Frequently Asked Questions
- Who is Answer Excellence?
- How long has Answer Excellence been in business?
- Do you service every type of business?
- Will my customers know they are speaking to an answering service?
- Are my home and cell phone numbers given to callers?
- How would you answer my specific telephone number?
- Is there a customer support team in place in the event I need assistance?
- What methods of delivery are available?
- We have multiple employees in our office. Are we limited to using the same type of delivery method to every employee?
- Can I forward my cell phone to your service?
- How long does it take to have my account activated?
- What areas do you service?
- We are an international company with many departments. The complexity of on call scheduling is difficult. How do you handle routing messages to the right on call person for each department?
- How much do you charge?
Consult ManagerTM Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Consult ManagerTM?
- If I am not picking up the telephone, how do I order physician consultations?
- Will we need to enter the orders twice?
- How much time will it take to order the consult?
- How will the order be relayed to Answer Excellence?
- How do we know the doctor received the consultation order?
- How quickly are orders delivered?
- How much does Consult ManagerTM cost?
Answers
Who is Answer Excellence? Answer Excellence is an award-winning provider of answering solutions and business services. We offer a comprehensive portfolio of best-in-class services accompanied by sophisticated technology to improved efficiencies and assist with growing your business.How long has Answer Excellence been in business? With 20+ years experience in the communications industry, you can rest assured that you will receive professional, high tech services that will fit any business need.
Do you service every type of business? Yes, while 60% of our business is medical, we are experienced at designing answering solutions for every industry.
Will my customers know they are speaking to an answering service? It's up to you! Our operators are experienced and can present themselves as an extension of your business or we are happy to communicate that we assist you with your telephone answering needs. Our call center is quiet and professional-sounding.
Are my home and cell phone numbers given to callers? All phone numbers are considered confidential. If you wish to have your phone number relayed, we are happy to do so with your authorization.
How would you answer my specific telephone number? Your greetings will be customized per your directions. This includes the answer phrase, information gathered, information provided to the callers, and how the message will be delivered. A typical answer phrase would be "Good morning, thanks for calling ABC Services, this is Susan, how may I help you today?"
Is there a customer support team in place in the event I need assistance? Our staff is your staff 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You may call at any time or contact us via e-mail. Full instructions are provided in our new customer information kit.
What methods of delivery are available? The choice is yours. Here are a few of the ways we can deliver messages for you
- Call you directly on one or more telephone numbers
- Leave a voice mail message for you to call the service
- Send an Alpha-Page
- Send an Digital Pager
- Send Text Messages
- Send E-Mail
- Fax
We have multiple employees in our office. Are we limited to using the same type of delivery method to every employee? No. You can use a different method for delivery for each person.
Can I forward my cell phone to your service? Yes. You can get special busy and no-answer forwarding if you want the opportunity to answer each call first and have answering service secondary. Ask your wireless carrier about their options.
How long does it take to have my account activated? Activating your account is easy! Once we receive your account information, our staff of professionals will activate the account and test your delivery procedures for accuracy. This usually takes about 2 business days. Expedited processing is available for emergencies.
What areas do you service? Answer Excellence is proud that our capabilities extend nationally as well as internationally.
We are an international company with many departments. The complexity of on call scheduling is difficult. How do you handle routing messages to the right on call person for each department? Answer Excellence's leading technology is automated which eliminates the risk normally associated with relaying messages to the correct on-call employee. You can rest assured your calls will reach the correct person.
How much do you charge? Answer Excellence offers custom solutions that are tailored to your business. When we have jointly defined a solution, we will offer a fair price and equitable price structure that you will please you. We are eager to go to work for you and deliver the peace of mind that is needed so that you can focus on your core business.
What is Consult ManagerTM? Consult Manager is a sophisticated, high-tech method for ordering physician consultations. It tracks, time stamps, and formalizes the entire process. Reports can be generated for accountability and efficiency purposes. A real-time status display for hospital staff pinpoints problems with overdue orders.
If I am not picking up the telephone, how do I order physician consultations? You simply type the order into the patient's medical record and we do the rest. Since this is already a normal part of the consult process at many facilities, this is no extra work. In any case, enterering it into the hospital system is faster and easier than the telephone process. Our electronic interface (industry-standard HL7 and custom formats available) receives the orders in real-time from the hospital's order entry system.
Will we need to enter the orders twice? No, order data will be relayed electronically from your hospital system to ours in real time.
How much time will it take to order the consult? Using Consult ManagerTM, it takes no additional time beyond entering it into your medical record system. This is a huge improvement compared with the hospital-reported average for hospital staff to manually dispatch them. Time-consuming callbacks to the nurse are reduced by providing more complete information with the order (such as insurance information and diagnosis).
How will the order be relayed to Answer Excellence? Order data is sent via a secure link so that it is not visible to outside parties (HIPAA Compliant). We can accommodate many variations, including VPN tunnel, SSL, FTP of encrypted files, and other mechanisms.
How do we know the doctor received the consultation order? Crosschecks insure complete data transfer and two-way communication with hospitals to update order status. Optionally, doctors can be required to acknowledge receipt of orders and escalation protocols can use alternate delivery methods. Consult Manager's real-time status display gives hospital staff visibility into the process.
How quickly are orders delivered? It depends on the type of consultation and the protocol that you define for the process.
How much does Consult ManagerTM cost? Several factors are involved when pricing Consult ManagerTM, including the percentage of live operator calls compared with text messaging or e-mail. Contact our account executive at (800) 854-6018.