Blog
Best practices, product updates, and the occasional industry rant.
Nurse Triage Phone Systems for Hospice and PACE Call Centers
· by Barbara Rasponi
See how a nurse triage phone system supports hospice, PACE, and palliative care teams with partner-specific routing, message records, and after-hours access.
Plastic Surgery After-Hours Calls: Why “Not an Emergency” Still Requires a Response
· by Barbara Rasponi
Post-op patients call about swelling, drains, and “is this normal” questions that fail rigid emergency scripts but still need the practice. How surgical practices route these calls correctly.
The Patient Portal Problem: Using After-Hours Calls to Build Better Self-Service Habits
· by Barbara Rasponi
Patient portals only reduce call volume when patients actually use them. How a well-designed after-hours call flow redirects routine requests to the portal while protecting the urgent pathway.
Answering Service Acquired? Why Quality Often Declines After Ownership Changes
· by Barbara Rasponi
When a medical answering service is acquired or restructured, quality often slips: new operators, longer calls, rising bills. Why it happens and what practices can do.
Who Is Actually Answering Your Patients' Calls?
· by Barbara Rasponi
Behind every answering service is a labor model: an in-house call center, offshore agents, at-home workers, or software. What each one means for quality, HIPAA compliance, and your patients.
Can AI Really Handle 90% of Your Practice's Calls?
· by On Call Central
AI can divert up to 90% of repetitive, operational practice calls without touching clinical judgment. Here's what the claim means and where the guardrails sit.
The Front Desk Staffing Crisis in Urgent Care (and What to Do About It)
· by On Call Central
Urgent care centers cannot hire or keep front desk staff fast enough. Call data shows why the way out is diverting repetitive calls, not adding payroll.
How to Track Provider Response Times with Automated Call Reporting
· by Barbara Rasponi
Every after-hours call should leave a verifiable record. What call reporting for medical practices should track: delivery status, provider response times, escalations, and full call history.
Is It Time to Replace Your Answering Service? A Look at Common Red Flags
· by On Call Central
Delayed messages, misrouted calls, and no accountability: five warning signs your medical answering service is putting patients at risk, and what a better system looks like.
Built-In Escalation Logic: What Happens When a Doctor Doesn’t Answer the First Time?
· by On Call Central
When an on-call provider does not answer, On Call Central automatically escalates to the next step, so urgent patient messages are never left unseen or unacknowledged.
The Mobile Advantage: How Physicians Can Review and Return Calls On the Go
· by On Call Central
Today's on-call physicians are always on the move. See why mobile-first call handling lets doctors review and return after-hours calls quickly from anywhere.
On Call Central acquires Professional Voice Messaging
· by On Call Central
On Call Central has acquired Professional Voice Messaging, founded by Dr. Jerry Dempsey 32 years ago, continuing decades of trusted physician communication service.
Business Continuity During COVID-19
· by On Call Central
A message from On Call Central's president on operating through the COVID-19 pandemic, our business continuity plan, and how we are helping medical practices handle changing call volume.
On Call Central Secure Chat
· by On Call Central
On Call Central Secure Chat adds HIPAA-compliant team messaging inside the existing mobile app, with image and file support and no PHI stored on devices.
The History of Call Centers: How We Got Here and Why the Model Is Changing
· by On Call Central
A complete history of call centers, from 1960s PABX systems and the first automatic call distributors to today, plus why traditional call centers fall short in healthcare and how automated medical answering systems are replacing them.
What an Automated Medical Answering Service Can Do For You
· by On Call Central
Your practice answers its phones only about 25% of the week. Discover what a fully customizable automated medical answering service can do for the other 75%.
The Potential Dangers of Using Offshore Answering Services
· by On Call Central
Offshore medical answering services bring communication barriers, reliability concerns, and patient-privacy risks. Learn the dangers before trusting them with patient calls.
How Your Automated Answering Service can Increase Patient Lifetime Value
· by On Call Central
Your after-hours answering service shapes patient retention. Learn how a reliable automated medical answering service protects and grows patient lifetime value.
On Call Central Office Update
· by On Call Central
Meet the newest members of the On Call Central team, our latest sales and intern hires, as we expand to better serve medical practices this summer.
Customizability and Flexibility Using Protocols and Departments
· by On Call Central
Tailor On Call Central with custom departments, protocols, and notification intervals so every provider and specialty is contacted exactly the way they prefer.
We pick up on the first ring every time!
· by On Call Central
Live operators put patients on hold during high call volume. On Call Central answers every forwarded call instantly, delivering urgent messages without delay.
Automated Message Transcription
· by On Call Central
On Call Central now adds automated transcripts to every paging and email message, viewable in the web and mobile apps, making after-hours messages faster to read and act on.
