Dental News - InTouch Communications helps dentists connect with patients

Kristine Colker, DTA

Thu. 8 October 2009

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Change is a good thing. Just ask the people at InTouch Communications (formerly On Hold Advertising). Not only are they celebrating their exclusive endorsement from the ADA Business Resources, but they are also in the process of rebranding themselves in an effort to better reflect the true nature of who they are and what they do.

“It’s everything we hoped for as we were growing up as a company,” said Bill Schroeder, vice president of product development for InTouch Communications, referring to the endorsement, which came in July of this year after a thorough review of firms in the industry and the needs of the dental market.

On Hold Advertising entered the marketplace 12 years ago, starting up as a company specializing in customized on-hold messaging, but when an auto reminder service was added to its repertoire, Schroeder said something needed to change.

“The On Hold name sort of boxes you in,” he said. “We made the decision that we needed to change our brand to InTouch Communications so that our name was more in line with the growing suite of practice patient communication products that we’re offering.”

The first of those two products is a fully customized on-hold telephone message service, which allows dentists to place callers on hold while listening to the messages that dentists want them to hear.

Thanks to a new program, the Flex Plus, InTouch Communications now offers unlimited changes to the on-hold service, allowing dentists to change bits of their existing messages or add new ones as they see fit.

The second product InTouch Communications offers is an auto appointment reminder service, which complements the message on-hold service by reminding people of their appointments and allowing the practice to receive confirmation that the patient will be attending the appointment.

The service also can be used to generate any type of message that the dentist’s practice management software can track.

For instance, Schroeder explained: “Let’s say you wanted to run a report for unscheduled recommended treatments. You can leave a message for every patient who fits this profile with a message using the doctor’s own voice: ‘Hi, this is Dr. Schroeder. We recently talked about following up on a few procedures that might be very beneficial to you in the long run. If you would like to discuss this further, please press 1.’”

Schroeder said InTouch’s auto reminder service has both a Press 1 and a Press 0 option. Pressing 1 allows patients to confirm appointments automatically, while pressing 0 allows them to be connected directly to someone at the front desk.

In addition, the auto reminder service can be set up to work by phone, e-mail or text messaging.

There are options when in comes to how much you want to invest in the software and hardware as well. The first option is to purchase the hardware outright and make unlimited amounts of calls. The second option is a hosted environment where you pay as you go on a monthly subscription cost. This option has a low cost up front, but there is a charge per call.

“We’re the only vendor to offer both a hardware and a hosted solution,” said Schroeder. “We will work to find a reminder service that works best for your practice.”

“If a practice is looking to capitalize on their existing client base and look inward for growth, then we offer products that would provide them that opportunity,” Schroeder said. “We would love to have people experience our services.”

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