A family looking for care for a parent rarely calls just one community. They call several, often in the same hour, often under stress. The community that answers, listens well and follows up quickly has a real advantage. Yet many admissions calls still go to a single desk phone, then to voicemail when the director is giving a tour.
Hosted telephony, sometimes called cloud phones or VoIP, moves the phone system from a box in a closet to a service delivered over the internet. For admissions teams in senior living, assisted living and skilled nursing, the benefits go beyond cost.
An inquiry call is high-stakes and time-sensitive. The caller may be a daughter on a lunch break or a hospital discharge planner who needs an answer today. Missed calls, long holds and slow callbacks can mean a lost admission, and, more importantly, a family who did not get help when they needed it.
Staff can answer on a desktop app, a mobile app or a desk phone with the same number. When the admissions director is walking a family through a model apartment, the call can ring her phone, or roll to a teammate.
Ring groups: several people ring at once or in sequence.
Time-of-day rules: daytime calls go to staff, and evenings go to an after-hours message or an answering service.
Overflow: if no one answers, the call moves to another team or a backup location.
Multi-location routing: a corporate number can direct callers to the right community by their selection.
Voicemail-to-email or text means a message reaches someone quickly, with a transcription in some systems. Set an internal standard for callback times, and measure it.
Reports on call volume, missed calls, hold time and busy hours show when you need more coverage. If most calls arrive between noon and one, you can adjust schedules instead of guessing.
If a building loses power or internet, hosted phone systems can forward calls to cell phones or another site. For a community with a storm or outage risk, that is a significant advantage. Test the failover rather than assuming it works.
Adding a new employee or a new community is typically a matter of configuration, not rewiring.
Larger operators or those with several communities may want more than a basic phone system. Features may include:
Queues that hold callers in order.
Call recording, used with proper notice and consent in line with state law.
Scripts or prompts to guide staff through inquiry questions.
Integration with a CRM, so each call is logged against a family or prospect.
Text messaging for follow-up, with appropriate consent.
Dashboards for supervisors.
Do not buy more than you will use. A small community may need little more than ring groups and good voicemail.
Admissions calls may include health details. Treat recordings, voicemails and transcripts as sensitive. Ask your provider about encryption, access controls, retention settings and, where protected health information may be involved, whether they will sign a business associate agreement. Recording laws differ by state, so confirm notice and consent requirements with your attorney.
Voice over the internet depends on a reliable connection. Before switching:
Test your internet speed and stability.
Make sure the firewall and network are configured to prioritize voice traffic.
Check Wi-Fi coverage if staff will use softphones or mobile apps.
Consider a backup internet connection for critical sites.
Verify emergency calling, including accurate location information for 911 on each phone and site.
What is the uptime commitment, and how is failover handled?
How are phone numbers ported, and how long will it take?
Is there a contract term or cancellation fee?
What does reporting include?
How is support delivered, and when?
What security features are included?
Map your call flows first, record greetings, train the team and run both systems in parallel for a short period if possible. After launch, review missed calls weekly for the first month.
UnityCare IT helps senior-living and healthcare organizations in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas prepare their networks for hosted voice and evaluate phone options. If your admissions team is missing calls, a short review of your call flow can show where to start.
Microsoft 365, cloud storage and tested backups with access controls built in.
Call or text: 405-285-3845
New customers: start@unitycareit.com
Existing customers: support@unitycareit.com
Address: UnityCare Technologies, 2524 N Broadway Ste 554, PMB 947974, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034-4172