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Top Companies That Are TMA (CSAA) Five Diamond Certified
Who is TMA (formally CSAA)?
Central station, monitoring center, central monitoring facility, and dispatch center are all terms used to describe the place where your medical alert monitoring is performed. There are many different standards that can be used to rate these facilities. You may have heard the terms UL-Listed or FM Approved used to describe these operations. Since there are no laws that are required by central stations to follow, many central stations choose to be certified or approved by outside organizations which have standards that must be followed. One of these professional organizations is the The Monitoring Association or TMA (formally CSAA).
The Monitoring Association (TMA)
CSAA stands for the Central Station Alarm Association and it has been around since 1950 but has recently changed to TMA which stands for The Monitoring Association. It’s an organization that works with UL-Listed and FM Approved central monitoring facilities. One of its major goals is the development of industry standards to assure optimum central station performance levels. Any central station can join the TMA (CSAA), if they meet certain criteria. One of which is being UL-Listed by Underwriter’s Laboratories, Inc. or FM Approved by Factory Mutual Research Corporation. This is very important.
Being rated by either of these agencies requires very strict guidelines and a substantial investment by the monitoring facility. It also includes continual inspections by these agencies. Since you have to be rated by one or both of these agencies to join the TMA (CSAA), as a central station, you already know that these companies adhere to higher standards by just being a member. But, the TMA (CSAA) took this one step further by creating the TMA (CSAA) Five Diamond Certification program and this is the distinction that Medical Alert Advice prefers when recommending a medical alert monitoring center. Each TMA diamond stands for a point of excellence the monitoring facility must achieve.
What are points of excellence in the Five Diamond Program?
These are the benefits you receive by working with a TMA (CSAA) Five Diamond Certified company
- The monitoring center will commit to random inspections and held to standards of equipment such as FM Approvals and UL.
- You must commit to the highest level of customer service satisfaction.
- Commitment to continually training your employees on the latest TMA training series.
- Raise industry standards by participating in TMA activities.
- Commit to reducing false alarms dispatches.
Another benefit to you is that the TMA (CSAA) does not charge for this certification either initially or annually. The only costs involved are the costs of compliance itself. They must renew their certification every year to ensure that their monitoring center is keeping up with the points of excellence within the five diamond program. That tells you that the TMA (CSAA) is not doing this just to get additional fees from its members. It’s truly a certification that adds value to the central station and its customers.
See which companies we compared that operate TMA (CSAA) Five Diamond Certified monitoring centers. We make a point to note in each of our reviews if the medical alert company you are interested in is TMA (CSAA) Five Diamond Certified. You’ll be happy if you make this a requirement of the medical alert monitoring company you work with. Your aging loved one deserves the very best in medical alert monitoring when it comes down to a life-saving emergency.
