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4 Telecom Reseller CHRIS HODGES
issues of patient trust. As illegitimate callers increasingly spam patients, it’s getting harder and harder to restore public trust in hospitals and medical establishments. This is what Marty Makaray, MD, found in his research when writing The Price We Pay. From price-gouging to aggressive billing, hospitals are already giving many patients reasons to disengage. Dr. Makaray advocates for more efficient patient financial experiences—but the robocall problem is making that easier said than done.
“In the healthcare context, missed appointments from ignored reminder calls can cause significant treatment delays. Adherence reminders have been shown to improve patient outcomes, so it’s potentially life-threatening when those phone calls are missed.”—Mark W. Brennan, Partner at Hogan Lovells international law firm
From appointment reminders to treatment adherence and debt collection, you can’t afford to completely remove robocalls from your processes. It’s one of few ways to contact many patients.
Instead, many healthcare providers have been waiting for a new weapon in the robocall wars—and with new legislation, they may be getting just that.
Two Frameworks to Help End the Robocall Wars
Early in 2019, the U.S. Senate passed
the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, which opens the door for voice service providers to block illegitimate robocalls and increases penalties for unlawful
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“In the healthcare context, missed appointments from ignored reminder calls can cause significant treatment delays.
callers. According to Senator John Thune, “This won’t eliminate all robocalling, but it’ll certainly put a dent in it—and that’s something I think everyone will welcome.”
The TRACED Act isn’t just about blocking every robocall that your patients may receive. Rather, it hinges on new technology that helps service providers understand if/ when calling numbers are spoofed, blocking unlawful calls before they reach the patient. This new technology is built around two frameworks—STIR/SHAKEN.
STIR (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) is the framework used to
assign digital certificates on public key cryptography to ensure calling numbers are secure. SHAKEN (Secure Handling
of Asserted information using toKENs) then defines how service providers should implement the STIR framework to identify spoofed numbers.
To minimize unlawful robocalling, STIR/SHAKEN follows this workflow:
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) requests
are received by the originating voice
service provider.
Call sources and calling numbers are
checked to determine the validity of the
number.
Originating service providers create a SIP
Identity header with an authentication service, including data such as calling number, called number, timestamp, attestation level, and origination identifier.
SIP requests are sent to the terminating service provider and passed to a verification service.
Verification services obtain digital certificates for the originating service provider to confirm secure connections. When the certificate chain of trust is verified, the terminating provider can confirm the call is not spoofed.
Calls are completed to the end user.
None of these steps prevent robocalls from
being made. Rather, they give consumers
an added level of confidence that incoming calls can be trusted. And for healthcare providers, this means getting back to improved treatment adherence and being able to connect with patients about billing. While far from perfect, it’s a step in the right direction for winning the robocall wars.
The challenge, then, is getting your auto- dialing communications strategy to adhere to STIR/SHAKEN so that your calls aren’t flagged and blocked. n
November/December 2019
Speedflow releases new MediaCore version for VoIP and SMS carriers
Speedflow Communications Ltd. has launched a new version of the Class 4 softswitch MediaCore. Version 4.7 aims to open new business endevours for VoIP and SMS carriers.
London, United Kingdom - Telecom service and software solutions provider Speedflow Communications Ltd. has announced the availability of a brand new version of the carrier-grade softswitch MediaCore SBC – Version 4.7.
The latest MediaCore update follows extensive analysis of the VoIP and SMS market over the last 12-month period and implements changes, which strengthen carriers’ business position and prepares them for smooth sailing amid future changes.
“We are pleased to offer our partners
a significant refinement of the previous MediaCore.” said Konstantin Vyhristenko, Head of Marketing.
“The new changes affect both our platforms – the voice and SMS – and reflect the current state of the market and leave some loose to accommodate future VoIP and SMS bubble fluctuations. We welcome partners and new customers to try our softswitch! It is one of the best on the market.”
One of the main changes affecting MediaCore is the implementation of an
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