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Peer-to-Peer
Trimming the telecom bill
Burdened as it was with a hefty telecom bill, Apollo Hospitals,
Chennai, took the digital route to calculate the revenue of each and every room
and determine the profit and loss account for it. By Priya Jain
"We are using three ISDN PRI lines. The billing has come down because
of BSNL’s rental package system"
- D Purushothaman
Manager - Tele-Communication Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd |
To reduce its telephone bills, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai,
implemented Telesoft’s call billing software on the first of January 2006.
It also replaced 85 analog lines with three ISDN lines. The healthcare provider
is already reaping the benefits of its cost cutting and has reduced its telecom
bill by 25 to 30 percent.
The management team at Apollo Hospitals Chennai, wanted to
know the exact telecom spending across departments, administration and patient
rooms. D Purushothaman, Manager- Tele-Communication, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise
Ltd, Chennai says, “The management wanted to implement STD and ISD facility
through an ‘in-patient building module’. This module activates and
deactivates STD or ISD service based on the check-in and check-out of patients
preventing misuse of the service.”
The bills are calculated according to pulse rate tariffs of
BSNL.
He adds, “We also wanted to calculate the revenue of the patient rooms
and determine the profit and loss account for each room. The answer was to implement
a call billing software.”
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We wanted to calculate the revenue
of the patient rooms and determine the profit and loss account for each
room. The answer was to implement a call billing software
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The software implementation has been done via a metering pulse
system enabling caller ID as well as STD/ISD for the room service—the choice
of availing of these services lies with the patient and they can be enabled
and disabled through the hospital’s check in-checkout system. The implementation
has succeeded in delighting patients.
Reyaz Ahmad, Regional Manager South and Western Region, Telesoft,
explains, “Earlier, the system in Apollo Hospital, would only facilitate
the regular dumping of call information. The system would require the collection
of daily and monthly call detail summaries of patients and consultants, a task
that was time consuming and error prone due to its manual nature.”
Today, Pswitchview-telephone call data analysis software, which is linked to
the EPABX system provides information online. “This software does not require
a dedicated person to generate reports. The entire process is automated, except
that the call information of patients has to be dumped into the Hospital Information
System’s SQL Server,” adds Ahmad.
| Company |
Apollo Hospitals, Chennai |
| Solution |
PswitchView (Un-attended Telephone call Data analysis
Software with PMSi interface) |
| Year/Time of implementation |
January 2005 |
| Cost of implementation |
Rs two lakhs and above |
| Number of user licenses |
Three |
| Phases of implementation of Call Billing Software |
- Call-billing Software (for Incoming & Outgoing calls, Intercom
calls and to identify the administrator, consultant and patient calls.)
- PMS I: To automatically activate or deactivate “0” dialling
in a patient's room with an entry in the HIS Database.
- Automatic report generation and dispatch through email, with help
of PSchedular and PMailer modules
- Direct database interface with HIS Application Insert records in
SQL Server.
- Front office modules to allow direct outward dialling to a patient’s
extension, for STD or ISD.
- Automatic backup facility
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| Challenges faced by Telesoft |
- Implementation of Barring or Unbarring modules with an Ericsson EPABX
IP based Solution.
- Direct SQL data transfer of patient details from a third party application.
- Online implementation without losing any data or disturbing exiting
software.
- A user friendly report generation module generates reports and displays
them on screen. These reports can be scheduled and sent to the concerned
email address.
- Customisation of extension summary report for consultants where units
will be charged as given below:
One to 500 units at Rs 1.50 per unit
501 to 1,000 units at Rs 2.00 per unit
1, 001 and above at Rs 2.50 per unit
- To raise a warning instantly by sending an email to the supervisor
when a call costing more than Rs 1,000 has been made.
- Inform supervisor within 10 minutes if the raw data from the EPABX
is not received.
- Inform the supervisor in case of a communication failure.
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The implementation process
Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, is using ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI) for its
EPABX and Basic Rate Interface (BRI) lines for tele-medicine, continuous medical
education and regular seminars on developments in modern healthcare. Each ISDN
PRI line consists of 30 channels bifurcated between the patients and administrators.
The outgoing calls are routed accordingly. The software provides daily, weekly
and monthly reports to supervisors or the heads of each department so that they
can monitor usage.
These are the modules of Telesoft Pswitchview
that have been installed at Apollo Hospital.
- Acquprocess
Acquprocess acquires data from the exchange and processes the same.
It captures calls made from the exchange and while processing these
it does costing as per BSNL tariffs. At the same time, it also segregates
the administration, consultant and patient calls and passes on this
information to the ODBCFST module.
- Category
It is a special module through which the hospital can give local/95/STD/ISD
facilities to a patient. Similarly, manual check-in and checkout for
the rooms can be done. Category supports bar and unbar commands and
it outputs to TNPAX. Category differs from odbcfst as odbcfst automatically
refers to the SQL database and does check in and checkout, while category
is used to do the same thing manually.
- TNPAX
The TNPAX has been specially designed for Apollo Hospital and it
works on the IP LAN, logging on to the exchange and taking care of check-in
or checkout and logging out the moment the job is done. It receives
a command from odbcfst or from category and takes care of check-in and
checkout. When patient is checked in, it sends an unbar command and
when patient is checked out it sends the bar command.
