PRACTICE DECISION TOOLS
FOR Doctors, Specialists, NPs, PAs
Physician-Patient Archetype Test • Marketing • CMT Patient Study • See all tools
RESEARCH & PROOF
National Stats, Industry Research
CMT Research Briefs • Polls • Visuals • Legal Op • Natl Stats • Contact
The Phone Is the Front Door
Most membership practices obsess over the lobby and the website. For many patients, the first real contact is still a phone call. What happens on that call decides whether they ever see the lobby.
Start here: the questions this brief answers
Tap a question for the short answer, then jump to the evidence.
The phone is still the front door. In a 2024 national consumer survey, about half of respondents said they would prefer to schedule a routine appointment by phone if every option were available. In a March 2026 MGMA poll, practice leaders said scheduling and eligibility work dominate phone time, and MGMA called the phone the real front door for many patients. A simulated-patient study of English practices found satisfaction and willingness to recommend tracked how quickly patients could get an appointment, not how polished the call sounded. For a membership practice, the phone is part of what members pay for. Answer fast, use names, resolve the request or give a specific follow-up time, and never let a phone tree stand between a member and their care team.
“Every time a member hears a phone tree instead of a person, your membership just got a little less valuable. If access is what they pay for, access starts with who picks up.”
Do patients still want to call?
Yes. In a 2024 Jarrard consumer survey summarized by the AHA, about half preferred phone scheduling for routine appointments if all options were available.
Go to the full answer ↓What eats the most phone time?
In a 2026 MGMA poll of 294 leaders, eligibility and prior authorization (45%) and scheduling (31%) topped the list.
Go to the full answer ↓Does a friendly script matter more than a quick answer?
A simulated-patient study found patient satisfaction tracked appointment availability and time to resolve the request more than call-handling style. Do both, but resolve fast.
Go to the full answer ↓What should our phone standard be?
Part 4: answer by the third ring, greet with your name, use theirs, resolve or set a specific follow-up time, and never transfer a member into voicemail without a warm handoff.
Go to the full answer ↓Your real front door has a ring tone
You chose the paint, the chairs and the art. You rebuilt the website. Then a prospective member calls, and gets voicemail.
That call was the front door.
In March 2026, MGMA wrote that “the phone often remains the real ‘front door’ for a large share of patients, and it still consumes disproportionate staff time.”1 Industry Research
Patients agree. In a 2024 national consumer survey by Jarrard Inc., summarized by the American Hospital Association, about half of respondents said that if every option were available, they would prefer to schedule a routine appointment by phone. More than half had also used an app or website to schedule in the past year.2 Industry Research So it’s not phone or digital. It’s both, done well.
Here’s the opportunity for a membership practice. If your model reduces eligibility and prior-authorization calls, the time your team gets back belongs to the members on the other end of the line.
What patients judge on the phone
Researchers in England called 41 general practices every month for nearly a year, posing as patients who wanted a routine but prompt appointment. Patient satisfaction and likelihood to recommend were related to appointment availability, not to call handling. Patients’ reports of phone access were related to how long it took to resolve the request.3 Practice Insight
Translation: warmth matters, but resolution matters more. A friendly voice that ends in “we’ll call you back sometime” is still a closed door.
The backdrop in the U.S. makes this a real advantage for membership practices. A 2022 Merritt Hawkins survey of large metro areas found an average wait of about 26 days for a new-patient physician appointment, and 20.6 days in family medicine.4 Industry Research
What physicians told CMT about the phone
“Our phone trees, answering services, and after-hours call-sharing doctors make it unlikely that any given patient will actually speak to their own doctor. So, they don’t bother, and they seek care wherever it is most convenient.”
A concierge physician in Georgia, quoted in Remark-ology (2025).5
“We try to make it fit into your lifestyle instead of disrupting it. You call the office, you call my cell phone, you text me, email me and we set something up.”
A concierge physician in Iowa, quoted in Remark-ology (2025).5
Same question, two answers. One practice built a maze. The other built a doorway. Patients notice the difference before they ever meet you.
