March 8, 2023
Importance of Caller ID Accuracy for Healthcare Contact Centers
Healthcare professionals and their assistants need reliable lines of communication with patients to confirm appointments, report test results, and improve levels of care. Unfortunately, scammers know that healthcare centers and patients often need to communicate via telephone. When scammers pose as healthcare providers, people will likely answer their calls without question.
Don’t let scammers and inaccurate caller ID labels prevent your organization from giving patients the care they deserve. When you understand the importance of caller ID accuracy and how scammers target the healthcare industry, you can take steps to protect yourself and the patients you serve.
The Impact Missed Calls Have on Healthcare
If your healthcare contact center’s outgoing numbers pick up spam or spam likely labels, people will stop answering your calls. That leads to missed calls that can harm healthcare by:
- Making it harder for patients to get accurate information about the care they need
- Leading to missed appointments that waste critical time and money for healthcare providers
- Tarnishing your organization’s reputation, which can make it harder to collect payments, schedule appointments, and perform other essential tasks
Hospitals Are Prime Targets for Scammers
It’s easy to see why scammers target hospital phone numbers. Call spoofing a legitimate healthcare or insurance organization’s phone number gives them an advantage when trying to get personal information from patients.
When talking to a healthcare representative, people might not think twice about providing personal information, including their birth dates and account numbers. Many are worried about their health — or the health of a loved one. They’re in a vulnerable state that causes them to lower their guard. Someone who typically wouldn’t give someone personal information over the phone could suddenly become susceptible to the strategy.
In some cases, scammers spoof numbers and pose as hospital employees to defraud consumers, taking advantage of people when they feel scared and uncertain.
Scammers Target Healthcare Professionals
Scammers also target healthcare professionals. In 2021, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) learned that scammers were posing as department employees and law enforcement officers to target healthcare professionals.
This scam involved demanding Social Security numbers and bond payments from licensed professionals, including physicians and pharmacists. The scammers hoped that the threat of losing their licenses would encourage people to divulge private information. Some scammers even used call spoofing to make it look like calls came from government offices.
Similar scams have been reported in states like California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
The Dangers of Enterprise Call Spoofing
Enterprise call spoofing scams continue targeting hospitals as criminals attempt to defraud patients and healthcare professionals. With enterprise call spoofing, a scammer can make your phone number and identity appear on someone’s caller ID screen. It’s more than illegal and unethical; it presents serious dangers to the healthcare industry and patients.
When a healthcare organization becomes the victim of enterprise call spoofing:
- Its brand can suffer as people report the numbers to service providers and third-party apps.
- Patients become wary of answering calls, which means they might not learn essential health information.
- Patient outcomes can suffer becomes treatments get delayed.
Of course, enterprise call spoofing also causes the same damage as other types of fraud, such as identity theft.
5 Tips To Ensure Caller ID Accuracy in Healthcare
Luckily, there are several things you can do to improve your healthcare contact center’s caller ID accuracy. Start by following the tips below.
1. Register CNAM Data
First, register the CNAM data for all your healthcare contact center’s direct inward dialing (DIDs). When you register your DIDs, scammers will find it much harder to spoof your numbers. Plus, you gain more control over what caller ID screens display.
2. Register Inbound Numbers on DNO Registry
Your healthcare contact center probably has several inbound-only numbers. Since you never plan for these numbers to place outgoing calls, you should add them to the Do Not Originate (DNO) Registry.
Once you add your numbers to the DNO Registry, they get put on a blacklist sent to service providers. If someone tries to spoof your numbers, the service providers will not let the call connect.
3. Scan Newly Purchased DIDs
Ideally, you should purchase new DIDs from reliable companies that will not give previously used numbers that already have information attached to them. You don’t want your new numbers to give patients inaccurate caller ID info.
Even when you buy from a trusted company, you should scan DIDs before adding them to your dialing cycle. Caller ID Reputation makes it easy for you to bulk scan numbers. You can even get screenshots that show you what information appears on caller ID screens when you call consumers.
4. Actively Monitor Your Outbound DIDs
Continue monitoring your outbound numbers so you can catch flags and negative labels before they prevent you from connecting with patients.
Numbers can get flagged for a broad range of reasons, such as using them too often or consumers who inaccurately report your outreach as spam.
Again, Caller ID Reputation makes it much easier to maintain number hygiene. If a number gets flagged, the system will alert you so you can remove it from the dialing cycle immediately.
5. Redress Any Flags or Blocks Your Numbers Receive
You might discover that some of your numbers have undeserved blocks or flags. Pull those numbers from your system and reach out to carriers and third-party apps to redress the numbers.
Redressing flags and blocks could mean contacting several organizations, including:
- The FTC
- Nomorobo
- Robokiller
- TELO
- TrueCaller
- Spectrum
- AT&T
- Verizon
Save time by adding Call Blocking Redress to your Caller ID Reputation plan.
Improve Your Healthcare Contact Center’s Caller ID Accuracy Now
Contact centers play essential roles in today’s healthcare system. Do consumers have the information they need to answer your calls confidently? Reach out to Caller ID Reputation to learn more about improving your healthcare contact center’s caller ID accuracy.
