Missed a Webinar?

Have you missed any of our recent webinars? Luckily MedCom records all of our live web demonstrations for later viewing! Click on the links below for short (less than 10 minute) demonstrations of a few of MedCom's most popular offerings!

Check them out on YouTube today!

Appointment Scheduling

My MedCom

Virtual Store Front

On Demand Call Recording Access

Email Monitoring

Internal Application Access

For more information on any of these services, Email us  or call us at 215-839-6246.

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Dr. Snyder discusses his experiences with MedCom

Dr. Snyder, a customer of MedCom for 24 years, discusses his wonderful experiences he has had over the many years. We are very happy to have built such strong relationships with our customers over the years!

"I think having MedCom as my answering service has made things smooth, and it has been one less thing to worry about, one less headache in the day to day running of my practice."

"They're always at the top of their game."

Neal Freedman D.D.S sits down with MedCom

Neal Freedman D.D.S talks about how far answering service technology has come and how much MedCom has meant to him over the years.

Allgood Appraisal Group

Rich Allgood of Allgood Appraisal Group visited MedCom at our office to say thanks for all the great service we have provide him and his company.

"I have been a customer of MedCom's since 1994. They have always given me excellent service."

"The best part is their professionalism. It makes me look more professional."

Blackwell Memorial Home discusses their long relationship with MedCom

Betty Davis from Blackwell Memorial Home, a 10 year customer of MedCom, sits down to talk about some of her wonderful experiences with MedCom. Check out the video below.

"My clients they were very happy with the answering service and the quickness of their reply and getting in touch with me."

"I think they are very friendly and very willing to do anything I ask them to do, sometimes over and above what their requirements are."

Their professional services have been a great help to me."

Harris Comfort speaks to the Quality of MedCom's Service

Check out the video of Harris Comfort speaking to how MedCom has helped their business grow by providing excellent service over many years.

"We've been in business for over 50 years using at least other answering services before MedCom. They're the ones that have been the best of them."

"The experience has been very good, and I can't even remember a customer complaint."

Register to Win Free Phillies Tickets

MedCom has developed a new email contact system to reach our customers. With this new contact system, MedCom will provide clients with up to date information on the latest products and services available. These emails will alert prospective and current clients to current industry news, cost saving ideas, account management amongst many other topics.

All registered emails will be entered into a drawing for 2 Free Phillies tickets at Citizens Bank Park! Click here to register. The game will be held on August 13th 7:05pm vs the Washington Nationals (game time and date subject to change).

The winner of the drawing will be contacted via their registered email address. The drawing will take place on July 29th, 2011. Only valid email addresses currently registered are eligible to win.

Outstanding Service Earns National Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Charlene Glorieux

Monday, June 20, 2011 (866) 896-2874

Outstanding Service Earns National Award

MedCom Professional Services Inc. wins ATSI Award of Excellence

MedCom Professional Services Inc. of Levittown, PA has been honored with the exclusive ATSI 2011 Award of Excellence for the fourteenth consecutive year. This award is presented annually by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI), the industry’s trade association for providers of telecommunications and call centre services including telephone answering and message delivery across North America and the UK. MedCom Professional Services Inc. was presented with the award at ATSI’s 2011 Annual Convention held at the Grand Hyatt, San Antonio, TX.

Independent judges are contracted by ATSI to evaluate message services over a six month period. The criteria for scoring include: courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients. If the company scores 80% or better in ALL categories, they are presented with the coveted ATSI Award of Excellence. The program is now in its 15th year.

“ATSI prides itself in agent training through many mediums. The AWARD OF EXCELLENCE is one of the most rewarding. This “secret caller” program is an intense program extending throughout the year with test calls being made to registered participants and handled by random agents’, says ATSI President Michael Fultz. ‘I think there has always been a misconception of a company winning THE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE; however, member companies QUALIFY for this prestigious award. If a company qualifies for the AWARD OF EXCELLENCE they have set the bar for quality in the Telephone Answering Service Industry.”

Now a fourteen-time winner, MedCom Professional Services Inc. earned the Diamond Plus Award for fourteen consecutive years. ATSI extends its congratulations to the staff of MedCom Professional Services Inc. on their proven quality service to their customers.

About ATSI

The Association of TeleServices International was founded in 1942 as a national trade association representing live answering services. ATSI now encompasses companies across North America and the UK offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centers, contact centers, inbound telemarketing (order entry), paging, voice messaging, emergency dispatch, fax, and internet services among others.

Outstanding Service Brings National Award

TOP SCORE

MedCom Professional Services Incorporated Wins CAM-X Award of Excellence

MedCom Professional Services Incorporated of Levittown, PA has been honoured with the exclusive 2010 Award of Excellence for the third consecutive year. The award is presented annually by the Canadian Call Management Association (CAM-X), the industry's Trade Association for providers of call centre services including telephone answering and message delivery. MedCom Professional Services Incorporated was presented with the award recently at the CAM-X 46th Annual convention and Trade Show held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Independent judges are contracted by CAM-X to evaluate message services throughout Canada over a six-month period. The criteria for scoring include courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients. If the company scores 80% or better in ALL categories, they are presented with the coveted Award of Excellence. The program is now in its 21 st year.

"Participation in the AOE helps create a focus on service quality that runs levels deep throughout an organization and not just during the program period, but each and every day of the year. This translates into satisfied customers and allows everyone, at all levels, to take pride in their personal participation as well as in the company as a whole. And in a service industry, nothing builds employee confidence more than positive feedback from satisfied customers." says CAM-X President Gary Blair. "We congratulate MedCom Professional Services Incorporated for their achievements." Founded in 1964, CAM-X began as a national trade Association representing live answering services. The Canadian Call Management Association now encompasses companies across Canada offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centres, contact centres, inbound telemarketing (order entry), paging, voice messaging, emergency dispatch, 'fax, and internet services among others.

Now a three-time winner MedCom Professional Services Incorporated earned the Silver Award for three consecutive years. CAM-X extends its congratulations to the staff of MedCom Professional Services Incorporated on their proven Top Score quality service to their customers.

MedCom achieved the Top Score of 97.7%. Nearly 93 answering services across North America competed in this award program.

MedCom wins the ATSI Award of Excellence

MedCom Professional Service is pleased to announce that each of their office affiliates have won the prestigious ATSI Award of Excellence. The award ceremony was held at the 66th Annual ATSI Convention & Expo at the Westin Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, CA. Read below to find out more about the Award of Excellence program and watch the acceptance videos. MedCom has achieved this award for 13 consecutive years.

Introduction
The telephone answering service industry has matured in communications technology and sophisticated consumers. Bureaus now must face the realization that they are already in a niche market for the consumer who requires live operator services. With competition from virtually every angle, only the best service will keep the consumer happy and loyal. While most bureaus in the industry most certainly provide good service, we are searching for that which goes beyond. The cut above will be rewarded with our coveted Award of Excellence. Here is how we determine that level.

Our Description of Excellent Service
Excellence requires a level of service that considers the caller first in every aspect of the call. Excellence make a caller believe they are the most important person (or their problem is the most important consideration) to your operator/telereceptionist. How the operator handles every call, from beginning to end determines the success of your client relationship an the level of repeat business. No matter what is happening at your bureau on any given day, the caller should never feel your operator is too busy to give them the best service.

Benefits of Participation
If successful in achieving an 80% overall average score, participants will enjoy:

• a plaque for the office wall to remind both customers and staff of their accomplishment.
• a press release to send to the appropriate media and use in sales kits and staff/customer newsletters.
• a photo op at the presentation ceremony to accompany the press release
• a sheet of logos to use in advertising, sales kits and other promotional material
• team accomplishment and pride.
• the ability to improve further by using the evaluation sheets and audio tape of calls to find areas that still need attention

This program was designed as a measure of quality control. The success of the program however has not been based on "winning" the Award. If unsuccessful in achieving an 80% overall average score:

• it is a chance to regroup and find areas to improve
• each participant receives evaluation sheets and an audio tape of calls which are the best tools to establish areas in need of attention.
• management and staff rally together to win it next time.

The program was started in Canada in 1989 and has been slightly modified every year since to remain relevant to our changing industry. ATSI adopted the program as a member service in 1995 with great success. Over 20,000 calls have been made to many participating companies yielding many winners.

Medcom overcomes snowstorm’s adversity to keep running

Medcom Professional Services doesn’t have the luxury of taking a snow day.

The Levittown company provides telephone answering services, primarily to doctors’ offices, 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

With so many doctors’ offices closed because of the snow, Medcom’s call volume has skyrocketed.

“We normally answer 4,000 calls a day,” said Chris Bell, Medcom’s president and owner. “Wednesday we had more than 12,000 and today it’s just as busy.”

Bell said it’s been challenge to get the company’s 45 employees into MedCom’s offices in Levittown, Allentown and New Holland near Lancaster.

Tuesday night, he discovered a problem with the company’s back-up generator and was fortunate enough to get a service provider from Cummins Power Systems in Bristol to make an office call. The only problem was the Cummins service man pulled into the wrong parking lot about a quarter-mile away and got stuck in the snow.

“I had to run up there with a snow shovel and help dig him out, and I’m not a spring chicken anymore,” Bell joked.

A bad cell in the generator battery was replaced and sure enough, before the night was over the area lost power. Bell said Thursday afternoon the office was still being powered by the generator.

Bell said he can’t recall a snowstorm this bad since one that hit the region in 1996. Since that time, he said, the technology has advanced to the point that some answering services his company provides can be handled by e-mail. In addition, the company now has employees answering calls from eight remote locations in workers’ homes. “We’ve been relying heavily on the remote locations,” Bell said.

See Full Article Here by John George

Outstanding Service Earns National Award

TOP TEN

MedCom Professional Services, Inc. Wins ATSI Award of Excellence

MedCom Professional Services, Inc. of Levittown, PA has been honored with the exclusive 2009 Award of Excellence for twelve consecutive years, earning a combined score of 96.9%. The award is presented annually by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI), the industry’s trade association for providers of telecommunications and call center services including telephone answering and message delivery. MedCom Professional Services, Inc. was presented with the award at ATSI’s 2009 Annual Convention held at the Westin Convention Center Hotel in Pittsburgh, PA.

After six months of intensive testing, an independent panel of judges scored call-handling skills such as courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients, the cornerstones of the call management industry. If a company scores 80% or better in ALL categories, they are presented with the coveted Award of Excellence.

“The ATSI Award of Excellence offers the industry the kind of quality testing and benchmarking that is essential to help us establish the service levels demanded by our customers. We congratulate MedCom Professional Services, not only for their TOP TEN achievement in 2008 but also for following up this year with another TOP TEN placement in 2009 from a field of 136 participating telephone answering services,” stated ATSI President Dennis O’Hara.

Now a twelve-time winner, MedCom Professional Services, Inc. has earned the Diamond Award for twelve consecutive years. ATSI congratulates the staff of MedCom Professional Services, Inc. on their proven quality service to their customers.

About ATSI
The Association of TeleServices International was founded in 1942 as a national trade association representing live answering services. ATSI now encompasses companies across the United States offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centers, contact centers, inbound telemarketing, paging, voice messaging, emergency dispatch, fax, and internet services among others.

Healthy Employees are a Win/Win for Everybody

“Almost a third of companies offering health insurance benefits to their employees also provide a wellness program of some sort. Fitness, smoking cessation and weight-loss programs are provided most frequently, according to 2006 employer health benefits survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The telephone survey contacted 2,122 randomly selected public and private employers,” according to a CNN article.

Recently, MedCom began offering reimbursement to its employees for active enrollment in health and weight-loss programs. The atmosphere within the answering service industry is primarily a sedentary lifestyle. This 24/7 job typically requires agents to be deskbound in order to properly handle clients’ calls just as in most call centers. Consistently sitting behind a desk restricts the amount of activity agents get throughout the day. By MedCom offering to offset costs of joining weight control programs, meetings with health counselors, nutritional guidance and exercise plans, the MedCom administration hopes to motivate their employees to begin or even continue taking action to improve their health.

In addition to offsetting the cost of these wellness programs, MedCom implemented a smoking cessation plan. The goal is to help employees quit smoking. Quitting smoking along with active participation in wellness programs can enhance the overall company’s health. This improvement in health can go a long way for both the employees and the company.

"Health and wellness programs at work are a win/win situation for everybody," says Richard Taylor, vice president of human resources at Intel. "We keep our insurance costs down, and the employees are offered free health and wellness opportunities."

Outstanding Service Earns National Award

MedCom Professional Services, Inc. Wins ATSI Award of Excellence – Top Ten Score. MedCom Professional Services, Inc. of Levittown, PA has been honored with the exclusive 2008 ATSI Award of Excellence for the eleventh consecutive year. The award is presented annually by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI), the industry’s trade association for providers of telecommunications and call centre services including telephone answering and message delivery. MedCom Professional Services, Inc. was presented with the award at ATSI’s 2008 Annual Convention held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in St. Louis, MO.

After six months of intensive testing, an independent panel of judges scored call handling skills such as courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients, the cornerstones of the call management industry. If a company scored better than 80% or better in ALL categories, they are presented with the coveted Award of Excellence. MedCom earned the score of 97.1%.

“The Award of Excellence is a ‘mystery shopper’ program that provides independent testing for quality assurance in customer service levels,” says ATSI President Allan Fromm. “We congratulate MedCom Professional Services, Inc. for their TOP TEN achievements.” In 2008, there were nearly 140 competing answering services enrolled in the program.

Now an eleven-time winner, MedCom Professional Services, Inc. earned the Diamond Award for eleven consecutive years.

ATSI extends its congratulations to the staff of MedCom Professional Services, Inc. on their proven quality service to their customers.

About ATSI
The Association of TeleServices International was founded in 1942 as a national trade association representing live answering services. ATSI now encompasses companies across the United States offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centers, contact centers, inbound telemarketing (order entry), paging, voice messaging, emergency dispatch, fax, and internet services among others.

Upcoming Trend of Video Conferencing

An upcoming trend in business, medical, legal, and educational environments is the avid use of video conferencing. Video conferencing provides a way for people at multiple locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. This technology is becoming a popular means of communications between different parties at different locations. In addition to the audio and visual components of videoconferencing, the parties can share documents, charts, and other presentations during the conference. For the participants in the conference, videoconferencing is as simple as viewing a television screen. The use of advanced webcams, televisions, microphones, speakers and a digital telephone network or Internet makes the meeting flow as if the participants were in the same room. For meetings that require attendance by more than two locations, video conferences use a multipoint control unit. The multipoint control unit acts as a bridge or central point for all locations to connect with, similar to an audio only conference call.

As opposed to the planned face to face meeting, video conferencing offers clients another possible alternative. The use of video conferencing is highly suitable for when a live conversation is needed, visual information is an important component of the conversation, the parties of the conversation can't physically come to the same location or the expense or time of travel is a consideration. As travel expenses, time and monetary costs, continue to rise, the solution of video conferencing provides a cheap solution. Local professional video conferencing sites can be found within a reasonable distance for all end users. Additionally, for the last minute or short notice meetings the use of video conferencing has become a highly popular means of communications.

Video conferencing has had a profound impact on the business, medical, legal, and educational atmosphere. Below are just a few way in which video conferencing has improved the following areas:

Impact on Business Environments

• Lower costs for meetings in distant locations.
• Attending meetings on short notice.
• Sharing of presentations and information first hand.
• Reduces travel time.
• Faster decision making.
• Improves customer and employee relations.

Impact on Medical Environments

• Diagnosis, consulting, transmission of medical images in real time.
• More efficient use of health care money.
• Special peripherals such as microscopes fitted with digital cameras, video endoscopes, medical ultrasound imaging devices, otoscopes, etc., can be viewed with video conference equipment.
• Deaf and hard of hearing individuals can communicate via sign language.

