For Brian Phipps of Mainstreet Pediatrics in Parker, Colorado, your phone system is an extension of the patient experience. Brian believes in keeping patients informed with accurate, up-to-date information. However, his phone system made it difficult to manage message-on-hold audio files. Now, Brian’s company uses RingCentral Ring EX with the new RingEX App from Easy On Hold. He says changing phone on hold messages is now easy. Mainstreet Pediatrics says the automation is making a difference in this Easy On Hold RingCentral integration review.
Julie Brown, CEO of Easy On Hold, talked to Brian about using the new Easy On Hold RingEX app to enhance the caller experience. From reducing perceived wait times to delivering helpful, branded messaging, Brian shares practical insights on how the right approach to on-hold messages in pediatric practice patient care can make a meaningful difference for both patients and staff.
Medical Practice Administrator Offers Easy On Hold RingCentral Integration Review
JULIE: So, tell me a little bit about how you guys got into the pediatric world. Your wife’s a doctor.
BRIAN: My wife’s the smart one, yes. So we got into it. So my background is completely different. I was in the Marine Corps for 25 years. I was a police officer, and my wife has been in pediatrics basically her whole life. And she had talked about it a few times over and over: that she wanted to open her own practice and do that. It finally just got to the point that she’s like, “You want to do it?” Sure, let’s do this. And so we decided to open Main Street Pediatrics back in August of 2017.
Watch the Video Interview
Problems With Loading Message On Hold Files
JULIE: Okay. And thank you for your service. Wow. Really appreciate you. When did you guys switch to RingCentral Phones? How did that turn out?
BRIAN: It was probably about a year ago that we switched over to RingCentral. We were previously with Comcast, and through our IT person, who has done our IT since the day that we opened, he had some connections with RingCentral, and so he got us set up with them.
JULIE: So you were used to uploading files.
BRIAN: Yeah, we were used to uploading the files.
JULIE: Well, tell me about uploading files and why that was a problem and why the RingCentral integration seemed like a good idea to you.
BRIAN: Oh, it just made complete sense to us. So Easy On Hold makes our messages, and they make them so quick, and you get the files out to us, and then I would have to contact my IT person, who has a separate business, and so trying to get a hold of him, and then when his time allows for it to upload our files for us.
Right now in the medical world, there’s so much going on with changes and what’s happening, and so it’s nice to be able to update our patients because they call us and ask, well, what do you think about this vaccine or what’s going on with this?
– Brian Phipps, Medical Practice Administrator
Medical Practice Messages On Hold are Very Helpful
JULIE: Yeah, because you’re busy running a medical practice, and then you’re over here playing DJ with your phones trying to get your on hold marketing loaded in correctly, and you gotta move on fast. Before we talk about the RingCentral integration a little bit more, why is on hold important to your pediatrics business?
BRIAN: Oh, it’s super important because, obviously, people have to be put on hold, or whenever you’re transferring calls, they can hear messages on there. I think it’s very important for us because we like to keep our patients updated on things. If you change hours, we’re in Colorado, so if there’s inclement weather that comes out, yeah, it’s just a way to update patients, and so we make use of the time when they’re on hold and actually give them beneficial information.
BRIAN: Right now in the medical world, there’s so much going on with changes and what’s happening, and so it’s nice to be able to update our patients because they call us and ask, well, what do you think about this vaccine or what’s going on with this? So we’re able to have messages created for us that kind of update that, and we go through seasons like anybody. Flu season, sick season, things like that, and so there’s information that we can update our patients on about hours and things, so it’s very handy and very useful.
JULIE: That’s awesome. Yeah, the on hold can get in front of frequently asked questions so that the patient hears just what they need, and they go, you know, I was actually thinking about that today.
BRIAN: We pick different employees that we can highlight, and so we’ll have a little thing about them on there and just kind of change it up and just make it fun and interesting.
Quick Deployment of New Messages
JULIE: That is great to hear. So, were you aware too that with Comcast and then RingCentral, until our integration, let’s say you got all your messages uploaded, were you aware that customers always heard it from the beginning every time they were placed on hold?
BRIAN: I was, and I think we’ve all kind of been there. You call someplace, and it’s the same thing, so the fact that now it is not that way is that’s super exciting too, and it’s only going to get better. My wife was good, and you guys make the messages so quickly because it’s very timely in the medical world. I mean, it’s something six months ago doesn’t apply now. So working with you guys is so easy to make new messages and things like that.
More Variety, Less Repetition
JULIE: And they won’t hear just that first message that’s at the top of the file, like they do with every other phone system these days that has gone into the cloud. So you’re speaking my language, and I think the last thing, Brian, I would say to you is if Nathan hasn’t explained this, it may have come up on your integration call, but now you can put start and stop dates on each of those messages. So if you’ve got something that’s only good for the month of March or the season, it’ll fall out, and you didn’t have to worry about it.
BRIAN: Yes, that’s an awesome feature. Yes, we’re excited about that. It’s been so awesome. You guys do such a great job of having Nathan call in, listen to our messages, and give us feedback, and I just love working with you. It’s just awesome and easy, and I think it definitely enhances our business for sure, because it’s personalized to our business. That’s right. So it makes a big difference, and we appreciate it.
JULIE: You’re welcome, and we’re “making the wait great.”
Digging Deeper: Easy On Hold RingCentral Integration Review
Healthcare centers and hospitals rely on effective communication at every touchpoint, including the phone. Easy On Hold works with medical office phone systems across the U.S., specializing in improving the patient phone experience in healthcare.
With 29 years of experience, we’ve found that patients who are informed through automated on-hold messaging feel more cared for and more confident in their healthcare decisions.
As Mr. Phipps shares in the interview, updating patients through the phone system is both convenient and efficient. However, many limitations of cloud phone systems can make healthcare on-hold messages less effective. Common challenges include:
- A single repeating audio file that restarts with every call
- Manual, hands-on audio file uploads
- Outdated messages that require IT intervention to remove
The RingCentral (RingEX) app from Easy On Hold addresses these issues by continuously updating audio content throughout the day and randomizing message order to keep information fresh.
Easy On Hold delivers what traditional message-on-hold systems cannot: scheduled, targeted, and timely content that maximizes every moment with your callers.
Recap: Key Takeaways From the Easy On Hold RingCentral Integration Review
- Mainstreet Pediatrics was founded in 2017 by Brian Phipps and his pediatrician wife.
- The practice switched from Comcast to RingCentral approximately one year prior.
- Previously, Brian used his IT support to manually upload on-hold messages, which caused delays.
- On their previous platform, Easy On Hold provided message files quickly, but uploading them required coordination with a third party.
- Brian’s patients want updates about hours, weather closures, and medical topics such as vaccines.
- You can easily update messaging seasonally (e.g., flu season, sick season) to keep information relevant.
- The practice uses on hold time to deliver useful and timely information to patients.
- Brian likes to include “Employee highlights” in his on hold messages to add variety and interest.
- Brian likes how the RingEX app avoids repeating the same initial message to your callers.
- Timeliness of messaging is important in the medical field because information changes frequently.
- Brian schedules start and end dates for messages, saying it is a valuable feature.
- Easy On Hold provides feedback on messaging and supports ongoing updates.
- The system allows the practice to personalize its messaging.