Multi-Specialty Phone Routing

One number, many departments

A multi-specialty group might run cardiology, endocrinology, GI, orthopedics and primary care under one main number. Patients often do not know which department they need, and a long phone menu sends many of them to the wrong one.

Each misroute costs a transfer, a hold and sometimes a dropped call. Each department also has its own scheduling habits, which a central call team has to learn and keep current as physicians come and go.

Routing by request, not by menu

Katie asks what the caller needs. A patient who says they have a follow-up with their cardiologist is straightforward. A patient who says their doctor wants them to see someone about their thyroid is matched to the department your rules name for that request.

When a request could belong to more than one department, Katie does not choose based on symptoms. Your rules decide, or the request goes to a staff member who can make the call.

Department-specific booking

Each department keeps its own rules: its visit types and lengths, which physicians take new patients, whether a referral is required first. Katie books into the right department's eClinicalWorks schedule under those rules, so one department's habits do not leak into another's calendar.

The examples below show the kind of department rules groups write. Yours will differ, and each department lead should own their own list.

• Primary care: same-day sick visits and physicals
• Cardiology: new consults booked once the caller confirms a referral
• Orthopedics: new injuries offered the next fracture clinic time
• GI: procedure requests passed to the endoscopy coordinator

Transfers inside the group

While departments are open, any call type can be transferred to a department's own staff. A cardiology nurse question goes to the cardiology nurse line, not the main desk. After hours, each department's escalation rules apply.

Departments do not have to keep the same hours. If GI closes early on Fridays and primary care stays open late on Thursdays, those differences are part of each department's rules.

Shared patients across departments

Many patients in a multi-specialty group see more than one department. A diabetic patient may have endocrinology, primary care and podiatry visits in the same month. When that patient calls, the request is routed to the department it concerns, and with MedReception Autopilot the summary is filed to the single eClinicalWorks chart all departments share.

That gives every department the same view of the patient's phone contacts, which matters when one department's question turns out to be another's problem.