Best practices, product updates, and medical answering service news.https://www.oncallcentral.com/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2026/03/30/can-ai-really-handle-90-of-your-calls/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2026/03/30/can-ai-really-handle-90-of-your-calls/“AI can handle 90% of your calls.” It’s a bold claim. In healthcare, bold claims deserve scrutiny. Many practice leaders have already experimented with AI in other parts of their organization; automated patient chatbots that frustrated users, “smart” scheduling assistants … Read MoreMon, 30 Mar 2026 22:02:00 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2026/03/09/the-front-desk-staffing-crisis-in-urgent-care/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2026/03/09/the-front-desk-staffing-crisis-in-urgent-care/How Staffing Shortages Are Disrupting Urgent Care Front Desk Operations Urgent care has a staffing problem. Not on the clinical side. Not in the exam rooms. At the front desk. Across the country, urgent care operators are struggling to recruit, … Read MoreMon, 09 Mar 2026 19:36:34 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/10/22/how-to-track-provider-response-times-with-automated-call-reporting/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/10/22/how-to-track-provider-response-times-with-automated-call-reporting/A Clear, Verifiable Record of Every After-Hours Call In a medical practice, it isn’t enough to assume after-hours calls are being handled correctly. You need to verify they are. When an urgent message comes in at night, was it delivered? … Read MoreWed, 22 Oct 2025 20:52:30 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/10/22/5-warning-signs-its-time-to-replace-your-medical-answering-service/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/10/22/5-warning-signs-its-time-to-replace-your-medical-answering-service/Not all medical answering services are created equal. For too many practices, what starts as a reliable partnership slowly degrades into a constant source of frustration, and risk. Delayed messages, misrouted calls, and a lack of accountability aren’t just workflow … Read MoreWed, 22 Oct 2025 20:32:17 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/09/10/built-in-escalation-logic-doctor-no-answer/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/09/10/built-in-escalation-logic-doctor-no-answer/When a patient’s health is on the line, silence is never an acceptable outcome. Yet every practice has experienced it: the on-call provider doesn’t answer. Maybe they’re driving. Maybe their phone was on silent. Maybe they saw the message and … Read MoreWed, 10 Sep 2025 20:34:53 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/09/08/the-mobile-advantage-how-physicians-can-review-and-return-calls-on-the-go/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2025/09/08/the-mobile-advantage-how-physicians-can-review-and-return-calls-on-the-go/In modern medical practice, responsiveness isn’t a luxury, it’s an expectation. But expecting a physician to be glued to a phone after hours is unrealistic. Today’s on-call doctors are on the move; rounding at hospitals, driving between facilities, even trying … Read MoreMon, 08 Sep 2025 20:35:56 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2020/12/04/professional-voice-messaging/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2020/12/04/professional-voice-messaging/Professional Voice Messaging, Inc. has been acquired by On Call Central. On Call Central is fully automated, shares many similarities with the Cadusys system, and includes a bunch of modern conveniences. Professional Voice Messaging was founded 32 years ago by … Read MoreFri, 04 Dec 2020 21:20:52 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2020/03/26/business-continuity-during-covid-19/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2020/03/26/business-continuity-during-covid-19/A message from Our President about On Call Central’s business plan during the Coronavirus pandemic On Call Central is open amidst the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and ready to help our medical practices in these changing and challenging times. We … Read MoreThu, 26 Mar 2020 19:49:26 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/08/07/on-call-central-secure-chat/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/08/07/on-call-central-secure-chat/Effective today, we offer On Call Central Secure Chat, an add-on service that powers text communications with colleagues in a HIPAA-compliant manner. Features of On Call Central secure chat include: Chat is available on both iOS and Android. No separate … Read MoreWed, 07 Aug 2019 20:13:39 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/08/01/why-your-medical-answering-service-shouldnt-work-from-home/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/08/01/why-your-medical-answering-service-shouldnt-work-from-home/In addition to offshore companies, work-from-home call center operators are beginning to grow in popularity. Companies like Amazon, Dell, Hilton, and Humana are only a few of the biggest companies planning or already using remote, from-home call operators. Though it … Read MoreThu, 01 Aug 2019 09:00:18 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/07/25/history-of-call-centers/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/07/25/history-of-call-centers/Call centers originated in the 1960s when Birmingham Press and Mail installed Private Automated Business Exchanges to rows of agents who managed those contacts. By 1973 call centers became mainstream, and Rockwell International patented its Galaxy automatic Call Distributor (GACD) … Read MoreThu, 25 Jul 2019 09:00:16 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/07/09/what-an-automated-medical-answering-service-can-do-for-you/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/07/09/what-an-automated-medical-answering-service-can-do-for-you/If your practice’s office is opened 8 hours a day, on average. That is 40 hours out of the total 168 in the week. Rounding up, you or someone in your practice answer the phones 25% of the week. So … Read MoreTue, 09 Jul 2019 09:00:20 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/07/08/the-potential-dangers-of-using-offshore-answering-services/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/07/08/the-potential-dangers-of-using-offshore-answering-services/There are many potential risks to hiring offshore answering services for your medical answering service. In order to be able to closely manage your patients’ care and the overall quality of your practice, you need an answering service that is … Read MoreMon, 08 Jul 2019 09:00:37 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/06/25/how-your-automated-answering-service-can-increase-patient-lifetime-value/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/06/25/how-your-automated-answering-service-can-increase-patient-lifetime-value/The