Medical Alert Monitoring Centers Have a Variety of Possible Certifications

Medical Alert Monitoring Centers Have a Variety of Possible Certifications

Medical alert monitoring centers are one of the three most important components of a medical alert system. Three important and equal parts are the medical alert device, the medical alert monitoring center, and the medical alert company's service quality.

In this article I wish to focus the discussion on these medical alert centers and their possible certifications, services provided and whether it is important if they are owned by any particular medical alert company or contracted by the medical alert company.

The most important, at a minimum, of three possible major certifications is UL Listed centers.

UL Listed monitoring centers are required to have annual inspections that ensure that the they meets their stringent requirements. They require full redundancy of all systems meaning that if a system fails a back-up system is implemented immediately and automatically.

Automatic transfer from city power to generator power is required, and is accomplished with backup power generators and UPS systems.

The second of the three major certifications is called FM approved and this is issued to be able to monitor large building fire systems.

The third and most difficult certification is called Department of Defense Cleared. There are but a handful of centers with this distinction. They are the outside monitoring centers that might be watching over military bases, missile systems and even some places we don't even know about.

It is very rare to find a one that holds all three of these major certifications.

What of the question often asked, "Are you a privately owned or contracted monitoring center?" Is this of any importance to the client who is using a medical alarm service? Not really! What is an important question to ask is, "Do you have a second redundantly backed up center in a different location should a natural disaster occur?"

There are a few good proprietary monitoring centers and many more excellent contracted monitoring centers. It's possible for either situation, owned or contracted monitoring center to be poorly run.

The better discussion here would be what makes a great center?

Here's the rub. All the medical alert companies make great claims about themselves. Can you, as a civilian know who is telling you the truth? I doubt it!

These are some important issues an excellent center addresses:

Comprehensive customer service-training programs that are designed to teach the operators how to handle all situations.

Quality control systems that evaluates operators and a on a daily basis review their performance.

Recording all operator calls and reviewing them on a daily basis.

Comprehensive training programs designed specifically for medical alarms.

Certification for all operators who handle Medical Alarms that assures the operators are trained to handle all medical situations.

How many operators does an excellent center have? It doesn't matter!

What does matter relative to the number of operators in a medical monitoring center?

1. Controlled growth systems must be in place.

2. Call Management Systems (CMS) must be in place to allow controlled growth that monitors the call flow traffic and projects their staffing needs

3. Heavy traffic periods are directed by the CMS to have the correct staffing to control it. This means it is scalable to all traffic levels.

The bottom line is that the best medical alert monitoring centers must be staffed and managed the right way. A large center may have 750,000 clients and poor control of their staff and systems. A smaller center may have the same problems.

The answer is attention to detail, quality standards and a great management team.

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