Answering the phone isn’t hard.

How (and why) human-initiated voice recordings work.

Optometrists have a bunch of made-up concerns about the effectiveness of automated calls for prescription verifications. Of course, if all optometrists gave out prescriptions like they’re legally required to, we wouldn’t have to call them for verifications in the first place.

Automated verification calls are not the only automated calls being used in the healthcare industry. Optometrists use automated calling systems to confirm appointments and pharmacies use them to let you know when your medicine is ready to be picked up and no one has an issue with it. How is this different than using similar systems to verify customer prescriptions as required by federal law?

The Commission has stated that the Act expressly permits telephone communication for verification and believes that it would be contrary to congressional intent to prohibit the use of automated telephone calls for prescription verification.

Why do optometrists hate automated calling systems?

The FTC’s standards for sellers

To address optometrist concerns with automated calling systems, the FTC implemented the following requirements for sellers:

1. Record the entire call. 
2. Start the call by identifying that the call is a request for prescription verification.
3. Provide the content of the call in a slow and deliberate manner. 
4. Give the optometrist the option to repeat the information.

These standards are required for all retailers. With the exception of recording calls, 1-800 Contacts has already been meeting these requirements since 2004, plus providing extra features to make it easier for optometrists such as pausing calls and scheduling a call back.

Automated calling systems are the most ironclad method for verifying prescriptions (maybe that’s why optometrists are opposed).

1-800 Contacts has been verifying contact lens prescriptions for nearly 20 years and during that time, we’ve learned a few lessons about verification:

• Fax machines are inconsistent, may not deliver the message, and many businesses don’t have them anymore. Also, some optometrists have unplugged them as a way to avoid having to verify prescriptions.
• Emails can be caught in spam filters and never delivered.
• Live, person-to-person calls can create inconsistencies with the information being delivered. In addition, live calls cost more and require more time for optometrist offices than a two-minute automated phone call.
• Longer calls lead to more optometrists hanging up. This causes unnecessary delays in consumers receiving their contact lenses.
  • Based on experience, we believe that verification calls done without the use of automated calling systems would more than double the time spent on the phone.