business part of healthcare is not discussed very openly very often. However, it is an important part of healthcare. It is what pays your bills and keeps you alive and healthy as well. It is the same as advertising … Read MoreTue, 25 Jun 2019 09:00:40 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/06/07/on-call-central-office-update/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2019/06/07/on-call-central-office-update/We are about to boost our efforts in many areas of our business this summer and we are doing this with the help of our three newest recruits. Firstly, we have added on the excellent Eliot Bennie in Sales, an … Read MoreFri, 07 Jun 2019 09:30:42 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/07/05/customizability-and-flexibility-using-protocols-and-departments/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/07/05/customizability-and-flexibility-using-protocols-and-departments/When using our software you can tailor certain aspects of it to suit your needs. This includes being able to customize your department(s) and protocols. If your practice has multiple specialties, or multiple providers on call simultaneously you can have … Read MoreThu, 05 Jul 2018 13:41:04 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/06/25/we-pick-up-on-the-first-ring-every-time/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/06/25/we-pick-up-on-the-first-ring-every-time/One of the largest inconveniences of a live answering service is that, as humans, the operators have a limited capacity to handle high call volumes. This can lead to your patients being placed on hold for extended periods of time. … Read MoreMon, 25 Jun 2018 15:58:15 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/05/16/automated-message-transcription/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/05/16/automated-message-transcription/Today the engineering team at On Call Central released one of the most frequently-requested features: automated transcription. Video demo below. As of today, all messages left using either the On Call Central paging module or email module will have automated … Read MoreWed, 16 May 2018 17:32:02 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/05/09/on-call-central-mobile-application-update-more-call-log/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/05/09/on-call-central-mobile-application-update-more-call-log/This morning we released an over-the-air update to the On Call Central mobile applications for iOS and Android. To update to the latest code, simply exit and reopen the app; there should be no need to re-download from the App … Read MoreWed, 09 May 2018 13:56:58 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/03/16/creative-daytime-uses-for-on-call-central/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/03/16/creative-daytime-uses-for-on-call-central/While our service is most commonly used after business hours, it can also be a useful tool to take advantage of during the day. There are two ways that On Call Central can be creatively used during your normal operating … Read MoreFri, 16 Mar 2018 15:28:20 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/03/01/how-we-work-with-outside-practices-in-your-call-pool/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/03/01/how-we-work-with-outside-practices-in-your-call-pool/Different Answering Services Within the Call Pool   One of the most common reservations we hear from prospective clients is that they’re in a call pool with offices that use other answering services. We’re here to let you know that … Read MoreThu, 01 Mar 2018 19:33:34 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/02/16/reducing-after-hours-call-volume-in-medical-practice/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/02/16/reducing-after-hours-call-volume-in-medical-practice/8 Ways to Reduce After Hours Call Volume in Medical Practice   Every medical practice must deal with managing after-hours consults and patient care requests. Unfortunately, most live operators are not medically trained, and can do a poor job of … Read MoreFri, 16 Feb 2018 20:54:25 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/02/15/overview-of-the-on-call-central-dashboard/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/02/15/overview-of-the-on-call-central-dashboard/On Call Central Dashboard The Dashboard is the first screen encountered when you login to your On Call Central web interface. This guide, as well as the accompanying video, provides an overview of the dashboard and goes into detail about … Read MoreThu, 15 Feb 2018 22:12:35 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/01/29/new-feature-on-call-load-balancing-module/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/01/29/new-feature-on-call-load-balancing-module/Today we released a feature that has been in the works for several months: fully automated round robin call distribution. This is deployed via a new On Call Balancing module. Rather than linking to a single call schedule, the On … Read MoreTue, 30 Jan 2018 00:36:26 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/01/05/a-guide-to-sound-voice-menu-design/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2018/01/05/a-guide-to-sound-voice-menu-design/One of the features that adds great flexibility to On Call Central is the ability to create multiple voice menus and schedule when certain menus will play. Voice menu scheduling allows you to create customized caller experiences that are appropriate … Read MoreFri, 05 Jan 2018 15:39:23 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/09/06/hurricane-irma-update-and-faqs/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/09/06/hurricane-irma-update-and-faqs/While some of our users in southeast Texas are still recovering from Harvey, those in south Florida and the east coast are preparing for the impact of Irma. We’ve fielded several calls, emails, and support tickets on this topic, so … Read MoreWed, 06 Sep 2017 20:35:58 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/automating-management-of-overflow-call-volume/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/automating-management-of-overflow-call-volume/Summary Sporadically high call volume is an increasingly common issue in the modern medical practice.  Peak call times, such as Monday mornings, lunch, and closing time are often characterized by inbound call volume that exceeds a practice’s ability to immediately … Read MoreTue, 01 Aug 2017 15:18:21 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/avoiding-gmail-spam-filters/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/avoiding-gmail-spam-filters/On Call Central clients recently have contacted us stating that messages from On Call Central have not been received in their Gmail accounts.  