Hospitals & Health Systems — Calls, Intake, and Patient Requests | Envision360
Industry

Hospitals & Health Systems

Hospitals don’t lose time inside the EHR. They lose time around it—calls, transfers, messages, missing context, and “can you help me with…” requests that bounce between teams.

We build a practical layer beside your EHR that handles inbound and outbound patient requests: intake, scheduling, directions, records requests, billing questions, pre-op instructions, discharge follow-ups, and FAQs. Requests come in through phone and web, get routed to the right queue with the right context, and get tracked end-to-end. Built for hospitals in the U.S. and Canada.

Who this helps

  • Hospital contact centers and switchboards that are overloaded
  • Outpatient departments managing a constant stream of patient questions
  • Pre-admission testing / perioperative teams dealing with paperwork and prep calls
  • Discharge and care coordination teams doing follow-ups by hand
  • Specialty clinics inside the hospital (cardiology, imaging, oncology, etc.)
  • Teams that need clean handoffs between staff, nurses, and scheduling
Request intake and staff work queue—capture, route, and track patient needs

Common problems we hear at hospitals

Calls, transfers, and phone tag

  • One simple request turns into three transfers
  • Voicemails pile up and patients call back again
  • After-hours requests land with the wrong team

Missing context

  • Staff can’t see the “why” behind a request fast enough
  • Prep instructions, referrals, and forms live in too many places
  • Patients repeat the same details to multiple people

No clear ownership

  • Requests bounce between departments
  • No single queue with status and due dates
  • Outbound follow-ups depend on someone’s spreadsheet

The goal isn’t to replace hospital systems. It’s to stop “requests” from getting lost between the phone, email, fax, portals, and teams.

What we build for hospitals

1) Phone + web intake for patient requests

  • A phone-based assistant that answers common questions and captures requests 24/7
  • Clear handoff to staff when a human is needed (with a summary and call details)
  • Web forms for the same request types (so patients aren’t forced to call)
  • Request categories that match how your hospital actually works

Real example: We built a phone-based assistant for a hospital workflow to handle patient FAQs and route common requests (appointments, records requests, directions, billing questions) into the right queues with tracking and handoff notes.

2) Routing, queues, and ownership

  • Work queues by department (imaging, cardiology, periop, billing, HIM, etc.)
  • Rules for urgency, hours, required info, and proper escalation
  • Status tracking: received → in progress → waiting → complete
  • Audit trail: who touched it, what changed, when it was closed

3) Intake, consent & docs

  • Digital intake and consent when it fits the workflow
  • Smart prompts for missing items (without making staff chase paper)
  • Attachments named and filed consistently (IDs, referrals, prep forms)

4) Outbound calls and reminders

  • Appointment reminders, prep instructions, and confirmation prompts
  • Post-visit and discharge follow-ups (with structured questions)
  • “Call me back” scheduling instead of repeated inbound calls
  • Escalation paths when responses indicate risk or urgency

5) Reporting that’s useful

  • Call drivers and request types (what’s actually coming in)
  • Time-to-first-response and time-to-close by queue
  • Repeat callers and unresolved loops
  • Where requests get stuck (so you can fix the root cause)
Hospital operations—intake, routing, work queues, outbound reminders, and status

Departments we often start with

  • Imaging scheduling and prep instructions
  • Perioperative / pre-admission testing requests
  • HIM (medical records requests)
  • Billing questions and payment plans
  • Specialty clinics with high call volume

Start with one queue that’s drowning. Fix it properly. Then expand.

Patient portal and self-serve requests

  • A clean place to request records, ask a question, or book/confirm
  • Forms that reduce back-and-forth (without forcing long signups)
  • Status updates so patients don’t call to “check”
  • Secure messaging when the workflow requires it

Privacy, security & access

  • Encryption in transit and at rest
  • Role-based access, least privilege
  • Audit logs for access/changes/downloads
  • Data residency: Canada or U.S.
  • Aligns with PHIPA/PIPEDA and HIPAA expectations
  • Retention rules based on hospital policy
  • Accessible, mobile-friendly screens

Integrations that stick

We don’t ask hospitals to rip and replace. We integrate with the systems you already run. Where APIs exist, we use them. Where they don’t, we use safe, controlled syncs and clear field mapping.

  • EHR / hospital platforms: Epic (including MyChart where applicable), Oracle Health/Cerner, MEDITECH, Allscripts/Veradigm, athenahealth, NextGen, eClinicalWorks (based on access and feasibility)
  • Patient portal layer: MyChart-style workflows, intake forms, request routing, status updates
  • Interoperability: FHIR/HL7 patterns where available; structured exports when needed
  • Contact center + telephony: Twilio (voice/SMS), Genesys/Five9 patterns where applicable, clear escalation and human handoff
  • Messaging: SMS/email reminders via Twilio/SendGrid or platform-native options
  • Files & document storage: SharePoint, Google Drive, Box; consistent naming and filing rules
  • Identity & access: SSO where used (Okta, Azure AD), roles for admin, contact center, department teams
Hospital work queue and routing dashboard with intake and outbound reminders

Results hospitals can expect

  • Fewer transfersRequests get routed correctly the first time
  • Less phone tagCommon questions and requests handled without repeat calls
  • Cleaner handoffsSummaries and required details captured up front
  • Faster responseQueues with ownership, due dates, and status
  • Better follow-upsOutbound reminders and discharge workflows run consistently
  • More visibilityReporting shows what’s coming in and where it gets stuck

Typical starting points

Call intake + routing

Start with the highest-volume request types. Capture the details once, route to the right queue, and track status end-to-end.

Patient requests portal

A simple web layer for requests (records, scheduling, questions) so patients aren’t forced to call for everything.

Outbound follow-ups

Reminders, prep instructions, and discharge follow-ups that reduce inbound call-backs and missed steps.

Pilot plan

Weeks 1–2

Pick one lane (one department or request type). Map request categories, hours, escalation rules, and what “done” looks like. Confirm what should write back to the chart vs what stays as a tracked request.

Weeks 3–6/8

Build the intake + routing flow (phone and/or web). Set up queues, templates, and handoffs. Integrate where it makes sense (patient identity, appointments, messages, documents). Test with real call recordings and real scenarios.

Week 8+

Expand to more request types and departments. Add outbound follow-ups and deeper integrations once the first lane is stable.

CTA

Send one workflow that’s clogging your day—imaging scheduling calls, pre-op questions, discharge follow-ups, records requests, billing questions, or general switchboard overload. We’ll outline a first release that fits your hospital systems, respects privacy rules, and reduces repeat calls without creating new work for staff.

Start a conversation Start with one lane. Prove it. Then scale.

Hospital platforms we commonly design around: Epic / MyChart, Oracle Health (Cerner), MEDITECH, athenahealth, Allscripts/Veradigm, NextGen, eClinicalWorks (based on access and feasibility).