- Scheduler
It is an automatic call analysis software that is a suite of two
components—PScheduler and PMailer. PScheduler automatically prepares
predefined reports and assigns warnings as informed by acquprocess.
Meanwhile PMailer links with the default e-mail system and sends warnings
and reports.
- Odbcfst
It provides open database connectivity to SQL Server inserting
call records and reading the necessary information from the database
for check-in and checkout.
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Our equipment can be digitally
provisioned at the time of installation. The ISDN PRI card was purchased
at the cost of Rs 85,000 and the vendor didn't charge us for the implementation
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Apart from the incoming and outgoing ISDN PRI Line, the hospital deployed
a system of Level DID (Direct Inward Dialling) that provides direct access through
an extension number without the help of an operator. This is a method to reduce
traffic congestion, in which, a subscriber doesn’t have to wait for a long
time to obtain the required number and person on the phone.
The implementation took place in phases. On 18th September 2002, the hospital
deployed the Level DID system, through which it studied the incoming call flow,
direct access and monitored the exchange operator-cum-console load.
On November 2004, another ISDN PRI line was deployed with a 30-channel configuration
for the administrator and departmental users. In this phase, the rate of calls
made was studied thoroughly and the cost benefit ratio was monitored.
A second ISDN PRI Line was implemented in September 2005. The first line is
for patients while the second one is for hospital administrators and other departments.
The third line, the level DID system, is used for direct extension access to
incoming calls.
The entire implementation has been done over the past five years and managed
by the hospital’s fault control system staff. The entire line plant of
internal wiring has been built within a primary distribution frame, which has
helped minimise errors.
The overall technical development has been processed with the help of BSNL’s
technical team and customer relationship managers. “The BSNL Chennai Telephones
provides companies with several value-added services within the limitation of
corporate privileges that are followed by TRAI. BSNL conducts the open house
session in a phased manner. It educates the customer at every stage and helps
it effectively utilise services,” says Purushothaman.
- On-line processing of Call Detail Records
(CDR)
- Simultaneous viewing of EPABX raw CDRs
and processed CDRs, which are stored in three different formats simultaneously
- Online display of all the above formats
in three separate windows of the acquprocess dialog. When the dialog
is minimised, the icon on the task bar always shows the extension number
and dialled number of the last call made
- Call alert for calls that need special
attention; Call processing based on trunk number, cost calculation,
minimum duration filter and call budgeting
- EPABX CDR string manipulation
- Processing based on walking class of service
or authorisation codes given to individual users (Virtual Telephony)
- Interfacing EPABX with Hotel Management
Software or Hospital Management Software or Financial Accounting Software
- Project-wise or customer-wise billing
- Called Number Masking
- Query Module (Query on all basic fields
and partly processed fields of call record; Add/Remove/Keep operations
during call selection; printing selected records in any of the available
reports)
- Sorting records appeared in the answer
window
- Report Module, Report Handler, Backup
and Restore
- Facility to store frequently used queries
in a file to avoid typographic errors; multiple windows showing different
reports or query output at a time
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BSNL Chennai Telephones also offers a corporate group bill system with a 10
percent discount if a company goes in for consolidated billing through Electronic
Clearing System (ECS). 60 percent of the hospital’s communication services
are being provided by BSNL with the remainder being supplied by other companies
such as Reliance Infocomm, Airtel and Aircel.
Counting the benefits
The ISDN implementation has eliminated 85 analog lines that are formerly connected
to the EPABX, for inbound and outbound calls. With the DID system, 60 percent
of direct independent analog numbers have been replaced with a DID number to
serve the dual-purpose of extension and direct number.
Commenting on the implementation, Purushothaman says, “Our equipment can
be digitally provisioned at the time of installation. The ISDN PRI card was
purchased at the cost of Rs 85,000 and the vendor didn’t charge us for
the implementation.”
He feels that maintaining digital lines is more convenient
and cost-effective vis-a-vis analog trunk lines. The internal and external wiring
have been reduced and erros have been eliminated due to the robust construction
of the EPABX bridge. In case of digital loop carrier synchronisation, there
might be an outage for about 15 to 20 minutes.
He adds, “At present, we are using only three ISDN PRI lines. The billing
has come down because of the rental package system. The monthly rental charge
for each ISDN PRI line is Rs 1,750. With this implementation, we have saved
Rs 2,70,000 per annum. Over and above this, the annual maintenance cost has
come down as the central office terminal trunk card in the EPABX system is no
longer being used.”
- The hospital uses land line, digital line,
ISDN BRI line, ISDN PRI line, DID & DOD communication, non-exchange
line, hot line, toll free service, emergency ambulance service, a four
digit code, leased circuits, broadband, OFC communication and telephone
STD/ISD Booth from BSNL.
- Video conferencing for tele-medicine from
Polycom lines and tele-fax service from Sharp through BSNL lines.
- CDMA from Reliance Infocomm
- EPABX internal and external communication,
telephone paging service and Integrated Local Trunk (ILT) communication
from Ericsson.
- GSM & CDMA mobile communication from
Airtel, Aircel
- Wireless RT Communication from Motorola
- Mini EPABX internal department communications
from Matrix and BPL
- Tele-Conference call voice from Door Sabha
Nigam Ltd (DSNL)
- Internet from VSNL
- Wireless PPCO lines from Tata Indicom
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