HIPAA Compliant Home Health and Hospice Answering Service
Centratel provides several HIPAA compliant message delivery systems including 100% encrypted secure messaging in accordance with current Privacy Rules & Regulations. Gain peace of mind knowing your confidential patient information is both secure and private.
Numbers don’t lie.
40 years of experience.
99.99% Accuracy in message processing.
1300
Clients
10K
Daily calls
2M+
Dispatched calls
Our Home Health And Hospice answering service covers all 50 States
Our telephone answering service spans a broad range of home healthcare and hospice specialties, with each given its own unique approach to ensure precise, efficient, and empathetic communication.
Nursing Care
Palliative Care
Rehabilitation Services
Pediatric Home Health
Hospice Care
Alzheimer and Dementia Care
Geriatric Care
Complex Care Management
Click here to get in touch with us.
Cost Savings
Outsourcing calls to a professional, high quality healthcare answering service can result in significant cost savings to hiring, training and managing staff. These savings can be redirected to providing high quality patient care.
Seasonal Scale-Up
Home healthcare offices often experience increases in call volumes during cold and flu season. With 24/7 answering service, any fluctuations in call volumes – no matter the reason – are seamlessly accomodated.
Business Continuity
Health concerns or emergencies don’t adhere to a typical 9-5 timetable. Our home health answering service is available 24 hours 7 days a week, ensuring your patients can always reach a live person, regardless of the hour.
Specialized Industry Expertise
We’re not just any answering service; we’re a dedicated partner with 40 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Some of our staff have been with us for over 25 years. With unparalleled experience, our operators also undergo rigorous training to ensure every call is handled with professionalism and care.
How We Handle Your Calls
Incoming Call
Our operator answers the incoming phone call with, “Answering for [Your office’s name]. How may I help you?” or with “Thank you for calling [Your office’s name], this is [operator’s name]”
Screen for Urgency
Based on a pre-determined list of emergency criteria provided by your office, the operator determines whether each call is urgent or not.
Message Information
Our operator takes all the pertinent information from your caller: patient name, phone number and the reason for the call. The operator informs your caller they should expect a return phone call in specified amount of time.
Notify On-Call
Our answering service operator immediately dispatches the urgent message via a secure text message or places a direct call to the on-call nurse.
Enhance healthcare customer satisfaction with our medical answering service solutions. We aim to improve patient outcomes and stabilize your healthcare business through quality 24/7 customer service.
24/7 Live Answering Service
Offer uninterrupted client support with our professional 24/7 live answering service, including emergency response, after-hours answering, and overflow support. Our operators are available around the clock to provide you with the assurance that your customers will always have a reliable line of communication.
HIPAA-Compliant Messaging
Safeguard patient privacy with our HIPAA-compliant messaging system. Rest assured that sensitive medical information is handled securely, ensuring strict adherence to HIPAA regulations and maintaining confidentiality at all times.
Call Recording
Every call for your office is recorded, offering easy resolution through call-TSR dialogue reviews. Receive full conversations as WAV files for quick access and analysis. This can be a valuable tool for your medical office.
Call Screening
Using predetermined screening criteria we will handle all of your calls. Allowing for fewer interruptions by filtering between non-urgent inquiries and urgent issues. Our commitment ensures you’re promptly notified about urgent calls and never miss what truly matters.
Online Message Portal
Centratel’s online message access feature allows you to retrieve and manage messages from anywhere, at any time, eliminating the need for phone calls or staff inquiries. Say goodbye to missed messages and hello to a more efficient, responsive, and productive way of managing your hospice clinic.
US-Owned and Operated
For 40 years, Centratel has been proudly owned and operated exclusively within the United States. We stand by this commitment by refraining from outsourcing calls internationally. We steer clear of utilizing AI technology for call handling, thereby guaranteeing authentic human engagement.
Monthly Billing Cycle
Centratel’s billing process encompasses the entire month, resulting in 12 statements per year. In contrast, many competitors employ a 28-day billing cycle, yielding an additional 13th statement each year. Centratel’s monthly billing cycle provides transparency and consistency for your hospice or home health business.
No Long Term Contracts
We are committed to delivering top-notch medical solutions tailored to your needs by eliminating long-term contracts. We are confident in the service we offer and provide you with the flexibility and freedom to evaluate our services on an ongoing basis.
“Our clients are people who want flawless performance from their answering service. They realize communication with their customers (and among their own staff) must be superb whether it is on-premise or off-premise; during office hours or after-hours.”
“Just wanted to let you know how pleased the doctor and all of us are with you guys. Everyone is so nice to talk to, as well as professional.”
S.S., manager, medical clinic,
Bend, Oregon
“We were with our previous telephone answering service for 24 years and even though you are a little more expensive, you are well worth it…our patients comment on how great you handle their calls.”
B.T., office manager, medical clinic,
Encino, Ca
30-Day Free Trial
We are so confident in the service we provide that we offer our free trial. Experience the difference!
Latest blog Posts
Getting a Price Quote
For a price quote, fill out the form below (or, alternatively, call us at 800-664-7159. You can also email us at sales@centratel.com).
If you contact us on a weekday between the hours of 8 am and 8:00 pm EST (5 am and 5 pm PST), a member of our team will respond immediately or do their best to get back to you the same day.
