Blog

Best practices, product updates, and the occasional industry rant.

• Who Is Actually Answering Your Patients' Calls?

  July 2, 2026 · 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?

  March 30, 2026 · 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)

  March 9, 2026 · 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

  October 22, 2025 · by On Call Central

  Automated call reporting gives medical practices a verifiable record of every after-hours call, who received it, and how fast providers responded, for safety and accountability.

• Is It Time to Replace Your Answering Service? A Look at Common Red Flags

  October 22, 2025 · 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?

  September 10, 2025 · 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

  September 8, 2025 · 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

  December 4, 2020 · 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

  March 26, 2020 · 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

  August 7, 2019 · 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

  July 25, 2019 · 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

  July 9, 2019 · 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

  July 8, 2019 · 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

  June 25, 2019 · 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

  June 7, 2019 · 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

  July 5, 2018 · 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!

  June 25, 2018 · 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

  May 16, 2018 · 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

  May 9, 2018 · 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

  March 16, 2018 · 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

  March 1, 2018 · 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

  February 16, 2018 · 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

  February 15, 2018 · 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

  January 30, 2018 · 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

  January 5, 2018 · 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

  September 6, 2017 · 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

  August 1, 2017 · 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

  August 1, 2017 · 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

  August 1, 2017 · 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

  August 1, 2017 · 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

  August 1, 2017 · 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

  August 1, 2017 · 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?

  March 28, 2013 · 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

  January 2, 2013 · 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

  December 20, 2012 · 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

  December 12, 2012 · 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

  December 10, 2012 · 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

  December 10, 2011 · 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

  May 22, 2011 · 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

  November 6, 2009 · 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

  October 14, 2009 · 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

  May 28, 2009 · 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

  May 22, 2009 · 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.