Sample Voicemail for a Direct Primary Care Office
Throughout starting and growing a direct primary care practice, you will need to continuously refine your operations. One of the most important parts of growing a practice is having an excellent experience for your patients and potential patients when they call your office line. If you can answer your phone within a few rings and address any concerns quickly and with kindness, you can reap continuous business and referrals from satisfied patients. Answering the phone in a timely manner is crucial. But, in the event that you cannot answer the call due to a capacity issue or a cell signal issue, having a phone tree or voicemail is very important.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that pharmacies expect the voicemail to say not only the practice name, but also list the doctors within that practice.
Here’s an example of our daytime voicemail:
"You've reached Plum Health DPC, the offices of Drs. Thomas, Orlich, and Rabaut. Please leave a voicemail and we will return your call as soon as possible. Alternatively, email [our email address]. Our office hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. If you've reached our voicemail during this time, you can try calling back in 1 hour. Our fax number is [our fax number]. If this is an emergency and you cannot wait, please dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency department."
Here’s an example of our after-hours voicemail:
"Thank you for your call. You have reached the after hours line for Plum Health DPC, the offices of Drs. Thomas, Orlich, and Rabaut. Please leave a voicemail and we will return your call as soon as possible. Alternatively, email [our email address]. Our office hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. If your concern is non-urgent, please call back during our office hours. Our fax number is [our fax number]. If this is an emergency and you cannot wait, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department."
Obviously, our goal is to have every phone call answered promptly with a calm and kind demeanor. Sometimes, due to cell service issues or capacity issues, these call can be missed. Setting up a voicemail for these contingencies is important.
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC