating the potential for human error.

When finished with their message, the patient simply hangs up. Medi-Call Man then moves on to the next step – Urgent Notification.

Step 7: Dependable and Reliable Physician Notification
Once an urgent message is received, Medi-Call Man immediately begins the process of notifying the on-call physician. Using your practice specific database, Medi-Call Man always knows who is on-call, and how they wish to be notified. (No more wrong physician getting notified, or getting notified when you are not on-call.).

He can contact you on your pager, your cell phone, home phone, or office back line. You Decide! If you don’t respond within a predefined time limit, he will automatically escalate the call. He can re-page, attempt to contact you at alternate telephone numbers (cell, home) or even contact backup on-call personnel within your call group. The point is, he will not stop until the patient’s message is retrieved. No calls are ever lost.

Medi-Call Man even allows you the flexibility to have urgent calls that originate from patients follow a different set of call handling protocols then those urgent calls from physicians or hospital staff. Again, You Decide! You can tailor your on-call contact arrangements independent of the rest of the members of your practice. You decide how, when and where to receive your calls. And changing your protocols is a snap from any touch-tone telephone, and soon from the Internet. No operator intervention or interpretation is required, eliminating the potential for human error.
Once successfully notified, the on-call physician retrieves their urgent message.

Step 8: Urgent Message Retrieval
Upon retrieving your urgent message, you will hear the patient describe their problem, in their own voice. When your patients relate their problems themselves, nothing is ever lost or filtered out. This allows you to more fully access the acuity of their situation. No more garbled or cryptic messages. And, since you know what the patient is experiencing, you are much better prepared to assist them when you return their call – which is the next step.

Step 9: Medi-Call Man Connects You Back to the Patient – One-Touch Patch Calls
At the end of each urgent message, the telephone number of the patient is read back to you. Remember, in step 4 – every patient confirms his or her telephone number. No more wrong or lost telephone numbers. No more fumbling for pen and paper in the dark or in the car. No more trying to read your hastily handwritten messages on scraps of paper.
With the push of a button, Medi-Call Man dials the patient back automatically and then connects (patches) you to them. You do not have to hang up and dial them back. Medi-Call Man connects you directly.

When you “Patch” back to the caller, Medi-Call Man automatically saves the callers message and telephone number. If you need to reach the patient again, you simply log into the service, access the message and then you can “Patch Back” again. There is never a need to write the number down.

Best of all, when you Medi-Call Man “Patches” you back to your patient, he protects your private telephone numbers. An EVP number is displayed on your patients caller ID – NOT your private telephone numbers. No more patients calling you back on your home or cell phones. Medi-Call Man even bypasses your patient’s anonymous caller ID.

Step 10: Get On With Your Life.
We cannot promise that Medi-Call Man can make the on-call experience “fun” or “enjoyable”. We can however, make your after-hours and on-call communication more reliable and less intrusive. We can make the experience much more precise and efficient. We can systemize the chaotic.

We ALSO save you a lot of time and frustration. Medi-Call Man typically connects physicians and their patients, accurately and reliably, within three to five minutes of the patient placing the call. Think about that. The patient calls your office, goes through triage, confirms their call-back telephone number, and records their message. Medi-Call Man then notifies you and delivers the message and even dials the patient back, allowing you to address the patients specific problem, then get on with your life. And it all occurs within three to five minutes! Let’s see a typical answering service match that.

Our customers commonly report that call volume for on-call physicians is typically reduced, sometimes dramatically reduced. And the calls they do receive are handled in a much more efficient, time saving manner.
Medi-Call Man is the solution to the problem. He is the “Doctor-Patient Connection”.
To find out more about how we can help, please contact us. It will be the best call you’ll make all day.