Answer Midwest Is Now Featuring Secure Messaging Capabilities!

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Attention, all physicians and medical staff! We have great news for you – we are making your lives easier than ever before!

Answer Midwest is now offering secure messaging capabilities for all of our clients. Designed by Telescan, LLC, our secure messaging capabilities, called Secure Message Delivery App (or SMDA for short), deliver your messages safely, quickly, and simply to the mobile phones of physicians and staff. The best part – it also coincides with HIPAA PHI compliance!

We know you depend on your messages to be delivered in a timely, safe, and efficient manner all while remaining compliant with HIPPA PHI regulation requirements. That’s why we decided to go the extra mile for you to provide our staff with this technology so you won’t miss a single message or have any contents compromised.

Your messages are definitely in safe hands here at Answer Midwest. Our messages are sorted as “read” and “unread,” along with the date and time it was sent and “secure” in order to meet the HIPPA PHI requirements. The messages are then organized in scrollable lists when they come in, so they’ll be sorted under “new,” “in-process,” or “complete,” depending on the status of the message. Our fantastic operators will mark your messages “complete” when it’s delivered to you!

But that’s not all! Our new secure messaging capabilities also provide you with a lot of really great benefits, including secured messaging with SSL encryption software, secure Internet access to all client-specific messaging information, instant 24-7 access to your messages, safe storage of your messages on a secure, remote server, and lower costs.

If you’re in need of a friendly, efficient, 24/7 telecommunication service that is secure and totally HIPAA PHI compliant, you’ve come to the right place! Just call Answer Midwest at (618) 463-2430! We’re your go-to place when it comes to secure messaging!

Answer Midwest Employee Spotlight: Leah Zirkelbach

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We at Answer Midwest strongly believe in taking good care of our clients’ customers with our exemplary customer service. Day or night, we pick up and answer with a smile, happy and enthusiastic to serve. We really feel that our wonderful employees make all the difference in our customer service and satisfaction. This month for our Employee Spotlight, we are proud to showcase Leah Zirkelbach, one of our main dispatchers here at Answer Midwest!

Leah has been with us for one year and was promoted just recently to the role as one of our main dispatchers. “My role is to take incoming calls, screen them, and get the message to the appropriate person based on the criteria that has been set by our clients,” Leah said. “I also try to help both the caller and our clients as much as possible, whether it’s an office message or a major emergency call.”

Leah joined the Answer Midwest team for many reasons. “Initially, my mom heard about Answer Midwest at her office. She’s a nurse practitioner, and the people in her office referred me to the company,” said Leah. “I discovered that I really like it at Answer Midwest! I have great co-workers and management. Everyone is really down to earth here, and it’s also close to home.”

Most of all, Leah loves helping people in need. “Every caller is in need of something, and even the callers that think we are ‘just’ an answering service end up realizing that we play a key role in helping them,” she said.

A graduate from Lewis & Clark Community College, Leah grew up in Bethalto and fondly remembers spending time with her grandparents. “I had the best times as a child camping on weekends and holidays with Grams and Grandpa! Our favorite spots were in Vandalia and Nashville, Illinois,” said Leah.

Leah recently got married this year as well! “I married my husband in April, though we have been together for six years,” she said. “We went to Mexico with our family and close friends for our ceremony. I have never really traveled much, but going to Mexico was amazing!” Leah and her husband don’t have children yet, but their Chihuahua wiener dog, Lucy, tends to think that she is their child.

When Leah isn’t helping those in need at her job, she can be found outside. “I’m an outdoor girl! I love fishing, camping, boating, four-wheeling, hunting, and anything that keeps me outside,” Leah said. “I especially like gardening and working in the yard.”

Want to know more about Answer Midwest? Just give us a call at (618) 463-2430! No matter what hour of the day or night, we pick up!

8 Ways Answer Midwest Will Make Your Business More Efficient

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At Answer Midwest, we are here to make your work go smoother! But maybe you’re curious about how we can achieve that. Below we’ve compiled eight ways we will make you and your business far more effective, all without having to go through the costly and time consuming process of hiring new employees.

No Downtime – We pride ourselves on being available 24/7 and we mean that. We know your business can’t afford any downtime, either. As such, we will take any and all calls and make sure they get to you no matter what. Hurricane Sandy is the perfect example of this. When some of the businesses on the east coast lost power because of the storm, those businesses didn’t miss a beat thanks to our service. Your company may face days when the office can’t be open, but that’s no reason to stop serving your clientele. Answer Midwest makes that possible!

Order taking – Say you are the type of business that lives on getting orders from customers by phone. You can’t be expected to stay in the office 24/7, and it can be costly to hire one or two people to work the phones during the graveyard shift. We can help you! With our service, your customers can order your products and services around the clock whether you or your employees are in the office or not.

Our staff can handle any order taking details you need. You can rest easy knowing your customers will speak with representatives of your company who are helpful and knowledgeable. All orders will be sent to you when you want them, and in any format you choose including email, fax, phone, and more. It’s like having your own personal employees!

