How Top Healthcare Systems Are Leveraging Unified Communications

Unified Communications (also known as Unified Communications as a Service or UCaaS) offers powerful collaboration features and benefits for workplace teams. Hybrid and remote workforces are part of this new paradigm, especially for healthcare call centers.

Is your healthcare organization looking for a secure, HIPAA-compliant communication systems to better connect your staff, whether they are working in the office or remotely? If so, it might be time to consider a Unified Communications solution.

Whether your users are offering patient support over the phone, participating in a video conference or sharing files with each other, Unified Communications keeps everyone connected – wherever they happen to be.

RELATED ARTICLE: 9 Top Benefits of Unified Communications

Same Communication Access and Experience – In-Office or Remote

Unified Communications utilizes a single, interconnected communication experience for all members of your staff. This provides your users with options to provide the right technology at the right time, alleviating pain points such as searching for critical information or trying to connect.

Regardless of where your employee are working, Unified Communications increases group collaboration abilities and allows users to work in real-time, all in one communication system. Convenient communications for the real world.

Automated Security Updates

Cyberattacks are on the rise, especially in the healthcare vertical. However, with a Unified Communications solution, software is updated by your provider via an automated system. This assists healthcare organizations in staying compliant with data security and sharing requirements.

When evaluating Unified Communications solutions, be sure to evaluate the software for HIPAA compliance and ask the provider about their security. It should have multiple layers and may include protection such as firewalls, encryption and 24/7 monitoring. Cybercriminals are always lurking, be prepared in case they try to launch an attack on your organization.  

Technology You Can Rely On

Patients need to be able to contact their clinic and staff need reliable communication tools designed to minimize service interruptions. That’s why it’s important to do your research before you buy. Don’t be caught in a communications snafu. Your patients rely on you. And you should be able to rely on your technology.

Uptime reliability is important for any Unified Communications solution. In fact, 99.8 percent uptime might sound acceptable, but did you know that it translates to your communications platform being down 17.52 hours per year? Depending on your risk tolerance, you could be looking for something with a better average annual uptime. In comparison:

• 99.9 percent uptime equals 8.76 hours of downtime per year
• 99.99 percent uptime equals 52.56 minutes of downtime per year
• 99.999 percent uptime equals only 5.26 minutes of downtime per year

More uptime means more time with your patients and less technology headaches. 

Quick Equipment Set-Up

Healthcare IT teams have a lot on their plate, managing EHRs and other technological systems. When adding a new member to your staff, reduce technology set-up time with the use of Unified Communications. With a Unified Communications solution, an administrator that doesn’t need to be an IT person can add the employee as a new user in just a few clicks. Unified Communication doesn’t require IT intervention, meaning new hires can get settled in much faster. 

Financial Advantages 

Combining your communication solutions into one, unified platform can also have financial advantages, too. If you’re currently using multiple systems for telephone, chat, online faxing, file backup and sharing, and video conferencing, then you could be overpaying. With Unified Communications, you bundle all these things into one system and get one bill.

Are you still using a traditional phone line? Your bill will probably vary from month to month – possibly even fluctuate wildly, depending on call volume. Consolidating communications into one standard bill could equal significant savings for your healthcare organization.

Confident Contact Center Communications 

Unified Communications allows healthcare organizations the option of creating a call center to manage inbound patient calls. Platforms often allow users multiple options to connect to a call including by desk phone, computer phone or via an application on their personal cell phone.

In fact, Unified Communications is well-positioned to help healthcare organizations construct a remote-enabled contact center featuring these three critical factors: 

1. Automated outreach (To control volume and enhance patient experience, set up systems that automatically reach out to your patients and stakeholders. This practice drives higher patient satisfaction and reduces inbound calls to your staff.)
2. Answer more calls and reduce your call abandon rate (When patients call your facility and the volume becomes too high for staff to answer all inquiries, you have options. Prioritize inquiries using queues, answer common questions using interactive voice response (IVR), and modulate volume to more reasonable levels. This is designed to increase both patient andemployee satisfaction.)
3. Leverage built-in flexibility to scale your Contact Center when call volumes spike (When forecasting demand becomes difficult or impossible, the best path to adaptation is building rapid scalability and flexibility into your communications systems. When the inevitable surge arrives, you’ll already be prepared.) 

Elevate Managed Voice Services: Your Unified Communications Solution 

Contact the experts at Gordon Flesch Company to learn more about how Elevate Managed Voice Services can be successfully deployed at your healthcare organization in as little as 72 hours.

This cloud-based, flexible platform has an average annual reliability rate of 99.999 percent for excellent uptime and employee productivity. Managed and monitored 24/7, this user-centric communication experience helps bridge the gap between in-office workers, remote employees and customers in a single application.

If you have an on-premises phone system, now could be the time to consider bringing your organization’s preferred communication channels together all on one platform. Click the link below to download your Managed Voice Services guide to learn more about how this cloud-based business communications platform goes wherever you go!