Impact on Education

• Two-way distance learning.
• Teaching brought into remote locations.
• Guest lecturers brought into classes.
• Virtual field trips, students can visit another part of the world.
• Small schools can use pool resources and teach courses (such as foreign languages) which could not otherwise be offered.
• Regular collaboration amongst colleagues at other institutions.

Impact on Legal Environments

• Receive testimony from individuals not able to attend a physical location.
• Flexible scheduling of depositions.
• Convenient scheduling of meetings or witness interviews.
• Collaborate with clients or co-counsel.

A well designed system requires a specially designed room and can cost thousands of dollars to outfit the room with proper input and output devices, furniture and other integration equipment. Furthermore, many companies/end users do not have the technical experience to properly run and maintain their own video conference equipment. As an alternative, many companies/end users contract this service through video conferencing equipped meeting rooms in cities around the world. Customers simply reserve the rooms and show up for the meeting. Everything else is arranged and support is readily available if anything should go wrong. To read more on this topic or to schedule a video conference, please click here.

Every Business Needs an Answering Service

Here Are Ten Good Reasons Why:

1. Time: We save customers time by answering their telephone calls on their behalf every hour of the day, by taking clear messages and relaying them in a timely manner.
2. Money: We save clients time and money. We are skilled at taking messages and specific information and routing telephone calls efficiently. For most businesses we answer their phones over 500 hours each month. On a cost per hour basis, we offer excellent value.
3. Differentiation: Simply put, using our service enables you to distinguish your business from your competitors. Every time we represent you and assist you in fulfilling your customers’ needs, we make our clients look good.
4. Cost Effectiveness: After hours, we provide quality customer service for far less than the cost of covering your telephone lines yourself.
5. Ubiquity: The telephone is the most widely used means of communication in our society. We provide telephone and communications solutions to our customers 24/7.
6. Human Element: We provide callers with greater satisfaction simply because they reach a real person. MedCom provides our clients with a dedicated staff of professionally trained and certified agents, dispatchers, and supervisors.
7. Reliability: Our equipment is reliable and has redundant features so that calls get completed. Our goal is 99.99% run time. Our staff is tested every month in our call monitoring program for quality assurance. These help increase confidence in your company and service too.
8. Expertise: We handle so many different kinds of calls that in many cases we can help streamline the information you may need and help deliver it to you effectively.
9. Technology: MedCom is equipped with some of the most advanced and user-friendly messaging technology available. We can custom tailor messaging solutions for specialized needs and we can create and or access data bases to help your customers.
10. Customer Service: Every business sooner or later needs help serving customer needs, especially during lunch periods, holidays, weekends, during staff meetings, and after hours.

Florida's Widespread Blackouts

Early Tuesday afternoon, Florida was hit by severe power outages and widespread blackouts. The power outage has been blamed on a failed disconnect switch and equipment controlling voltage that had caught fire at an electrical substation near Miami. The blackouts spread from Miami to almost 300 miles north to Orlando and even 100 miles west into Tampa. The utility companies indicated that roughly 1 million customers were without power during the afternoon’s events. Estimates reported by emergency officials and local news affiliates stated nearly 3 million people were affected by the outages. Florida Power and Light recognized that approximately 8,000 locations still were still experiencing blackout conditions into the early evening hours, according to President Armando Olivera. Although power has subsequently been restored, disruptions to every day life of this magnitude come at great costs to many. These events are unanticipated and cannot be prepared for by many of those affected. Many businesses lose the ability to service customers, blank traffic lights can cause major traffic delays and accidents, and in some prolonged cases medical concerns for the elderly and disabled come into play.

One aspect every company needs to account for is their emergency preparedness plan. What will happen to your company when the power goes out, a fire, flood, etc.? Make sure you have the ability to forward your phones to MedCom in order to keep in contact with all your customers. Nothing is more important than letting your customers know you are always available to help them in any situation. Don’t let accidents or unforeseen events stop your company from continuing operations.

