Healthgrades’ HR Team Uses AlertMedia to Ensure Preparedness and Employee Safety
SafetyKeeps employees connected during emergency events, improving health and safety outcomes.
ReliabilitySafeguards message deliverability, ensuring emergency communications will be received as intended when safety is at stake.
MoraleReinforces Healthgrades’ commitment to employee well-being, helping maintain its renowned high-trust workplace culture.
ReadinessGives the organization confidence that it is prepared to effectively communicate during any emergency that may arise.
- IndustryHealthcare, Technology
- Locations9
- Employees850
- ProductsEmergency Communication Software
- Primary UsesEmergency, HR
Healthgrades Strengthens Its High-Trust Workplace Culture With Centralized Communication
Founded in 1998, Healthgrades is dedicated to empowering stronger and more meaningful connections between patients and their healthcare providers. With both a consumer and B2B focus, Healthgrades helps millions of consumers each month find and schedule appointments with their provider of choice. In addition, Healthgrades supports more than 1,500 hospitals and 400 health systems as they cultivate new relationships, improve patient access, and build brand recognition and customer loyalty.
Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Healthgrades has roughly 850 employees spread across nine offices nationwide. Following two acquisitions that increased the size and geographic dispersion of the organization, Healthgrades turned to AlertMedia for its emergency communication needs. With AlertMedia’s multi-channel, two-way emergency communication software, the organization gained a tool that keeps employees safe, informed, and protected during any emergency that may arise, from the COVID-19 pandemic to severe weather events.
Prioritizing Employee Safety and Well-Being to Maintain Trust is a Key Company Imperative
As an organization committed to employee health, safety, and well-being, Healthgrades had long focused on providing employees with meaningful health and safety communication channels. Prior to AlertMedia, Healthgrades utilized a number of systems to support safety communications, including an emergency notification system that acted as a PA or intercom system through their VoIP desk phones.
As Healthgrades grew, both in size and geographically, the organization’s HR team recognized the need to upgrade their emergency communications channels. Specifically, they wanted to expand and simplify communication between employees and HR. Committed to maintaining a culture of trust and transparency across the organization, Healthgrades sought a more centralized, advanced emergency communication solution to streamline communication during critical events across its nine offices nationwide.
“We wanted a technologically advanced and scalable solution that could support our emergency communication efforts in our offices located across the country.”
Healthgrades is a digitally-focused organization transforming the way people research and connect with local healthcare providers,” says Sandra Stolte, Healthgrades’ VP of People Operations & Facilities. “We wanted a technologically advanced and scalable solution that could support our emergency communication efforts in our offices located across the country.
Reliable Technology and Responsive Customer Support Makes a Powerful Combination
Spearheading the search for a new emergency communication system, Stolte and Wendy Van Asten, Healthgrades’ Lead of Facilities and Office Operations, evaluated several different providers. “We chose AlertMedia for the simplicity of its user interface, its reasonable price point, and the people behind the product,” says Van Asten.
Enabling fast, two-way mass messaging across any device, the system’s intuitive design and obtainable price point were compelling to Healthgrades’ HR and facilities teams. Van Asten adds, “From the beginning, our AlertMedia rep was thorough, attentive, and responsive. He was really trying to find the right-fit solution for us—both from a pricing and product perspective. This spoke very highly of his commitment to me and the success of our organization.”
For Healthgrades, the support received from the AlertMedia team was so outstanding that it played a significant factor in the company’s decision to choose AlertMedia. From the initial needs assessment through implementation, Healthgrades found the AlertMedia team to be responsive, helpful, and knowledgeable. Having a dedicated customer success manager that has been able to provide ongoing support and guidance—along with an extensive knowledge base and expertly trained customer support team on call to assist 24/7/365—has been instrumental in successful solution adoption.
As one of the system’s administrators, Van Asten also values how easy it is to communicate during emergency situations. “During a crisis when time is of the essence, AlertMedia’s intuitive interface makes it easy to quickly craft, segment, and deploy emergency notifications,” she adds.
With the platform fully implemented and regularly tested, Healthgrades feels prepared to react quickly during a crisis and communicate to impacted employees at any of its locations. Most recently, the organization found AlertMedia a valuable tool for communicating critical information regarding COVID-19. “We were able to quickly target and send a COVID-19-related message to employees in one of our offices to inform them of a presumptive case of COVID-19 and safety precautions they should take,” says Stolte.
Moving forward, the organization has plans to expand its use of AlertMedia by leveraging the AlertMedia desktop client in the company’s contact center. Since contact center agents do not have access to mobile devices while working, the desktop client solution—by displaying a full-screen pop-up alert in the event of an emergency—will allow Healthgrades to more quickly and effectively communicate with these employees during critical events.
Maintaining a Safe Workplace Improves Employee Morale, Productivity, and Peace of Mind
With AlertMedia in place, the organization can underscore its commitment to duty of care to keep its nationwide, growing workforce safe and connected during any emergency. “AlertMedia allows us to be confident in our abilities to communicate emergency messages quickly and efficiently. When people feel safe at work, they are exponentially more productive and engaged,” says Stolte.
“The feedback from both employees and administrators has been overwhelmingly positive that the simplicity of the system is a major benefit when safety is at stake.”
Since the system is primarily used for emergencies that may impact employee safety, Van Asten and the other administrators regularly test the system to ensure everyone feels confident they know how to use the system during a crisis. “The feedback from both employees and administrators has been overwhelmingly positive that the simplicity of the system is a major benefit when safety is at stake,” she notes.
“HR has a vital role to play in ensuring employee health and safety,” says Stolte. “At Healthgrades, creating a high-trust workplace culture is very important to us and something we are passionate about. But you can’t build trust—or reap the benefits that come with it—if you don’t prioritize employee safety and well-being. Using AlertMedia is one of the ways we achieve that.”
Staying Prepared For Any Emergency With a Simple Yet Robust Communication System
With AlertMedia’s modern, reliable emergency communication system, the organization is now confident they can keep their people safe during any emergency scenario. “Having a system like AlertMedia in place for when emergencies happen is invaluable,” says Stolte.
Stolte concludes, “AlertMedia’s emergency communication system has a direct, positive impact on employee well-being. After all, employees want and need to know you care for them. AlertMedia helps us make sure employees know we consider their safety a top priority and are prepared to protect them through any emergency.”
