Physician answering service
AI Physician Answering Service: HIPAA Compliant, 24/7 Coverage
DeskMD is a physician answering service that answers when your team is unavailable, asks the details your staff would need, and sends a structured card instead of another vague voicemail. Flat per-provider pricing — no per-call or per-minute fees.
What it captures
Refills, results questions, and urgent symptoms become records your team can act on.
Chest-pain and urgent-symptom escalation language
Captured as caller details, reason, urgency, and staff-ready notes.
Refill requests with pharmacy details
Captured as caller details, reason, urgency, and staff-ready notes.
On-call routing notes
Captured as caller details, reason, urgency, and staff-ready notes.
Insurance changes and results questions
Captured as caller details, reason, urgency, and staff-ready notes.
Structured intake
A better after-hours message starts with better questions.
DeskMD follows your plain-English instructions and captures the specific details your staff needs in the morning.
Real scenarios
Four after-hours calls a doctors answering service should handle cleanly.
9:14 PM — chest-pain triage
A patient calls describing chest pressure radiating into the arm. Following your plain-English triage instructions, the AI flags the urgent language, captures onset, severity, current medications, and callback number, then pages on-call by SMS within seconds. Your covering physician sees the structured card before they finish reading the alert. DeskMD is not a 911 replacement.
7:32 AM — refill request
Someone calls asking for a Lisinopril refill. The AI confirms medication name, dose, pharmacy, and last fill date. The record lands in the inbox before the office opens, so your medical assistant processes it without a phone-tag round.
11:47 PM — post-op question
A day-3 post-op patient calls about pain and a small amount of drainage. The AI asks the right follow-up questions (color, amount, fever, drainage volume), categorizes the call as a post-op concern, and routes to the surgeon’s after-hours line.
2:15 PM — results call
A patient asks about lab results from yesterday. The AI takes the request, captures the patient identifier, and queues the message for the medical assistant to call back during open hours — no PHI is read out to the caller.
Physician answering service cost
What does a physician answering service cost?
DeskMD is flat, per-provider, and predictable: $299–$449 per provider per month. No per-minute meter, no per-call charge, no setup fee — so a busy after-hours night never turns into a surprise invoice.
DeskMD
Flat per-provider pricing
One predictable line per provider. Standard is $299 (English-only); Pro is $449 (adds 20+ languages, conditional intake, 5-year retention). $0 setup, 14-day free trial, 15% annual discount. Minutes and call volume don’t change the bill.
Traditional live services
Per-minute and per-call plans
Live-operator physician answering services commonly bill by the minute or per call, so a heavy on-call week or long triage calls push the monthly total up. Ranges vary by vendor and volume — always confirm the current rate card with each provider.
See the full breakdown, annual discount, and 5+ provider options on the DeskMD pricing page.
Pricing
Per-provider pricing for the practice.
Standard
For English-only practices
$0 setup. 14 days free, cancel anytime. 15% annual discount.
- Unlimited calls (fair-use)
- Per-provider auto-detection + inbox redaction
- Structured intake from plain-English instructions
- Emergency flagging by SMS + email
- HIPAA compliant + signed BAA
- English-only answering
- 365-day recording retention
- Email support, 48-hour SLA
Pro
For specialty and multi-provider practices
$0 setup. 14 days free, cancel anytime. 15% annual discount.
- Everything in Standard
- Conditional intake instructions for common call types
- Business-hours and after-hours greeting/tone
- Practice vocabulary hints
- 1,825-day (5-year) recording retention
- 20+ languages with English translation
- Custom escalation rules
- Advanced analytics
- Priority support, 24-hour SLA
5+ providers? We offer custom plans — contact sales. No published volume discount applies to Standard or Pro.
FAQ
Physician answering service questions.
How much does a physician answering service cost?
DeskMD costs $299 per provider per month for Standard and $449 per provider per month for Pro, with $0 setup, a 14-day free trial, and a 15% annual discount. Pricing is flat and per-provider — there are no per-minute or per-call fees. Traditional live-operator services typically bill by the minute or per call, often $1,500–$4,000 per practice per month depending on volume. See the pricing page for details.
What is an after hours physician answering service?
An after hours physician answering service answers patient calls when your office is closed — nights, weekends, and holidays. DeskMD answers 24/7, follows your plain-English triage instructions, flags urgent language, and pages on-call by SMS and email while queuing routine requests as structured cards for the morning.
Is DeskMD a physician answering service?
Yes. DeskMD answers healthcare calls and captures structured intake for staff follow-up, with per-provider auto-detection, inbox redaction, and HIPAA-compliant handling under a signed BAA.
Can it schedule appointments?
DeskMD captures the appointment request, reason, and urgency so your front desk can book without re-asking. Caller-confirmed booking with Google or Calendly is available as a paid add-on. It does not write back to your EHR or PMS.
How are emergencies handled?
DeskMD can flag emergency language and notify your team by SMS and email based on your triage instructions. It is not a 911 replacement.
Does it answer in other languages?
Standard answers in English only. Pro answers in 20+ languages at native quality, with additional languages handled on a best-effort basis, and delivers an English translation of the intake to your team.
Compare further
Related comparisons + alternatives.
After-hours coverage · HIPAA + signed BAA · Virtual receptionist · Pricing
Stop missing calls. Start sleeping at night.
Give patients a real answer after hours and give your team a clean record in the morning.