great way to research and compare several types and brands of medical alert services to make sure you find what that will work for you and your family. Here are some questions to ask when doing your research:

- Does the monitoring service use a third party or a subcontracted call center?
- Does the monitoring center handle any other alarms, such as home alarms?
- How are the operators trained and certified?
- What are the hours of operation for the monitoring center?
- Are there redundant systems in the monitoring center to ensure 100% uptime?
- Are all the incoming calls into the monitoring center answered by a live operator?
- Is the monitoring service HIPPA compliant (medical privacy issues)?

Once you have done some preliminary research, here are some additional points of comparison among medical alert companies:

Price- There are two costs to medical alert services- the upfront costs and the monthly service fees. Most medical alert companies do not charge any activation or installation fee. The equipment installation is generally pretty straightforward (plugging the base unit into an electrical outlet and connecting a phone line to it) and does not need any installation expertise. However, if for some reason the user cannot install the equipment, some medical alert companies will provide that service and will charge for it.

Since the monthly cost will be the largest cost over time, make the monthly fee the primary figure to compare costs between medical alert services. As for the monthly fee, you'll want to find out what payment options you have (invoice, credit card, debit card, etc.). Find out what the term options are (i.e., monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.) and if there are any contractual commitments that tie you into a payment schedule. Also, if you have two or more people in the same household that need medical alert monitoring, find out if there are additional costs to monitor both people.

Shipping- when comparing medical alert companies, find out not only shipping costs, but also shipping times. Most medical alert services will be able to ship you the necessary equipment overnight.

Warranty/Service- when comparing medical alert companies, find out if there is a