Insights
What a missed call really costs.
Missed-call economics, the compliance rules behind answering client calls, and industry-by-industry triage.
Operations
How to Document After-Hours Triage Decisions for Home Health
There's no single federal 'triage code' for home health calls, whatever the software vendors imply. There is a real record-keeping requirement behind the search — here's what it actually asks for and how to build your own code to satisfy it.
Compliance
The Funeral Rule Applies to the First Phone Call
Some funeral homes train staff to move price questions to an in-person arrangement conference. The FTC's Funeral Rule requires price answers over the phone — and whoever answers your line needs to know that.
Industry Playbooks
Building the After-Hours Triage Script for a Veterinary Clinic
The after-hours veterinary call is anxious and rarely clear-cut. Without a script, every call either wakes the on-call vet or gets brushed off. Here's how to build the branches that sort them.
Missed-Call Economics
Every Unanswered Referral Call Is Census You Never Get
A discharge planner placing a patient calls agencies in order and goes with the first one that picks up and can take the case. Here's a worksheet to put a real dollar figure on the referral calls your intake line is missing.
Operations
The On-Call Escalation Ladder for After-Hours Hospice Calls
Between a 2am call and a documented clinical response sits the escalation ladder — the list of who gets contacted, in what order, how fast, and what happens when nobody answers. It's usually the weakest part of the protocol.
Compliance
42 CFR Part 2: The Confidentiality Rule Behind a Behavioral Health Phone Line
HIPAA isn't the only federal rule that governs what a third party can do with a patient's call. If your practice treats substance use disorders, Part 2 is stricter — and the 2024 final rule changed how it works.
Industry Playbooks
The First Call to a Behavioral Health Practice Is Not an Appointment Call
A person reaching a therapy or psychiatry practice for the first time is often ambivalent, and some are in crisis. The line has to do two jobs at once — and the second one needs a written protocol, not improvisation.
Missed-Call Economics
What a Missed Call Actually Costs a Home Services Business
Skip the industry averages. Here's a worksheet to put a real dollar figure on the calls your HVAC, plumbing, or electrical business isn't answering — using your own numbers.
Industry Playbooks
Speed-to-Lead for Personal Injury Firms: Why the First Firm to Answer Usually Wins
A potential client with a fresh injury is calling firms in order and retaining one of the first to pick up. What that means for how you handle intake after hours.
Compliance
When a Third Party Answers Your Patient Calls, HIPAA Has Already Started
An answering service that hears a patient's name tied to the fact that they're a patient is handling PHI. That makes it a business associate — and there are specific requirements before the first call routes.
Compliance
The Hospice 24/7 Availability Requirement, and What an Answering Line Has to Actually Do
Medicare's Conditions of Participation require hospice services to be available around the clock. A line that only takes messages doesn't meet the standard a surveyor is checking against — here's what does.