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Medical Alarms on VOIP (DIGITAL) phone services put seniors at risk, and Mountain Home Medical has an innovative solution to keep people safe
Traditional medical alert units are not reliable when used with VOIP or digital phone services. Mountain Home Medical, a leading provider of medical Alarms, has a solution by linking new software and hardware changes to provide a reliable solution.
Traditional medical alert units, often worn by seniors around their neck or wrist to call for help in case of a fall or other adverse event, were designed to communicate by way of POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). After placing a telephone call, the emergency unit sends information from the home to the monitoring center to determine which emergency unit is calling and what type of help is needed. When consumers switch to digital phone service, the data can be distorted or omitted as the bandwidth of the internet service provider fluctuates ( see picture below ), resulting in missed or inaccurate emergency reporting at the monitoring center.
Normal Call, No VoIP
 Pulses
Good VoIP Call
 Packets'
Bad VoIP Call
 **** Incompatible devices
**** Emergency alert systems communicate with monitoring centers via tones. These tones can be significantly altered, distorted, or completely missing when using VOIP .
In recent months, a growing number of seniors have switched from traditional phone service to bundled packages in order to save money on the service. For many seniors living on fixed incomes, the monthly savings have come just in time to offset rising gas prices and other healthcare costs.
However, the switch may come at a much higher price if emergency help is not available when someone needs it most. "The biggest problem is that consumers are switching to VOIP service, and without knowing it, they have significantly reduced the reliability of a device designed to help them remain safe and independent," says Andy Schoonover, President of Valued Relationships Inc a medical alert monitoring company. "Many medical alert providers have no way of knowing the change has occurred until something goes awry." Unfortunately, some medical alert providers have taken the strategy of telling customers that traditional solutions will work, even when they are not reliable and could fail at any time. Mountain Home Medical does not want to take that risk.
MHM recently announced a new solution for medical alert units used with VOIP. In response to the growing number of seniors switching to VOIP service, MHM has introduced "DIGICARE ", (DIGI for short). DIGICARE is a VOIP compatible PERS unit that leverages proprietary hardware and software changes in the Medical Alert Monitoring Center to receive both emergency and maintenance calls from medical alert units without the risk of interference or data loss from VOIP bandwidth issues.
For more information or to discuss all the options available for safety and security call Mountain Home Medical, ask for Pat or Dan in our home office at 866. 686.7504.
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