The issue is the very erratic Gmail spam filter, and the video below shows you how to … Read MoreTue, 01 Aug 2017 15:18:21 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/case-study-family-practice-associates-of-lexington/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/case-study-family-practice-associates-of-lexington/Tue, 01 Aug 2017 15:18:21 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/on-call-central-customer-satisfaction-survey/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/on-call-central-customer-satisfaction-survey/Last week we conducted our first formal customer satisfaction survey.  Customer satisfaction is extremely important to us, since a large portion of our growth is driven by customer referrals.  Though additional responses may trickle in, we now have enough data … Read MoreTue, 01 Aug 2017 15:18:21 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/on-call-central-detailed-demonstration/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/on-call-central-detailed-demonstration/Tue, 01 Aug 2017 15:18:21 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/patient-centered-medical-home-1-element-b/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2017/08/01/patient-centered-medical-home-1-element-b/Several practices recently have approached us as part of an initiative to achieve Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition.  For those who may be interested in learning more, the below presentation from a recent NCQA standards workshop is a great … Read MoreTue, 01 Aug 2017 15:18:21 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2013/03/28/how-does-on-call-central-handle-non-urgent-calls/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2013/03/28/how-does-on-call-central-handle-non-urgent-calls/A common question from people interested in On Call Central is, “How does an automated system determine if a call is urgent or non-urgent?” This is a great question that is on the mind of many people. As with any … Read MoreThu, 28 Mar 2013 14:39:53 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2013/01/02/setting-iphone-sms-ringtones-for-on-call-central/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2013/01/02/setting-iphone-sms-ringtones-for-on-call-central/SMS messaging is the most common notification method for On Call Central users, and the iPhone is the most common phone. One request we receive from our users is how to set make their iPhone play a different tone when … Read MoreWed, 02 Jan 2013 15:47:46 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2012/12/20/how-to-forward-and-unforward-phones/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2012/12/20/how-to-forward-and-unforward-phones/We occasionally get clients who are completely new to using an answering service and have a basic question: How do you forward your phones? Forwarding Phones To forward your phones to On Call Central, do the following: Using the phone … Read MoreThu, 20 Dec 2012 15:48:04 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2012/12/12/the-unexpected-uses-of-call-recordings/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2012/12/12/the-unexpected-uses-of-call-recordings/We’re often asked by new On Call Central users whether or not they should record live calls.  This question invariably leads to a discussion of the various ways in which call recordings have been used by our clients.  Given the … Read MoreWed, 12 Dec 2012 15:48:49 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2012/12/10/on-call-central-demonstration-video/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2012/12/10/on-call-central-demonstration-video/This updated video provides an updated overview of On Call Central’s functionality and how it can benefit your business.Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:50:09 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2011/12/10/calculating-your-practices-medical-malpractice-risk/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2011/12/10/calculating-your-practices-medical-malpractice-risk/The August 18th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine contained what has to be one of the most robust studies of medical malpractice risk ever conducted. Anupam B. Jena and a bunch of other smarties at Harvard Medical … Read MoreSat, 10 Dec 2011 16:00:49 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2011/05/22/why-we-do-not-send-protected-health-information-via-sms/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2011/05/22/why-we-do-not-send-protected-health-information-via-sms/At On Call Central, we take security and patient privacy seriously. One of the questions we frequently receive relates to the manner in which we send SMS notifications to providers. On Call Central SMS notifications are conspicuously absent of protected … Read MoreSun, 22 May 2011 18:23:31 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/11/06/direct-notification-systems-outperform-live-operators/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/11/06/direct-notification-systems-outperform-live-operators/In the past several weeks I’ve been speaking with providers and practice managers frustrated by the quality of after-hours communications. Despite dissatisfaction with their current service, many providers have the impression that a live service is somehow better for patient … Read MoreFri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:52 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/10/14/mgma-annual-conference-demo/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/10/14/mgma-annual-conference-demo/We just spent the last four days in Denver at the MGMA Annual Conference and received great feedback from attendees. We performed so many demonstrations of the software that we thought it would make sense to record a video demonstration … Read MoreWed, 14 Oct 2009 15:01:50 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/05/28/top-ten-reasons-to-fire-your-medical-answering-service/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/05/28/top-ten-reasons-to-fire-your-medical-answering-service/Over the past several months I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many physicians and practice managers interested in On Call Central as a replacement for their medical answering service. The discussions frequently return to a handful of key points, … Read MoreThu, 28 May 2009 15:03:10 GMThttps://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/05/22/medical-answering-services-and-documentation-of-calls/https://www.oncallcentral.com/2009/05/22/medical-answering-services-and-documentation-of-calls/In developing On Call Central as an alternative medical answering service, one of the issues we have attempted to address is provider non-compliance as it pertains to the process of documenting patient phone interactions. In research the scope of the … Read MoreFri, 22 May 2009 15:04:13 GMT