The Beryl Companies Launches CARE Calls Program in Five Hospitals Across U.S.

(DALLAS, TX) -- From Illinois to California, The Beryl Companies has begun providing post-discharge CARE Calls (Connecting About Real Experiences) to find out about patients' experiences within 72 hours of an inpatient or outpatient visit. Hospitals participating in the initial launch of this new service are BroMenn Healthcare System in Normal, IL; Clovis Community Medical Center in Clovis, CA; HealthONE in Denver; Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, CA; and Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, IL.

"CARE Calls are a compassionate extension of any hospital's brand," said Mark Williard, senior vice president of product management for Beryl. "The data that we collect during these calls provides actionable insight about each patient visit for use in service recovery, which increases overall patient satisfaction and retention by identifying opportunities for improvement."

CARE Calls use market-tested standardized questions that enable national and peer group comparisons in the areas of quality and compassion. Only three to five minutes in length, these high-touch interactions have been shown to build affinity between patients and healthcare providers, including:Increase patient satisfaction by as much as 15 percent.

• Increase likelihood to recommend by 49 percent.
• Reduce inpatient returns within 72 hours of discharge.
• Reduce risk-management costs.
• Increase patient loyalty, hospital referrals and admissions.
• Provide a consistent and reliable process for collecting data on patient experiences and process improvement.
• Provide an opportunity for service recovery through timely feedback.
• Allow for a comparison to national benchmarks.

Beryl is hosting a free CARE Calls webinar on Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. (Central Time). Dr. Michael Guthrie, Beryl's chief medical advisor, will lead the discussion.

ABOUT BERYL

Beryl, the nation's leading healthcare-exclusive call center, helps organizations grow revenue and build lasting customer relationships by connecting people to healthcare. As a top provider of outsourced telephone and Web-based communications, Beryl delivers 24/7 exemplary customer service during more than five million interactions annually. Since 1985, hundreds of healthcare organizations have relied on Beryl for best-practices insight and data they can use to make more informed decisions about customer acquisition and retention. For more information about Beryl and its educational arm, The Beryl Institute, visit www.beryl.net.

"The healthcare industry is really beginning to embrace customer service enhancements; and those that aren't, should," said Kristin Baird, past speaker at The Beryl Institute's conference and president of Baird Consulting. "This conference provides an excellent opportunity for healthcare organizations to learn how to enhance the patient experience every day in every way. Last year's conference provided a wealth of information for both those who are in the early phases of service improvement as well as those who are among the industry's best practices."