Medical Device Manufacturers
Medical Device BPO Services | Patient and Complaint Intake
In most industries a customer service call is a service event. For a medical device manufacturer, a proportion of them are regulatory events, and the difference is decided in the first minute by whoever is on the phone. A patient describing a symptom while using a device, a clinician reporting that something did not perform as labelled — those are complaints in the regulatory sense whether or not anyone on the call uses the word.
Global Empire Corporation supports device manufacturers across patient and clinician support, complaint intake, and reimbursement and order coordination — with complaint recognition trained into frontline agents, because a complaint that is not recognized on the call is one that was never captured at all.
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A Complaint Is Defined by What Was Said, Not by What It Was Called
The regulatory definition of a complaint is broad and deliberately so: any communication alleging deficiencies in the identity, quality, durability, reliability, safety, effectiveness or performance of a device after it is released for distribution. Nobody calls in and announces one. It arrives inside an ordinary conversation — a caregiver mentioning the adhesive failed, a nurse saying the reading looked wrong, a patient describing irritation — and if the agent hears a service question instead, the record simply does not get made.
That makes frontline training the control, not the quality system behind it. An intake process cannot process what was never flagged, and no downstream audit recovers a complaint that ended as a closed service ticket. It also cuts the other way: an untrained desk over-flags, burying genuine safety signals in noise your quality team then has to sort by hand.
- Complaint recognition trained into every frontline agent, not delegated to a separate quality queue
- Intake captured to your defined data set so your quality system receives complete records
- Patient and clinician contacts handled by agents who know which questions are never theirs
- Documented handoffs into your complaint handling and vigilance processes, with an audit trail
For device manufacturers, distributors and patient support programs
Device Support Services We Deliver
Patient & Caregiver Support
Setup, wear, troubleshooting and everyday use questions for patients living with a device, in plain language.
Clinician & Facility Support
Technical questions from nurses, technicians and biomedical staff, who need precision and no hold time.
Complaint Intake
Recognition and capture to your defined data set, routed into your complaint handling process without interpretation.
Product Technical Support
First-line troubleshooting against your documented procedures, before a field service call is committed.
Order & Resupply Coordination
Consumable resupply, shipment and back-order questions for patients on ongoing therapy who cannot wait.
Reimbursement & Prior Authorization
Coverage, documentation and prior authorization support, which is where most patients stall before ever starting therapy.
Field Action & Recall Support
Surge capacity for a field safety notice, when every affected customer contacts you inside the same window.
Training & Onboarding Contact
Follow-up with newly onboarded patients, when early abandonment is highest and usually preventable.
How a Device Program Gets Built
Complaint handling is designed before anything else, because it determines what every agent must recognize before they take a single live call.
Define what a complaint is here
Your quality team sets the criteria and examples in your language and your product's terms. Agents are trained on real call examples, not a definition read once.
Fix the intake data set
Agree exactly what is captured — device, lot or serial, dates, what happened, patient outcome, reporter details — so records arrive complete rather than needing a callback.
Wire the handoff
Agree the route into your complaint handling and vigilance processes, the timing, and how the handoff is evidenced. This is what an auditor will look at.
Draw the clinical line
Agents do not assess, advise or reassure about a medical outcome. The boundary is scripted, trained and monitored.
Prepare for field actions
Agree the surge plan and the approved messaging before a recall happens, because there is no time to design one during.
Related services
Build a complete support program
Frequently asked questions
Can an outsourced desk really do complaint intake?
It can do intake, and intake is the part where most complaints are won or lost. What it does not do is evaluate, investigate, decide reportability or close anything — those are your quality system's and stay there. The desk's job is to recognize that a contact meets your complaint criteria, capture your full data set accurately the first time, and hand it off through an evidenced route. Done well it increases the number of genuine complaints reaching your quality team, which is the correct direction.
How do you stop agents over-flagging everything?
By training on real examples in both directions, which is the part that gets skipped. Under-flagging loses safety signal; over-flagging buries it in volume your quality team has to sort by hand, and both are failures. Agents work through actual call recordings of contacts that were complaints and contacts that were not, are calibrated before taking live calls, and are monitored against your criteria afterward with your quality team involved in the review.
Will agents give clinical advice?
Never, and it is trained and monitored as an absolute. Patients and caregivers ask constantly, often anxiously, and the pull to reassure is strong. Agents support the use of the device as documented, and anything touching a symptom, a medical decision, or whether something is normal goes to your clinical resource or to the patient's own clinician. An agent who says it is probably fine has made a clinical judgment they are not qualified or authorized to make.
What happens during a field safety notice or recall?
The plan that was agreed in advance runs. Surge capacity opens, agents work from your approved notice language with no deviation, affected customers are identified against your criteria, and every contact is logged to the standard your quality system needs. The reason to design this before you need it is that a field action compresses months of contact into days, and it is the single most scrutinized period in a device company's customer-facing operation.
Do you handle protected health information?
Where a program requires it, under the arrangements your compliance function specifies, which for a manufacturer acting as a business associate of a covered entity means a signed business associate agreement and controls to match. Agent access is scoped to the minimum the role needs and it is logged. Because the position varies by program and by how your organization is structured under HIPAA, confirm the arrangement with your own counsel and compliance function before an outside team handles patient data.
Can you support reimbursement and prior authorization?
