Northern Westchester Hospital Center Chooses The Beryl Companies to Provide Outsourced Call Center Services.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y.--(BW HealthWire)--April 29, 2002

Northern Westchester Hospital Center (NWHC) has selected The Beryl Companies to provide a variety of outsourced call center services on behalf of the 233-bed, state-of-the-art facility. Beryl is the nation's leading healthcare-exclusive Customer Interaction Center.

Northern Westchester Hospital Center services residents of northern Westchester, Putnam and southern Dutchess Counties in New York along with parts of Fairfield County in Connecticut. As a result of this new agreement, callers from these communities will receive personalized assistance with a physician referral request 24/7 through whichever medium they feel most comfortable -- telephone or Internet.

For those wanting to call into the hospital's hotline, Beryl specially trained call representatives will be available to match callers' preferences to local physicians, taking into account medical specialty, office location, insurance accepted, office hours and a host of other variables. Those who choose to access a referral via the hospital's Web site will be able to do so by entering specific data online and receiving information back from the hospital's physician referral database.

"We are excited to offer an enhanced physician referral service to the community and expect that the information provided through Beryl will offer callers more comprehensive service when they access our referral line," said Nancy Laemle, NWHC vice president of public relations and marketing.

A member of the Stellaris Health Network, NWHC has long been recognized as one of the region's premier healthcare providers. Its medical staff includes over 500 physicians who encompass both primary care and virtually all-clinical specialties. Founded in 1916, NWHC offers complete diagnostic, medical, surgical, obstetrical, pediatric and psychiatric care for area residents and is equipped to treat an entire spectrum of illnesses on an emergency, inpatient and outpatient basis.

NWHC is a member of VHA, Inc., a nationwide network of 2,200 leading community-owned healthcare organizations and their affiliated physicians. Last year Beryl was selected by VHA to be its preferred vendor in the area of outsourced call center services.

The Beryl Companies is the nation's premier healthcare-exclusive Customer Interaction Center having answered more than 10 million calls on behalf of over 500 clients since its founding in 1985. Today, Beryl is home to the industry's most sophisticated array of consumer-focused, multi-channel communication vehicles including live agents, e-mail support, live chat and IVR, including Advanced Speech Recognition. Providers, payors, the pharmaceutical industry and numerous other healthcare organizations across the country are benefiting daily from Beryl's expanding portfolio of clinical and non-clinical services including call center outsourcing, Internet customer support and technology solutions. The company also has a consulting division which assists healthcare organizations to improve their in-house capabilities and develop programs that enhance their customer relationship management initiatives. Information on The Beryl Companies is available at www.beryl.net.