MedCom is a recognized leader in our industry. We are Call Center Certified (Gold Level) and we are active members of the Startel National Users Group. This certification helps ensure that we will be operational and available to take calls at least 99.99% of the time. At MedCom in keeping with our high operating standards, we maintain emergency backup systems including four 3.1 KVA battery backups (with continuous power conditioning), a 35 KVA emergency back-up generator, mirrored disk drives in each network server, and a fully redundant standby Startel switch. We are proud of our client relationships, our people, our products and services, and with the job that we do.

In addition to all the back up systems, batteries and generator, MedCom has taken operational precautions a step further. We have joined the Agility Recovery Solutions. In the event of any severe emergency, Agility provides MedCom with a mobile recovery solution. Agility will provide the means and supplies for MedCom to remain operational after a crisis—including office equipment, phone lines and Internet connectivity. MedCom has made efforts to go above and beyond the industry standards in order to maintain business continuity, key relationships, and peace of mind.

Remaining Profitable in a Rapidly Changing Industry

Looking back on the answering service industry ten maybe even five years ago has shown considerable changes to the industry as a whole. The industry is constantly changing; resulting from newer and improved technologies. Within the timeframe mentioned above, MedCom succeeded within the industry by achieving some major accomplishments and top of the line upgrades. MedCom enabled voice messaging systems, SQL servers, web-based features and upgraded to Startel’s latest CMC Platform becoming the first answering service to operate a fully redundant and completely operational back-up CMC platform. MedCom earned significant awards and certifications achievements in the call center, such as the SNUG 24/7 Site Certification GOLD LEVEL and the ATSI Award of Excellence. One of the main goals at MedCom is to stay ahead of the competition, offering the latest features and providing excellent service.

The best way to remain profitable in any industry is to focus on your company’s core competencies. The core competencies are services or products that make your company excel in certain fields. Core competencies focus on adding value from services or products for the customer, making that service or product difficult for competitors to match or copy and they must be adaptable for a variety of markets.

Over the years, MedCom has experienced a steady growth by focusing on our core competencies. Under the leadership and guidance from management, our agents have been trained on how to best handle our clients’ calls within a one to two minute timeframe. While maintaining the industry’s highest standards, our agents interact with callers obtaining the necessary information requested by each of our clients. Having to handle calls from a variety of business environments, medical, commercial and professional, require our agents to remain attentive and focus on each caller’s needs. It is customary for our customers to expect and receive all necessary information in a timely fashion. You would actually be amazed at how much information our agents will get from callers in such a quick time span of one to two minutes per call. MedCom’s efforts to continually reduce the time needed to efficiently acquire callers’ information has become one of the most important and cost effective services given to our clients.

Resulting from MedCom’s quick and efficient call taking, our agents are available for the next caller. At MedCom, we focus on providing each caller with our agent’s undivided attention for the duration of their call with a minimal hold time. We strive to provide each clients’ customer a pleasant experience when they call. Long hold times and frequent interruptions reflect poorly on the quality of an answering service along with the reflection the client themselves. Therefore, we provide ample staffing to manage call volume and more importantly hold times. Each of the past three years, MedCom significantly lower the hold times for any callers placed on hold. In 2005, the average hold time for a caller was twenty seven seconds, in 2006 the average dropped to twenty five seconds and last year the average was down again to twenty four seconds. These hold times are well below the industry benchmark, which is service level difficult for competitors to replicate.

Additionally, MedCom is renowned for implementing the latest technologies available. Offering new features provide us ways to reduce customers’ costs, improve the quality and eliminate errors. Staying atop the technology curve, MedCom remains a step ahead of competitors. Some of the latest features include: accessing your messages via the internet, communicating with agents via 2-way text messaging and even enhanced customer data basing. Stemming from using the latest available features, minimal hold times, and efficient quality service, MedCom has earned and won the ATSI Award of Excellence ten consecutive years, including this year’s Top Score.

Finally, it is important to know that your company can’t be the best at everything. The best way to remain profitable is to focus on what you can do best and stand out in those areas. Focusing on core competencies lets you build competitive advantages that your customers will remember.

If you would like to hear more about MedCom, visit our website or use the new CALL ME button on the our blog’s homepage. The CALL ME button connects you directly to our office.