Medical Emergencies – Are you a doctor? If so, you know how important it can be to get calls when your office is closed. We have been handling medical emergency calls since 1946, so we are very capable of helping you. We will take any medical calls, handle any information accurately, and keep all records for seven years for insurance and legal purposes. Your patients won’t ever know that you don’t have a receptionist 24/7!

Appointment Management – Your calendar is your lifeblood. Your schedule is important to you, and so it is for us, too. Clients, patients, or patrons can call us to make or reschedule any appointments, and we will make sure your schedule is kept up-to-date!

Information Center – Do you need survey results or questionnaire responses in order to help target your marketing program? We can handle that! We will gather any important information from your clients and make sure it gets to you without having to trouble your staff to do it. You’ll get your results without having to miss a beat at the office!

Troubleshooting and Help Desk – Ever find yourself answering the same questions over and over again? We can step in and take those calls for you. If you find that you constantly need to answer certain inquiries, just let us know how you would like us to respond, and we can take those pesky calls off of your hands.

Dispatching – Get the right information to the right person the first time. Instead of forcing your clients and customers to have to wade through a maze of on-hold messages, we will make sure their inquiries get to the right person each time.

Reminders – Do you find yourself forgetting important dates? Our wake-up service will make sure you know where you need to be and when you need to be there. You won’t have to worry about forgetting schedules, medications, appointments, or anniversaries with Answer Midwest at your side!

So, are you ready to kick your business up a notch? Then call us at (618) 463-9093, we’re ready to take your call!

Answer Midwest Employee Spotlight: Chrissy Pollock

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Here at Answer Midwest, we love making sure that our clients’ customers are always taken care of and have all of their needs fulfilled. This wouldn’t be possible without our amazing staff, who are always happy and serve our clients’ customers with enthusiasm and a smile on their faces, no matter what time of the day or night. Our Employee Spotlight this month showcases Chrissy Pollock, Senior Dispatcher and soon to be our Office Manager here at Answer Midwest!

Chrissy has been with Answer Midwest for 4 and a half years and has worn several hats while at the company. “I’ve been in training for about a year now on all aspects of running the office,” she says. “I do account programming, the first level of employee performance reports, call-handling, dispatching, and I am also responsible for several reporting functions as well as being the trainer for new employees and new customers learning our systems.”

Chrissy has never been short on ambition and is always in pursuit of knowledge and self-betterment. “There are lots of other things that I’m training on!” said Chrissy. “Basically, I want to be able to know everything there is about keeping this office running smoothly for our Answer Midwest team and for our clients.”

A native of Wood River, Chrissy grew up spending time with her twin brother Chris and racing soapbox derby cars as a child. “I was on the news once when I won a trophy, which was almost as tall as I was,” she said. “That was a pretty cool thing for a kid!”

Chrissy graduated from SIU-E and studied social work, criminal justice, and business at the university. She chose to work at Answer Midwest because she wanted to work with people in an office setting and was looking for a job that would match the need she had. “My best friend Tess had worked at Answer Midwest while she was in school, too, and she told me that it was a great place to work,” said Chrissy. “She was right – I love it here!”

More specifically, Chrissy loves the people most when at her job. “I love both the people I work with as well as the long list of different companies and callers,” she said. “I also enjoy being able to learn new things and share ideas here!”

Chrissy has been married to her husband, Don, for 8 years and together they have two dogs, Leroy the basset hound and Stitch the Shih Tzu. “My husband has been my rock through so many trials – we really are soul mates!” she said. “We don’t have children currently, but we both love kids and definitely see them in our future.”

When Chrissy isn’t happily assisting our clients’ customers or her coworkers, she can be found reading, crocheting blankets, or camping or fishing with her husband. An avid baseball and St. Louis Blues hockey fan, Chrissy also loves to watch her twin brother Chris race on the dirt tracks at TRI City Speedway, being part of her cousin’s free haunted house, Mason Mansion, in Wood River, and being part of the Ladies Auxiliary in Hartford.

Want to know more about Answer Midwest? Call us at (618) 463-2430. We’ll pick up!

Hey, Health Care Professionals! Answer Midwest Is Now HIPAA Compliant!

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When you use any kind of service, you expect your information to be confidential and held with the utmost respect. This is especially true if you’re in the healthcare field, a field in which privacy is a must.

Well, we have great news for you then! Answer Midwest has now become totally HIPAA compliant and certified in order to better serve all of you in the medical industry!

All of our operators at Answer Midwest have just finished training and certification in become HIPAA compliant, so whenever you use our services, your clients will be greeted by HIPAA certified, friendly operators who are highly trained to gather private sensitive information and to dispatch messages promptly and accurately to your desired HIPAA compliant protocol! Each call includes detailed record-keeping and is digitally recorded for retention.

We also provide message encryption, which will protect your privacy and the privacy of your clients in both text message and email format! Doctors will now have the ability to send secure messages to others in their group and make notes on the messages that they receive right on the secure messaging app!

