Foundational
ECW PLAYBOOKCall Routing Blueprint
A worksheet for deciding which eClinicalWorks practice calls Katie completes, which go to staff, and where urgent, clinical and billing calls are sent.
Ready in
One to three days
Typical ECW integration timeline
Automation lift
Varies
Depends on call mix and workflow scope
Escalations
On-call
Response times follow your protocols
Start from call reasons, not extensions
Phone trees are usually built around departments: press one for scheduling, two for billing. Callers rarely sort themselves correctly, so the scheduler ends up fielding authorization questions and the nurse line gets appointment changes.
A routing blueprint flips that around. Katie asks the caller what they need in plain language, and your rules decide what happens to each kind of request. The blueprint is simply the list of those rules, written down once and kept current.
A starter map for an eClinicalWorks office
Most practices fill in something like the list below, then adjust it after reading the first week of summaries.
- Appointment requests: booked into eClinicalWorks within your visit-type rules
- Reschedule and cancellation requests: captured with the patient's preferred new time for your schedulers
- Refill requests: taken down in full and sent to clinical staff, never approved by the AI
- Symptoms and clinical questions: escalated to clinical staff under your rules
- Billing and payments: sent to your billing line or payment link
- Referring offices: transferred to the referral coordinator while you are open
Transfers during office hours
While the office is open, any call type can be set to transfer to a person, a department line or a ring group. Some practices transfer every clinical call live. Others prefer a summary so nurses can call back between patients. Both are reasonable, and the choice is yours.
Decide what should happen when a transfer goes unanswered, so the caller always leaves with their request recorded rather than stranded in a ringing line.
Locations, providers and languages
Groups with several eClinicalWorks facilities often route by site: the caller names the office, and the rules for that office apply, including its hours and its front desk line. Provider routing works the same way when a physician wants calls about their patients handled by a particular nurse.
Language does not need its own branch. Katie speaks with patients in 59 languages, so a Spanish speaker gets the same routing as everyone else instead of waiting for a bilingual staff member to free up.
Keep the blueprint current
Routing rules go stale when a nurse leaves or a location changes hours. Look through summaries for calls that were transferred and then bounced, and for categories that keep landing with the wrong person. Changing the rule changes how Katie handles every later call, with nothing to retrain at the front desk.
Frequently asked questions
- Can different call types go to different people?
- Yes. Each reason for calling can have its own destination, such as scheduling, billing, the nurse line or a referral coordinator, and its own after-hours handling.
- Does Katie decide whether a symptom is urgent?
- She makes no clinical judgments. She follows the escalation rules you define, notes in the summary how urgent the caller says it is, and hands clinical matters to clinical staff.
- Can routing differ between our eClinicalWorks facilities?
- Yes. Each location can carry its own hours, transfer lines and booking rules, so a call about your north office follows the north office's rules.
- Who should write the routing blueprint?
- Usually the practice manager drafts it with the front desk lead, and a physician signs off on anything clinical. The people who answer the phones today know where calls really go, which is often different from what the phone tree says.
Next step
Bring this playbook into your ECW environment
We’ll load your scripts, routing maps, and compliance requirements into MedReception AI, then show your stakeholders how each call is logged back into ECW.