The Highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in the United States

A nurse holds patient hands while Centratel’s Hospice Answering Service covers his calls

The Importance of a Call Escalation Process for Hospice Providers

August 2, 2018

Home Healthcare & Hospice

By Centratel

Being a hospice care provider is not easy work, but we at Centratel Answering Service know how much you mean to your patients and their families. We also know how dedicated you are to providing the best possible care at such a critical time in people’s lives.

The family and loved ones of hospice patients face many new uncertainties and insecurities. They want to do things right for their loved ones, but they may not be sure what to do. New questions and concerns may arise every day, sometimes multiple times in one day.

Establishing a 1-2-3 escalation protocol for after-hours communication with hospice nurses and staff is vital for good patient care. The families and loved ones of your patients need to have absolute assurance that they can get a hold of your staff in any time of need. But it takes more than that. To be effective, this escalation process needs to work exactly the way you work. Your answering service team needs to work hand in hand with you, as part of your patient care team.

This is why at Centratel we work closely with our clients to establish the right escalation protocol for your business. This shapes our call handling and dispatch process as we work alongside you. We know every hospice provider is unique but no matter what, it is necessary to provide a balance of compassion and urgency. Our specialization in hospice accounts offers peace of mind: setting up your after-hours call escalation process based on your specific needs.

When a patient or family member calls they need to know that their message is going to get to the on-call nurse. If they do not hear back within a specific time frame, we empower them by providing a live person to reach back out to that can follow set protocols to reach emergency back-up staff. Simply put, if the caller phones again, we begin our escalation process. This means we are involved in the care process with you, and we will keep communications open with your client until you are able to provide a direct response.

Taking the Next Step

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or if you have questions, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed below.)

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed on the right.)

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Terms of Service

Why Choose Centratel

BY SAM CARPENTER
July 1, 2025

1.CENTRATEL’S UNIQUE 30-DAY FREE TRIAL

Why is this important? Because it will provide you a truly accurate estimate of cost (we bill monthly), it will demonstrate our quality, and it gives both sides of this brand new relationship—you and Centratel—plenty of time to refine and perfect operational details.

Here’s a testimonial from a new medical client that had just finished their 30-day trial: “Of course, I love the cost as it is close to the amount I was allowed by the president of the company. I told him that if we did not continue with Centratel, I would resign as the Director of Customer Service, and I meant it. It’s a great fit. We have had NOT ONE complaint from a patient or in-house which, as you know, we received daily with our former answering service. I love you, Centratel, and the price. I’m ready to sign whatever documents you require. Thanks for the great service, and the free month! To a great partnership! -KB, Phoenix“

2.STATISTICALLY, THE BEST IN THE U.S.?

Answering service quality is 100% dependent on human action and reaction, and in the course of a single day a multitude of human decisions are made by the people who process the calls: Telephone Service Representatives, or TSRs. (Some answering services refer to them as “agents.” Others, “operators.”)

Like any other answering service, at Centratel we’re dealing with real live human beings and so human errors can occur. But within this labor intensive service industry that is historically known for marginal quality, Centratel’s error rate is light years ahead of established standards. Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (January through December, 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 6,161 message transactions processed. That statistic is unmatched.

There’s no artificial intelligence manipulation, we do not offshore calls, and we were founded and have always operated within the United States. (Note that since early 2020, the COVID six-foot social distancing mandate drove thousands of small-to-medium sized answering services out of business. Large, often foreign-owned multi-nationals, disguised by the name of the local answering services they acquired, now thoroughly dominate the industry. Hence, an even further decline in general service quality. See this analysis.)

3.CUSTOMER SERVICE EXTRAORDINAIRE

Your concerns will be instantly acted upon. It’s a work ethic that stands in stark contrast to the general decline in quality of human-to-human business communications. You’ve seen it yourself, all around. At Centratel you will know by name the customer service people you’re working with, appreciating their special listening abilities as well as their take-action-now comportment. e.g. see the testimonial in point #1 above. ‘Nuff said!

4.GETTING STARTED: IT’S SIMPLE AND FAST

Getting your new Centratel answering service 30-day free trial up-and-running is accomplished within 24-48 hours. From the start, your “onboarding” customer service representative will be with you every step of the way, listening carefully to your concerns, answering questions and offering suggestions.

5.NEW TO USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE?

The very large majority of our current answering service accounts switched to us from another service because of quality and/or cost problems. However, if you have not used a service before, you are not familiar with the options, benefits, and pitfalls. Our 30-day free trial provides you—and us—plenty of time to precisely refine your desired message-taking and delivery protocols; to get things exactly the way you want them to be without any financial risk, undue pressure, or obligation.

6.PRICING

Starting at $150 per month, our rates lie in the mid-range of the industry. Note that we charge by the “transaction unit” rather than the duration of time spent handling calls. Large “mega-services” operating in the U.S. prefer time billing because it ensures the company is compensated for lower-paid/high-turnover — and thus slower — agents. No matter the quality or how long they keep your callers on hold, they still make a profit. And yes, it can get expensive, especially if caller on-hold time is also billed.

In any answering service, it takes a long time for a new agent to become fast, efficient, and stable. At Centratel, we pamper and reward experienced agents (via high pay and great benefits) and therefore have extremely low staff turnover. Needless to say, experienced agents make fewer errors than trainees who learn on-the-job. And, transaction-unit billing is easy to understand. There is no room for fraud as in time-billing. We can easily document and explain any monthly billing we send you.

7.ACCURATELY COMPARING ANSWERING SERVICE PRICING IS COMPLICATED

It’s apples and oranges. There isn’t an industry standard for billing, and each answering service has its own formula. Also, as noted above, some services charge by agent “time” while a few, like us, charge by “transaction units.” Some others combine the two. At Centratel, we charge for the work we do, not by the time we spend. The raw truth is that the only reliable way to determine monthly cost for a new service is to use that service for a solid month. Most answering services offer a 7-day free trial or no trial at all. With Centratel you get 30-days.

8. MONTHLY OR 28-DAY BILLING?

Important! At Centratel, we use a “monthly” billing cycle in which invoices are compiled from the first day of a month through the last day of that month. When soliciting quotes from other services, be sure to ask if the base-rate charges are billed monthly or on a “28-day billing cycle.” There is no good reason for a 28-day billing cycle! It’s bait-and-switch: customers billed on a 28-day cycle actually receive thirteen billings per year and therefore the overall cost is higher.

9.NO CONTRACT AND SIMPLE TERMS OF SERVICE

We don’t ask for a term-contract for service because you should be able to evaluate us real-time, without restraint. Our terms of service are simple and straight-forward.

10.VALUABLE FREE GIFT FOR CONTACTING US

If you take the time to discuss answering service with us, on the same day we will ship you a hardcover copy of Sam Carpenter’s bestselling book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now just released in its 5^th edition. We’ll send you a copy just for contacting us. (Sam is Centatel’s very active CEO.) December 1^st 2024 marked his fortieth year of ownership.)