Best of all, all data files are sent and received securely among you and your staff and features text with fully-supported

SMS text messaging! All messages are secured with SSL encryption software and are safely stored on a secure remote server.

As an ever-changing industry, the field of healthcare and medicine depends on messages being delivered in a simple, quick, and secure manner, all while remaining compliant with HIPAA secure PHI regulation requirements. At Answer Midwest, you can be assured that your messages will remain secure and that you can access them instantly – 24/7!

Want to make sure that your company is ahead of the curve? Sign up with Answer Midwest, your full-service, 24/7 live operator call-handling service company!

Call us at (618) 463-2430 today!

Answer Midwest Wins the National Award for Excellence 12 Years in a Row!

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Here at Answer Midwest, we strive on a daily basis to make sure that you, our client, are receiving the best service possible. We make sure that every caller of yours is happy that they are doing business with you and that your every need is catered to and considered. We want to provide you with the highest quality of caller professionalism, service, responsiveness, and comfort, and we make it a point to reach for this goal on a daily basis.

How honored were we when we learned that we were being recognized and rewarded for our hard work!

The Association of TeleServices International has recently given us The Diamond-Plus Award of Excellence for customer service for the 12th year in a row! This is quite an honor for us all here at Answer Midwest. For the past twelve years, we have had to pass stringent testing by an independent panel of judges. The judges rated our call-handling skills in the realms of courtesy, accuracy, professionalism, response time, making our customers feel comfortable, and our overall service to our clients’ callers.

We are so proud to continue this tradition of quality and superior customer service and so honored to have received this award for the 12th consecutive year. Our goal each and every day is to make every single caller happy and satisfied that they are doing business with our clients, and that our agents, who continually train and are unwaveringly committed to our clients, provide the highest quality of service, responsiveness, and caller professionalism for our clients and their callers. To us, receiving this award exemplifies that we are adhering to our motto every day – “Real people. Real time. All the difference!”

If you’re looking for a full-service, 24/7 live operator call-handling service company that stands out from the crowd and provides you with superior service, then we are the company for you!

Give us a call at (618) 463-2430 for more information! Remember, our only limitation is your imagination!

The Rich History of Answer Midwest

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Hello, and welcome to our blog! We are very excited to be presenting our blog to you and hope that you will be back many more times to get great information and handy updates from us.

Answer Midwest has been serving customers happily for quite a long time, but we more than likely wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Mrs. Margaret Weber accepting a very important position back in 1946. At that time, a local physician in Alton approached her and asked if she would be willing to answer his phones after office hours, hoping that by having someone real answering the phone the patients would not only be satisfied but they could also reach the physician in case of emergencies.

Margaret answered the physician’s phone through the phone in her residence and would take a message for each call she received. The physician had also left her with his detailed itinerary on where and how he could be reached in the event of an emergency. At that time, all that was needed was a telephone, a note pad, a pencil, and someone willing to work 16 hours a day and all weekend long.

The company survived and went through a series of different owners until it was sold to its current owners, Gary and Lee Ann Tedrick, in 1991. From 1946 up until 1991, a fully staffed and appointed office, including 3 operator consoles, 7 employees, and the latest state-of-the-art Telescan Advantage Plus IV paperless messaging system, have been at the service of more than 150 customers.

Gary, Lee Ann, and their daughter, Jennifer, bring a history of professionalism and diversity of business management skills to the business. Gary has a strong history of sales, customer service, and marketing, having begun in the corrugated industry with the Alton Box Board Company and moving to the telecommunications field. He had served as a systems consultant at Southwestern Bell and AT&T before moving to this family-owned business adventure.

Lee Ann has served as the administrative assistant for several business leaders in many different cities including St. Louis, Miami, Denver, and Kansas City, and she has honed her skills in creating an atmosphere of professionalism over the years.

Jen, who graduated Cum Laude from Greenville College with a bachelor’s degree in business management, worked as an assistant to the General Partner at Edward Jones & Company in St. Louis until 1994, when she came to Answer Midwest, Inc. She has worked her way up through the ranks, performing in every position available, beginning as a management partner-in-training. She is now Vice President of Answer Midwest, Inc.

We at Answer Midwest have worked diligently to improve the company as a whole since we took ownership. We have gone through several equipment upgrades and have kept our focus always on the satisfaction of our customers and on the quality of service that we provide them. We have added in-house monitoring as well as very rigorous monitoring from an outside agency to make sure that we keep the quality of services top-notch. Our dedication to the quality of service has garnered us a great deal of recognition, and we have recently been awarded the illustrious Award of Excellence for outstanding customer service for the past 12 consecutive years.

What brings us more joy and satisfaction more than any award is when a customer recommends someone to us or when a caller calls in for another company and are so impressed by what they hear that they want our services for their own business. That is a great feeling and makes all of our hard work worth it!

If you’re in need of a full-service, 24-7 live operator call-handling service company that will always provide you with top-notch services, then give us a call at (618) 463-2430! Our commitment is to YOU!