Yes, and it is frequently where patients are lost — a device that is prescribed but never authorized is a therapy that never starts, and the patient rarely chases it themselves. Agents support documentation gathering, benefits verification follow-up and status chasing under your program rules. They do not guarantee coverage, quote a patient's out-of-pocket cost as certain, or advise on how to code anything, all of which belong with your reimbursement specialists.
Our devices are used by both patients and hospital staff.
Then they are effectively two support programs sharing a phone number, and they should be routed and scripted separately. A patient at home needs plain language, patience and reassurance about process; a biomedical technician on a ward needs specification-level precision, a serial number lookup and no hold time. Running both from one script produces a desk that is slightly wrong for everybody, which is worse than two properly built ones.
What does device support cost?
It follows the program: installed base and contact rate, whether complaint intake is in scope and how deep the training on your criteria goes, whether patient and clinician lines are separate, whether reimbursement support is included, whether protected health information is handled, and how much surge capacity is held for field actions. Complaint intake carries meaningfully higher training and quality-monitoring cost, and reduces regulatory exposure, which is generally the trade worth making. We quote per manufacturer.
TESTIMONIALS
Our trusted clients
Global Empire provides reliable 24/7 coverage with live support when it matters most. Their breadth of service, professionalism, and ability to answer calls quickly has made a major difference for our organization. We’re very happy with the partnership and would recommend them confidently.
Wait times no longer exist with the service Global Empire provides. We have cut labor costs dramatically, eliminated overhead from dispatch staffing, and our clients are getting picked up quicker. Spending less while improving service has become the backbone of our business.
We are not only meeting but exceeding our service level objectives. Global Empire resolves many calls without needing a live agent, and the calls that require support are answered quickly and handled faster than before. Their reporting gives us visibility anytime we need it.
We set very challenging service level objectives and insist on those standards being met. At first we were unsure if Global Empire could consistently deliver at that level, but they proved they could. Based on performance and reliability, we know we made the right decision.
Service matters greatly for customer loyalty and experience, and Global Empire provides exactly the professional support required. We’re confident we achieve more value in our contact center because of the strategic partnership and the consistency of their service.
During our recent flood disaster, Global Empire provided messaging services vital to our communications management. Their quick, efficient, and professional response stood out throughout the crisis. In situations like this, service quality is not taken for granted — it’s recognized.
Excellent service — we consistently receive comments about how professional and friendly their agents are. To our customers, it feels seamless and they assume the people answering are part of our in-office team. It has worked out far better than we thought possible.
Global Empire has provided essential call center services for over a decade, responding to medical and non-medical emergencies with accuracy and professionalism. Their commitment to quality and continuous learning is clearly reflected in the service they deliver.
I never realized how much overtime we were paying until we started using Global Empire. We were able to eliminate overtime completely while improving how calls are handled. Now our staff can focus on other important tasks that keep our customers happy.
I wasn’t using all the options Global Empire offered until one of their representatives noticed and reached out. Based on their recommendations, we made several changes that saved money and improved response time. Customers now comment on how efficiently our business runs.
We believe excellent customer service provides the sharpest competitive edge. Global Empire shares that same vision and works closely with us to deliver the best possible service quality. Their partnership supports our ongoing commitment to excellence.
The main reason we work with Global Empire is the ‘red carpet’ treatment. They have the best group of agents I’ve worked with in over 20 years, and they consistently maintain high standards for compliance and customer interactions. They lead by example.
Efficient, professional service with a personal touch. It’s rare to find a provider that consistently delivers both quality and responsiveness at this level.
Over the years I’ve been impressed with the professionally trained staff at Global Empire. Our customers are often anxious or angry, and their team consistently puts them at ease. In two decades, we have never had a customer complaint — which says everything.
As we expanded from Europe into North America, we knew customer service and technical support would be critical to success. We were impressed to learn Global Empire was handling support for a market leader. After working with them, it’s clear why — their service sets the standard.
One of our members struggled with registration and called our toll-free number. The Global Empire agent remained calm, extremely helpful, and professional throughout a long troubleshooting process. Because of that call, the customer remained loyal — and that is a huge asset.
Global Empire is over-delivering on SPH and sales targets. Their performance has helped us reduce acquisition costs significantly, and they have proven to be the missing link in our growth strategy.
I can’t believe we didn’t use Global Empire sooner. Since joining, our order accuracy improved, wait time is virtually gone, and customers receive their orders correctly and on time. This partnership has had a major impact on our national pizza business.
Because of their experience in the energy industry, Global Empire has become a valued marketing partner. Their call center solutions help us acquire customers, retain them, and provide quality service after the sale — 24 hours a day.
Our business relationship with Global Empire has been long and very satisfying. Their employees deserve full credit for the professionalism and consistency they bring to every interaction. I know firsthand how stressful frontline work can be, and their team delivers every time.
Global Empire has been an integral part of our business for years. Our customers expect to speak with someone who can assist immediately, and their team consistently delivers. They maintain professionalism, empathy, and flexibility, making it easy to work together.
With so much outsourcing in the answering services space, it was a relief to find a provider that is truly efficient. The pricing is excellent, onboarding was smooth, and our clients were far happier speaking to a live operator instead of voicemail.
We have partnered with Global Empire for over 15 years and they remain a crucial part of our 24/7 operations. They support multiple sites across states, and we couldn’t be happier with their service, reliability, and long-term consistency.
Health and life sciences
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