EarthLink Hosted Voice Unifies Communications for Meridian Community Care, Enhancing Patient Care

ATLANTA, Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT and communications provider, today announced that Meridian Community Care, an Ohio-based behavioral health non-profit offering addiction treatment care for more than 40 years, selected EarthLink Complete™ Hosted Voice for a fully-integrated VoIP system that enables them to communicate more responsively with clients 24/7, maintain HIPAA and 42CFR confidentiality requirements, and manage growth among their multiple locations.

EarthLink received a 2012 Internet Telephony Product of the Year award for Hosted Voice, a state of the art hosted IP PBX solution which eliminates the cost of purchasing a PBX or key system. Features to increase user productivity include voicemail as email, Find Me, Follow Me, and Auto Attendant. A simple web-based portal provides on-demand system management and instant customization. A scalable, affordable solution that easily adapts as businesses evolve, Hosted Voice offers a range of IP phones, geographic flexibility for remote employees and real-time disaster recovery. Click here to read the Meridian case study.

Because Meridian is a healthcare provider, their most important criteria for a new system was that it more easily provide a live human touch when clients call 24/7 seeking assistance. When planning for acquisition of an additional facility last year, Meridian's leaders realized that their multiple, aging phone systems could no longer serve employees or clients, and would hinder expansion.

"We were working with a number of different systems, and finding it progressively difficult to support all of them," said Bob Steffen, Director of Operations, Meridian Community Care. "We actually had three different phone systems in one building. Internal communications were challenging, let alone speaking to someone from the community."  

After investigating several integrated IP solutions, Steffen and his team selected EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice because the fully integrated system delivered the features and benefits needed now, while also providing the flexibility to grow and expand.

Meridian's new unified Hosted Voice VoIP phone system features Find Me/Follow Me, enabling the staff to forward calls to a mobile phone; crucial after-hours when a call center helps route inquiries quickly to the counselors on call. The new system also helps the organization meet the privacy and anonymity regulations outlined by HIPAA and 42CFR. And while out of the office or after hours, voicemail messages are sent as email attachments for faster response, with the option to use the 'soft phone' feature via their laptops as a virtual extension of their office phone.

"With Hosted Voice, we don't feel like we need to 'own' our phone systems anymore. We would rather enjoy equipment upgrades and leave any maintenance issues to EarthLink," Steffen shared. "Our employees have definitely experienced benefits, and our Hosted Voice solution provides the flexibility and scalability to grow with us, plus a significant cost savings."

EarthLink Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Michael D. Toplisek said, "Our Hosted Voice solution is ideal for non-profits because it's designed to allow them to step away from technology management and instead devote their IT energies to their community mission while keeping operating expenses in check. We are proud to partner with Meridian Community Care to strengthen their expanding integrated healthcare model and support the vital work they do in the community."

About EarthLink
EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading IT services and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and one million consumers nationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed services including cloud computing, managed and private cloud, and virtualization services such as managed hosting and cloud workspace. EarthLink also offers a robust portfolio of IT security, application hosting, colocation and IT support services. The company operates an extensive network spanning 29,421 route fiber miles with 90 metro fiber rings and 8 secure data centers providing ubiquitous nationwide data and voice IP service coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, EarthLink's award-winning reputation for outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care.  For more information, visit EarthLink's website at www.earthlink.net.

About Meridian Community Care
Meridian Community Care traces its roots back to 1972, when it was incorporated as a community-based, non-profit organization with a goal of serving individuals and families struggling with addiction. Today, Meridian Community Care's mission is to eliminate addiction by working with individuals and their families through recognition, prevention, consultation, healthcare, communication, and treatment in a manner that is person-centered and respects the dignity of every person.  Meridian's programs and services include Adult and Adolescent Outpatient and Residential treatment for substance abuse, Medication Assisted treatment, Co-Occurring treatment for individuals that have both mental health and addiction needs, Gambling treatment,  Short-term counseling, Family programming, Veteran programming, Prevention Programs, employee assistance programming, primary healthcare and much more. Visit www.meridiancommunitycare.org for more information.

SOURCE EarthLink