Statistically, Centratel is the highest quality telephone answering service in the United States, offering a full 30 days of free service just to prove it.
(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, maybe take a moment to review one or more of the brief key points listed below.)
For a price quote, fill out the form below (or, alternatively, call us at 800-664-7159. You can also email us at sales@centratel.com).
If you contact us on a weekday between the hours of 8 am and 8:00 pm EST (5 am and 5 pm PST), a member of our team will respond immediately or do their best to get back to you the same day.
Statistically, Centratel is the highest quality telephone answering service in the United States, offering a full 30 days of free service just to prove it.
(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, maybe take a moment to review one or more of the brief key points listed on the right.)
Working with Us
1.MORE REGARDING THE 30-DAY FREE TRIAL OF SERVICE
Your first month of service is at no charge. Whether you ultimately decide to engage Centratel or not, you will not pay for this first month of service.
During the free trial, you may choose to keep your current answering service account active, simply forwarding your phone lines to us for the duration of the trial. In the unlikely event that Centratel service is not satisfactory, returning to your original answering service would be just a matter of forwarding your phone lines back to that service.
After the trial, if you choose to switch to Centratel, we will credit your account the monthly base-rate charge billed by your former answering service during the trial.
2.STATISTICALLY, “THE BEST IN THE U.S.”?
Answering service quality is 100% dependent on human action and, in the course of a day, a multitude of human decisions are made by the people who handle calls: Telephone Service Representatives (TSRs).
Like any other answering service, because we’re dealing with real, live human beings, occasionally errors can occur.
But note that Centratel’s error rate is light-years ahead of industry standards. Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (January through December, 2023) was 1 customer-reported error for every 8,910 message transactions processed.
Here’s a testimonial from a new medical client that had just finished their 30-day trial:
“Hi Kendra,
Of course, I love the cost as it is pretty close to the amount I was allowed by the president of the company. I did tell 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 how the reports are being generated by first name. Everyone here is just so happy and I don’t know how you do it, but that daily report is in at exactly 9 am; not 9:01 and not 8:59. I keep each one in my Simple Nursing/Centratel folder, and it’s a great review for me to make sure all the calls are going to the correct person, and they always are. That part is certainly difficult because some incoming calls can be vague and could easily be sent to the wrong person.
“I love you, Centratel, and the price. I’m ready to sign whatever documents you require.
“Thanks for the great service, the free month, your reliable calls and your willingness to find easier ways to make me happy.
“To a great partnership,
-“KB, Phoenix“
3.GETTING STARTED: SIMPLE AND FAST
Getting your new Centratel answering service up-and-running is often accomplished within a 48-hour period.
From the start, know that your Centratel customer service representative will be with you every step of the way, listening carefully to your concerns, answering questions, and offering suggestions.
4.NEW TO USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE?
A majority of our current answering service accounts switched to us from another service because of quality problems they were experiencing.
However, if you have not used a service before, you are probably unfamiliar with the options and benefits. For you, it’s uncharted territory.
Our unique-within-the-industry 30-day free trial provides you—and us—plenty of time to precisely refine your message-taking and delivery protocols — to get things exactly the way you want them to be without any financial risk, undue pressure or obligation.
5.PRICING
Starting at $89 per month, our rates are in the mid-range of answering service industry pricing.
We’ll bill your account based on the number of calls we handle per month, not on total minutes/seconds expended like many other billing-by-time answering services (services that, knowingly or unknowingly, allow caller and client conversations to drag out, thus increasing cost).
6.COMPARING ANSWERING SERVICE PRICING
It’s apples and oranges: comparing pricing from one answering service to another is difficult. There isn’t an industry standard for billing, and each service has its own formula. Also, some services charge by “time,” others by “work units,” while others might combine the two. At Centratel, we charge for the work we do, not by the time we spend.
This is important: at no risk to you, the 30 day free trial will not only give you an idea of the quality of our service, but will provide you an accurate estimate of ongoing monthly costs.
7.ESTIMATING YOUR COST WITHOUT DATA FROM THE FREE TRIAL
In order to provide you with an initial cost estimate for service , it’s helpful for you to provide us the average number of calls you expect Centratel to process in a month.
Please consider that even with this information, the quote will still be “ball park.”
We won’t have a truly accurate estimate of your new account’s monthly costs until we have actually handled your call traffic for at least one month. (And remember, this first trial month is free, with no obligation).
8.BEWARE: 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 to the last day of that month. When soliciting quotes from other telephone answering services, be sure to ask if the base-rate charges are billed monthly or on a “28-day billing cycle.”
28-day billing cycles have become popular with many answering services because some customers, without careful consideration, assume 28 days is equal to a month. Customers billed on a 28 day cycle actually receive 13 billings per year and therefore overall costs for service are higher.
9.NO CONTRACT, SIMPLE TERMS OF SERVICE, FIRST 30 DAYS ARE FREE
We do not ask for a contract for service because we want you to have the opportunity to evaluate us real-time, without contractual restraint.
Our terms of service are simple and straight-forward: You will be billed on a month to month basis. Your first month is free, without obligation.
10.FREE GIFT FOR CONTACTING US
If you discuss answering service with us, we will send you a hardcover copy of Sam Carpenter’s bestselling book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less., now in it’s 4th edition. (See workthesystem.com)
Sam is the founder and President of Centratel
There’s more information regarding the book at workthesystem.com.