On Call Central Mobile Application Update: More Call Log
· by On Call Central
An over-the-air update to the On Call Central iOS and Android apps lets administrators view the entire call log, including non-urgent, billing, and appointment messages.
Creative Daytime Uses for On Call Central
· by On Call Central
On Call Central is not just for after hours. Learn two creative daytime uses, overflow call forwarding and busy-line coverage, so your practice captures every patient call during office hours.
How We Work With Outside Practices In Your Call Pool
· by On Call Central
Worried that other offices in your call pool use a different answering service? On Call Central works seamlessly with outside practices, routing covering doctors automatically.
8 Ways to Reduce After Hours Call Volume in Medical Practice
· by On Call Central
Eight practical ways to reduce after-hours and non-urgent call volume in your medical practice, easing the burden on front-desk staff and improving patient triage.
Overview of the On Call Central Dashboard
· by On Call Central
A guided overview of the On Call Central dashboard, the call schedule summary, filters, and call log, so you can navigate your web interface with confidence.
On Call Load Balancing Module
· by On Call Central
On Call Central's new On Call Balancing module distributes calls round-robin across multiple schedules, ideal for high-volume practices and predictable call spikes.
A Guide To Sound Voice Menu Design
· by On Call Central
How to design clear, effective voice menus in On Call Central, avoid the most common mistakes, and schedule menus ahead of closings and after-hours so callers always reach the right place.
Hurricane Irma Update and FAQs
· by On Call Central
How severe weather like Hurricane Irma affects On Call Central service: FAQs on our AWS-backed infrastructure, redundancy, and keeping your practice reachable during storms.
Automating Management of Overflow Call Volume
· by On Call Central
Peak-time call spikes overwhelm front desks and frustrate patients. Learn how automating overflow call management cuts hold times and abandonment rates without adding staff.
Avoiding Gmail Spam Filters
· by On Call Central
If On Call Central messages stop arriving in Gmail, an overzealous spam filter is usually to blame. This short video shows how to fix it so notifications reliably reach your inbox.
Case Study: Family Practice Associates of Lexington
· by On Call Central
How Family Practice Associates of Lexington replaced its traditional answering service with On Call Central's automated medical answering platform. Read the case study.
On Call Central Customer Satisfaction Survey
· by On Call Central
Results from On Call Central's first customer satisfaction survey, including how likely clients are to recommend us and what they value most about our automated answering service.
On Call Central Detailed Demonstration
· by On Call Central
Watch a detailed demonstration of On Call Central, the fully automated medical answering service, and see how its call handling and provider notifications work end to end.
Patient Centered Medical Home 1 Element B
· by On Call Central
Pursuing NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition? See how On Call Central helps practices meet the PCMH 1 Element B standard for after-hours patient access.
How Does On Call Central Handle Non-Urgent Calls?
· by On Call Central
How does an automated system tell urgent from non-urgent calls? On Call Central uses a practice-specific voice menu to route every caller correctly, just as a live operator would.
Setting iPhone SMS Ringtones for On Call Central
· by On Call Central
A 5-minute tutorial on setting a custom, louder SMS ringtone on your iPhone for On Call Central messages, so you never miss an urgent after-hours notification.
How To Forward and Unforward Phones
· by On Call Central
A simple step-by-step guide to forwarding and unforwarding your office phones to On Call Central, including the dial codes and how to confirm forwarding is working.
The Unexpected Uses of Call Recordings
· by On Call Central
Beyond documenting medical advice, On Call Central clients use call recordings in surprising ways. Explore the most valuable, non-obvious uses of recorded calls.
On Call Central Demonstration Video
· by On Call Central
Watch a concise video overview of On Call Central, the automated medical answering service, and see how its features can benefit your practice.
Calculating Your Practice’s Medical Malpractice Risk
· by On Call Central
A landmark New England Journal of Medicine study quantifies malpractice risk by specialty. Here is what the data means for your practice and your after-hours call documentation.
Why We Do Not Send Protected Health Information via SMS
· by On Call Central
On Call Central never includes PHI in SMS notifications, because doing so likely violates HIPAA. Here is why we protect patient data and how secure notifications work.
Direct Notification Systems Outperform Live Operators
· by On Call Central
A peer-reviewed Emory University study found automated direct notification outperforms live operators for after-hours medical communication. Here is the evidence.
MGMA Annual Conference Demo
· by On Call Central
Highlights and a recorded software demonstration from On Call Central's booth at the MGMA Annual Conference in Denver, for practice managers exploring automated call handling.
Top Ten Reasons To Fire Your Medical Answering Service
· by On Call Central
From poor reliability to untrained operators, here are the top ten reasons medical practices fire their traditional answering service, and what to replace it with.
Medical Answering Services And Documentation of Calls
· by On Call Central
Poor documentation of after-hours phone calls is a hidden liability. See the research and how On Call Central automatically documents every patient phone interaction.