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American Telephony Inc.
Patient Appointment Management
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previously featured members
 It
is now common practice for the doctor’s office to call with a reminder
a couple of days before an appointment. It’s worth the cost because a
missed appointment is wasted time and lost revenue.
Len Moeller of
American Telephony recognized this in 1993. At a church coffee group
one Sunday morning, Len was introduced to a computer hardware engineer
who had developed a micro-processor based system that could call
various groups in a church setting to remind them of important
events. Len had been involved with medical software his entire career
and immediately recognized the potential offered to medical practices.
With confidence in
his idea, but recognizing the risks involved in launching a new
product, he contacted the engineer and established a relationship to
introduce the PhoneTree to the medical market. In 1994, PhoneTreeRX
was introduced with great success. There was nothing like it and it
addressed a real need. In the doctor’s offices, “No Shows” went down
and revenue went up. The solution was cost effective.
Initially, the
standalone microprocessor recorded your message and dialed numbers you
entered. As it evolved, the microprocessor was connected to a
computer that supplied the database of appointments, names and phone
numbers.
Over the next few
years, competition began to emerge. The relationship with the
PhoneTree group became difficult. In 1996, using what he had learned
from the existing product and customers, Len decided to develop his
own product. The new system would be PC based, using an internal
telephony board and eliminating the peripheral microprocessor calling
device.
That same year, Len
teamed with Robert Jones IV, a long time colleague who had extensive
experience in designing and coding medical software. Together they
undertook the task of developing the necessary technology and writing
the code. In 1997, PAM97 was introduced to the public. PAM stands
for Patient Appointment Messages.
PAM97, and the new
version PAM2000, are delivered to doctors’ offices as a standalone
PC. Appointments from almost any scheduling system can be
automatically imported and the system calls patients using a
customized recorded message that can be personalized with the
patients’ name, appointment type, doctor’s name and appointment time
and date. If the system comes upon a name that isn’t one of the
pre-recorded names in the database, the operator is notified and the
name can easily be added.
The system costs
about $7,000 delivered and set up in a doctor’s office. It can also
be leased for about $250/month. PAM2000 can make up to 700 calls per
day on a single phone line bringing the cost to as low as 2 cents per
call. By comparison, a person can make about 33 calls per hour.
Paying a wage of $12/hour, the cost per call would be 36 cents.
While there is
competition in the market, American Telephony holds a patent on a
device that makes PAM2000 superior. They have developed technology
that allows them to deliver their message in spite of a popular device
known as a Tele-Zapper®, a device that was designed to prevent tele-marketing
calls from getting through.
Today, PAM2000 is
marketed only to the medical industry. Len recognizes the potential
to develop a similar product for other markets such as hair salons,
automobile service centers, veterinarians and more.
Today’s technology
is offering new opportunities. Len is working on a web-based system.
Instead of having an on-site computer, offices will be able to upload
appointment information automatically. Calls will be made from a
central location. With the low cost of VoIP telephony, it won’t
matter that calls for an office in California will originate in
Pennsylvania. Utilizing a web-based system eliminates the cost of
initial investment and brings the cost down considerably. This will
open up the market to smaller medical offices and a new version of the
product could be configured to service other industries. This is a
good example of how businesses today can leverage technology to open
up new markets and bring down costs as a means to grow and enhance
their companies.
You can learn more
about American Telephony and PAM2000 by visiting the company website
at
www.pam2000.com.
As a member of
BottomLine Partners, American Telephony is extremely satisfied with
the services they use. Len says that Wrigley's Office Supply gives
them prompt service at great savings. AD Computer's payroll processing
service has impressed them with the quality of their service. Because
they ship computers and monitors, delivery service is important. DHL
has replaced FedEx with great results. Costs have come down
considerably and the service has been excellent. |
