Business ChallengesWhen it comes to Meridian Community Care, “Saving Lives, Serving Communities,” isn’t just a nice catch-phrase. It’s their mission. For more than 40 years, the Youngstown, Ohio-based non-profit behavioral health organization has offered a wide variety of services to individuals and families struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Services have grown over the years to include Adult and Adolescent Outpatient and Residential treatment for substance abuse, Medication Assisted treatment, Co-occuring treatment for individuals that have both mental health and addiction needs, Gambling treatment, Short-term counseling, Family programming, Veteran programming, Prevention Programs, employee assistance programming, primary healthcare and more. Regardless of the services needed, one thing is consistent across the organization. Everyone involved understands how important it is to provide a human touch when someone calls seeking assistance.

As the variety of services Meridian offers has evolved, so has their footprint, with the organization acquiring a second facility. The expansion reinforced a pain point as they considered their existing phone system. “We were working with a number of different systems, and finding it progressively difficult to support all of them,” said Bob Steffen, Director of Operations, Meridian Community Care. “We actually had three different phone systems in one building. Internal communications were challenging, let alone speaking to someone from the community,” Steffen said. “We want to make sure to provide a live voice on the other end of the phone. It’s imperative. We could not find parts for the system at our main location which impacted our ability to provide support to our patients. We also faced an expensive capital outlay for a new phone system.”

After considering different options, Steffen and his team determined that EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice offered the fully integrated system that provides the features and benefits they need now, while also providing the flexibility to grow and expand with the organization.

The Solution

Challenges The behavioral health organization needed to replace their aging phone system. The system no longer met their rapidly changing needs and they were unable to get replacement parts which impacted the ability to provide a high level of patient care. They also faced the expensive capital expense of a new phone system. SolutionEarthLink CompleteTM Hosted Voice provided Meridian Community Care with a flexible system to meet both current and future needs. Hosted Voice was installed at the main office with an auto attendant which allows callers to easily reach employees. Call routing was implemented to improve after hours coverage. Hosted Voice also allows for the easy addition and integration of other offices when needed.

ResultsMeridian Community Care implemented a system that provided a simple integrated system to use and manage. They avoided a significant capital expenditure. Employees and caretakers have better access with the auto attendant and direct dial extensions with voicemail. The system is also able to grow as they integrate additional locations. Critical after hours coverage was also improved with call routing features.

Meridian Community CareCASE STUDY

Meridian Community Care Case Study 2013getinfo@earthlinkbusiness.com | www.earthlinkbusiness.com

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“We’re very pleased with the increased productivity and feature-rich performance of EarthLink Hosted Voice service. Hosted Voice has improved our communications to provide a higher level of patient care.”

Meridian Community Care is saving lives and serving communities Expanding non-profit organization unifies communications to improve operations and patient care

Bob Steffen Director of Operations, Meridian Community Care

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The Solution continued

Positioned for the Future

From the start of their search, Meridian Community Care knew they wanted an IP solution. In partnering with EarthLink Business, they were able to unify the myriad phone systems they had in place across the organization while setting the foundation for future expansion into their second location.

“EarthLink offered a system that allowed us to consolidate our phone system and helped position us to be consistently and continuously available for our community, whenever the need arises.”

The Hosted Voice solution offers the unified system they were searching for, and provides many more features compared to their older system. Features such as Find Me/Follow Me – a major consideration in their decision-making – and the flexibility to forward calls to a cell phone provide a level of flexibility that help employees provide better care for patients. This is especially helpful after hours, when a call center helps route inquiries quickly to the counselors on call. The new system also helps the organization meet specific healthcare regulations such as those outlined by HIPPA and 42CFR. With regard to privacy and anonymity rights for individuals and families seeking care, Hosted Voice allows the organization to keep callers anonymous. “When making outbound calls, we do not allow the caller ID to specify Meridian Care Center, which protects the privacy of our patients.”

“By implementing Hosted Voice as an operating expense, we avoided a significant capital outlay. We also save a lot of time by making simple changes through the CommPortal rather than waiting and paying for a vendor to make changes.”

Meridian Community Care continues to expand and evolve the services they provide to the community. With a forward-focus on an integrated healthcare model that will address both addiction and related medical issues, as well as anti-bullying programs, the organization is well-positioned to meet the ever-changing needs of the community. EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice offers the most recent technology as soon as it’s available. It also provides flexibility and scalability as the organization grows. “We will be able to easily add in additional locations and use one auto-attendant which will further simplify communications.

We don’t need to ‘own’ the phone system anymore. Everything can be delivered through the cloud. We would rather enjoy equipment upgrades and leave any maintenance issues to EarthLink,” Steffen shared.

“We upgraded our system

and made significant

improvements in operations

and communications. We

met our goals without

spending capital dollars and

are set up to easily integrate

our additional locations.

This allows us to provide a

higher level of service to

the community.”

CASE STUDY

getinfo@earthlinkbusiness.com | www.earthlinkbusiness.com

Meridian Community Care

Meridian Community Care Case Study 2013

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