This company called after a stay at he hospital to survey how the stay was. Snoopy [***] to harvest info for marketing and to give intel to the Hospital billing dept and sell data to other sources.
Just got a call with local area code. Didn't make it to the phone, but this website seems to back up the survey speculation. http://www.healthstream.com/about.aspx
After our greeting message, all that was said was "healthstream."
I've just about had it with them calling here. I'll get to the bottom of this; how in the hell did they get my number. I keep telling them in my most unpolite tone I can muster up to STOP CALLING!! They call back every Sunday. I'm looking into what can be done legally on this matter, it's going to stop!
Called 1/24/2013 at 12:09, right in the middle of my preparing lunch for my elderly mother, who was in hospital until Dec. 24, now at home recovering from pneumonia. The woman mumbled something that I could not understand and then said something about questions about care at the local hospital where my Mom had stayed. She asked for my mother by name. I asked my mother if she felt up to talking and she said yet, although she is on oxygen and still gets winded. I had the other line and listened in. The woman kept my poor Mother on the line FAR TOO LONG, explaining something about National Survey, healthcare, blah, blah, blah. My mother just said, "I got good care at XXXX hospital. Thank you." the woman said she HAD to ask my mother these detailed questions and Mom said, "I don't feel able to answer. I got good care there." When the woman began to 'pester' my Mom and was badgering her to answer questions I cut in myself and said, "She told you she got good care. Why do you have to have her answer detailed questions? She is SICK!" The woman said more 'blah blah' and then I got rude myself and said to her, "I got a call from some other survey thing on a SUNDAY and I told them to not call back until Tues. but I never got a call. Now you are calling and you take TOO long to go about this. Just ask your questions right off the bat without all this stupid explaination! Why don't you MAIL a questionnaire to people?!" She could not respond to that, but did say she was sorry she had bothered my Mom. I told her I would tell my mother what she said but I did say that I would be writing the hospital myself when things calmed down on the caregiver front, that everything was positive and only two small things bothered me. I did not have a complaint about those things but only offered a suggestion. But since the woman couldn't ask ME, as main caregiver, questions, she didn't really do her job. Later I called the hospital in question and they do indeed use this company. But the woman at the hospital was HORRIFIED that my Mom had already been called as she knew she was recovering from pneumonia and also has asthma. She was also shocked we had gotten a call on a Sunday, plus the time of today's call was at lunch. I told her that they needed to address some things with that survey company, otherwise they might get negative responses, NOT because of bad care, but because the survey company was calling at bad times and their personnel was not trained all that well. I told her, as I did the woman who called from the survey place, that they needed to SPEAK CLEARLY so we could understand. I never could understand what her name was nor the company she represented. I could only make out something about questions about hosptial stay at XXXX hospital. i had to look at caller I.D. to get the name and number and then gave ALL that info to the rep at the hospital. The hospital is paying this company to do the survey. If they don't do things right, then that hospital will be contracting someone else to do it next time! What a lousy 'survey company'! NOT HAPPY!
They called today during LUNCH. I'm taking care of my aunt who recently had surgery. The first part was mumbled and I could not make out what the woman was saying. Then I finally heard 'Woods Hospital' and I thought they were calling FROM the actual hospital! I was not on a phone with Caller ID and only later found out they were from some other location. Woman wanted my aunt who did agree to talk, but the woman (I stayed on the other phone line) kept her on the phone for a LONG Time going over junk about something to do with National Survery and government, etc. My aunt managed to say she got good care at the hospital in question. The woman then badgered my aunt to answer other questions. She said she HAD to answer them! My aunt was getting tired and i could hear her breathing hard on the phone. I broke in at that point and told her that my aunt could not continue answering. The woman said that only my aunt could answer and I told her she was recovering from surgery, had complications and could NOT continue! This woman just kept on and on! I finally told her 'MY aunt said she got good care! Why do you need to ask her more questions!?" The woman said something I could not understand. I told her she was calling at a bad time, LUNCH and that we could not stay on the line. My aunt had already hung up and so did I. After I checked caller id on another phone I called the HOSPITAL and asked them if they were doing surveys. I was told they used this Healthstream company. When I told the hospital rep what had taken place she was very angry about it. Said my aunt should never have been called so soon out of the hospital (she's only been out a week!) and she took the number down and asked for my name and my aunt's name. I gave all this info freely. I told her I could not understand half of what that woman said, plus she was RUDE and badgering my aunt! (who by the way is age 90!) She told me she would report it to a supervisor. I told her my aunt was favorable toward the hospital but because she refused to answer all questions I was afraid they would get a bad 'report'. I was under the assumption this was mandated by Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), but the hospital rep said no. She was shocked my aunt was called during lunch and that she would not call another time. I told her I did NOT want any more calls to my aunt's home during her recovery, and she said she would take care of it. I hope the hospital calls that company up and gives them the riot act. The employee who called my aunt was very rude to call during lunch, very insistant and hateful too. I told her myself that I could not understand what she was saying and she never repeated herself at all!!!!! She just kept on yakking about NOTHING! "National survey' and Woods was all I could make out. I screamed at her to speak CLEARLY! And she sounded as if she was an American, not someone sitting in China or India. So I dont' know where they get their employees but they sure need to train them correctly! I wish I could block my aunt's phone number!