Over the years at Ambs Call Center, I’ve had a lot of conversations with practice administrators who were just plain worn out. Not from patient care, but from the constant juggle at the front desk.
One conversation stood out. A client told me:
“We can handle calls fine when there are only a few patients to check-in or handle. But as soon as there's more than a few, our front desk falls apart and calls are missed.”
And of course it would. Her team was doing a dozen things at once—check-ins, insurance verifications, billing questions—while also trying to answer every incoming call. The result? Frustrated staff. Long hold times. Dropped balls. And yes, rising costs.
So, she decided to get her practice a daytime medical answering service. And in her words, it was the best thing to have happened to her practice.
You don’t need to work in healthcare to see what’s happening at most front desks.
The phone rings.
A patient walks in.
Someone’s trying to check out.
Their staff is all over the place trying to assist both—and carry out other administrative duties.
That’s how tasks slip. Calls get missed. Voicemails pile up. And support staff, who are already under pressure, end up drowning.
In many practices we support, it’s not uncommon to see overtime skyrocket just from staff staying late to return calls. And it’s not just the front office—nurses are impacted too. When they’re tied up with call-backs, they’re not where physicians need them to be.
When that same client brought up hiring additional staff, she paused.
“But I don’t really need another full-time person. I just need help during the busiest times of day.”
She was right. There wasn't any need to hire more staff. That’s exactly where daytime overflow makes the difference.
You don’t have to overhaul your process for handling calls. You just need someone to handle it for you so that your team can focus on patient care and safety.
When call volume peaks, a daytime overflow answering service steps in to:
- Answer incoming calls immediately
- Gather and relay patient messages to the right staff
- Document call details so nothing gets lost
- Reduce the load on your in-office team without adding headcount
It’s support that scales when you need it, and steps back when you don’t!
Let’s talk numbers—because as CFO of Ambs Call Center—I always come back to that.
When practices use an overflow answering service during the day, they typically see:
- Reduced overtime
- Lower payroll costs
- Fewer missed opportunities for patient intake (which affects revenue, too)
So, to recap: no new hires, no extra phone lines. Instead, your organization gets happier staff who can focus on patients in front of them, not the ones on hold.
Bonus: The cost of using a service like this is significantly less than hiring even one part-time employee! Check out our comparison for the cost of an answering service vs dedicated staff here!
You’d be surprised how much patients notice when your phone system runs smoother.
Think about the times you've gotten a response quickly from a hospital or clinic you've called. How did that make you feel? With a daytime overflow answering service, your patients will feel equally pleased.
They don’t get busy signals. They’re not dumped into long holds. And when they leave a message, someone gets back to them fast.
That kind of experience builds trust. It signals that your office is organized, reliable, and responsive. And it’s the little things like that that keep patients coming back.
Not all call centers are built for healthcare. Many out there tout benefits like "HIPAA-compliant" when they aren't, or "US-based" when they are outsource their calls. There are also many hidden costs to answering services you want to look out for.
But there are still many benefits in a medical answering service that you should look for.
Here are a few:
- Live agents who pick up quickly (and sound like your team would)
- The ability to route messages by department—nursing, labs, billing, etc.
- Support for bilingual patients
- Option to integrate with your calendar for appointment scheduling
But more than anything, I would recommend this one thing: choosing a service that feels like a partner—not just a vendor.
If your team is constantly playing catch-up with the phones, you’re not alone. But that doesn’t mean you need to hire more people or accept that burnout is just part of the job.
Sometimes, you just need a better way to handle the call volume that’s already there.
And from what I’ve seen across the clients we work with—it works. If you're interested, Ambs Call Center has been offering daytime overflow support, after hours support, and 24/7 support to healthcare organizations across the US since 1932. We'd love to assist your practice! You can reach out to us here or learn more about our medical answering services here.
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