Comanche

Commitment to Better Communication

In 340B, IVR, SmartCall by Jessica Gardner

Striving to promote community trust, wellness, and health, Comanche County Medical Center (CCMC) is part of a growing rural Texas Health System serving Comanche, Erath, and surrounding counties. As a 340B recognized provider of excellent and compassionate health care, CCMC operates three retail pharmacies within its primary care clinics, CCMC Pharmacy, Patrick Street Pharmacy, and Rising Star Pharmacy. The pharmacies were looking for a first-time IVR provider that would help them communicate more effectively, and manage their incoming calls, and one that would integrate seamlessly with their software vendor.

Before SmartCall IVR, CCMC pharmacies would check voicemails every morning, which was a very burdensome, manual task. Their software vendor recommended that they contact Smart Solutions to reduce call interruptions and automate incoming prescription refills.

“Our team had a quick call with Travis Smith, Smart Solutions’ Vice President of Sales, and at that moment, we were an easy sale because we loved the product and how simple the implementation process was,” said Misty Hill, CPhT, Pharmacy Project Manager.

Once implementation began, CCMC recalled a nightmare situation with their phone company that was unrelated to the SmartCall IVR but impacted its functionality. Smart Solutions’ responsive Support Team was able to step in and help CCMC communicate with their phone vendor to solve the issue.

“I want to praise Paul Evans and Smarts’ Technical Support Team for their availability and willingness to go above and beyond to work with our vendors who are not nearly as empathetic to the urgency of our need. They have been a bright light for us, and we appreciate their work and knowledge of the IVR system and working through this issue with us,” said Hill.

Now that SmartCall IVR has been installed for a little more than a year, CCMC Pharmacist, Bill Carothers, R.Ph., gets to spend more time talking with his pharmacy customers and answering their questions than answering phone calls.

“In addition to Smart’s incomparable technical support, where you can pick up the phone and speak to a live person, my favorite thing about SmartCall is it frees up my time to interact with customers. Getting to know them on a personal basis is extremely rewarding,” said Carothers.

“I know this is old news to IVR users, but SmartCall IVR changes the way the air feels knowing the phone isn’t ringing off the hook.”