Frequently Asked Questions

At The Message Center, we understand the importance of accurate and efficient documentation and processing of hospital consultations. When a consult is requested at our message center, our operators are trained to obtain all necessary information, including the requested doctor's name, the caller's name, the name of the hospital or other facility, the patient's name, the patient's date of birth, the patient's room number or bed assignment, the requesting physician, and the reason for the consult.

All consults are classified as either routine or stat based on the urgency of the situation. Our operators are flexible and able to customize the information they obtain based on the specific needs of each case. If you have any additional information requirements, simply make a request and we will be happy to accommodate you.

At The Message Center, we are committed to providing top-notch service and support to our clients. If you have any questions about our process for documenting and processing hospital consultations, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are always here to help.

By Default at the message center, our telephone operators obtain the patient’s doctor’s name, the caller’s name, the facility they are calling from, the patient’s name, the patient’s date of birth, the primary callback number, caller id and the caller’s request.   If the request is a prescription refill, we also obtain the pharmacy phone number and the name of the medication.

Call patching or connecting a provider with the caller, is often charged at the rate of $1 or more with other answering services.   At the message center, we have no fee associated with call patching. Call patching is a vanity feature, and included with all our service packages. Per call packages allow patching parties at no additional charge, but the patch is calculated as one call. 

Call recording is an optional free feature provided by the message center.   It’s required to have an outgoing message indicating that the call is being recorded.  Call recording greatly helps us maintain quality of service.   Call recording is an optional feature and may be activated or deactivated at any given time of request.

Step one is to confirm that all telephone handsets are in usual working order, and free of missing features, error messages or unusual lights.  Contact your phone system provider, if you’ve found any of the previous.   Step two is to test your call forwarding number: From your cell phone dial your exclusive call forwarding number and you should hear your custom greeting begin. Please use your emergency backup call forwarding number and call us at your earliest convenience, if you don’t. If you have performed step one and two with no unusual observations, then, the third and final step is to call your telephone service provider.  With forwarding problems, our three step plan is the most effective course of action to take.

Luckily, at the message center, we maintain a bank of toll free numbers that we can offer. The monthly fee for your optional toll free number is under ten dollars. This flat monthly fee includes the cost of your toll free number as well as the inbound and outbound usage. We most often provide a local call forwarding number absolutely free. The local call forwarding number that the message center will issue your practice is variable based on your geographic location.

In all our service packages, a provider is considered an individual health care professional who provides service to patients within your office.  In addition, a provider is typically on call after hours, asses-sable to your callers and or your call group member’s callers. All health care providers in your office are listed on the HIPAA business associate agreement that the message center issues. Your call group members are not considered providers unless we are contacting them directly and their names will not be mentioned in the HIPAA Business associate agreement.

At the message center, generally all telephone operators speak English as their first language but all of our telephone operators are highly skill in effective customer service techniques. English/Spanish Bilingual operators are on duty and readily available to assist your callers 24 hours

Paying your bill is easy. We accept checks and all major credit cards including visa, master card, discover, and American express Our monthly auto pay system, is available to any subscriber paying with a credit card. Making a onetime credit card payment is available and, just like all credit card transactions, optional. Auto Pay by check is available through most banking institutions.     For confidentiality purposes, we are unable to accept a payment by phone.