Remark-ology’s list of small, high-impact changes includes one that costs nothing: shorten call pickups to three rings.5
A phone standard worth paying for
| Moment | Standard | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup | Answer by the third ring during business hours | The first impression is speed |
| Greeting | “Good morning, this is [name] at [practice]. How can I help?” | A person, with a name, at your service |
| Their name | Ask once, then use it | Patients want to be addressed by name (Brief No. 59) |
| Hold | Ask permission; return within 60 seconds with an update | Unexplained waits feel longer (Brief No. 62) |
| Resolution | Solve it, or give a specific follow-up time and keep it | Resolution drives satisfaction more than polish |
| Handoff | Warm transfer: introduce the caller and their need | No one should have to tell their story twice |
| Prospective members | Capture name, best callback time and how they heard about you | This is your marketing data |
CMT original guidance, informed by the sources above. Evidence type: Practice Insight.
Go and listen for yourself
Toyota calls it genchi genbutsu: understanding a condition by confirming the facts through personal observation, at the place where the work happens.6 For a practice, that means calling your own line. From your car. At 12:15 p.m. On a Monday.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| “Please hold.” | “May I place you on a brief hold while I check? I’ll be right back.” |
| “You’ll need to call this number.” | “Let me connect you directly and tell them why you’re calling.” |
| “We will call you.” | “Would you mind if I look into this and call you back by 3 o’clock?” |
Adapted from the phrase list in No More Waiting Rooms (2024).7
Make every call a reason to join
- Call your own practice twice this week, once at lunch and once after 4 p.m. Note rings, hold time and whether you got an answer.
- Write your greeting and post it at every phone.
- Start a simple log for prospective-member calls: name, source, follow-up date.
Your phone is where community marketing pays off. Plan who you want calling, and be ready when they do.
Free. No sign-up. Your answers stay in your browser. Step 3 of CMT's Learn, Build, Lead tools. It helps you pick the patient segments that fit your practice, find where they are, plan conversations with local physicians, check that your message sounds like care rather than a pitch, and leave with a 90-day plan.
Verify identity before discussing health information, avoid leaving detailed messages unless the patient has agreed, and keep calls where other patients cannot overhear. Ask your compliance adviser how HIPAA applies to your phone and voicemail practices. This brief is educational and is not legal advice.
Phones still matter
Half of consumers would rather call to schedule.
Resolve fast
Satisfaction tracks how quickly the request gets solved.
Lead by listening
Call your own line. Then fix what you hear.
How this brief was built
This brief draws on a 2026 MGMA Stat poll, a 2024 consumer survey by Jarrard Inc. as summarized by the American Hospital Association, a simulated-patient study of English general practices (British Journal of General Practice, 2013), a 2022 Merritt Hawkins survey of appointment wait times as reported by TechTarget, a Lean Enterprise Institute definition, and CMT's books. Physician quotes are reported in Remark-ology (2025) without names, as in the book. The phone standard in Part 4 is CMT original guidance, not a tested protocol.
How to read the evidence types
Every key finding is labeled by evidence type. Labels describe the type of evidence, not its value. Each type answers different questions. Funding is disclosed on every source.
Randomized trials and systematic reviews.Best for cause and effect.
Large observational studies and government data.Best for trends at scale.
Surveys, smaller studies and expert consensus.Best for real-world experience.
Company-sponsored or company-reported data that is not peer-reviewed.Best for early signals and operating data.
Statutes, regulation and official guidance.Best for what is required.
What we don't know
- How quickly concierge and membership practices actually answer calls; CMT found no published benchmark.
- How many prospective members are lost to unanswered or abandoned calls.
- Whether the English simulated-patient findings apply to U.S. membership practices.
How to cite this brief
External review: this brief has not yet been reviewed by an outside expert. When review is complete, the reviewer is credited by name above with any conflicts of interest, and the version number is updated. Reviewers check accuracy and fairness; CMT is responsible for the final content.
Corrections policy: when an error is identified, CMT corrects it in the open and updates the version number above. Send corrections to the editor through conciergemedicinetoday.net.
Related CMT Research Briefs
References
- MGMA. Phones are still a backlog costing medical practices time (MGMA Stat poll, 294 responses). March 2026. mgma.comFunding: not stated (conducted and published by MGMA)
- American Hospital Association Center for Health Innovation. 4 things health consumers want now (on Jarrard Inc. 2024 National Consumer Survey Series). June 11, 2024. www.aha.orgFunding: not stated (AHA summary of a Jarrard Inc. consumer survey)
- Campbell JL, Carter M, Davey A, Roberts MJ, Elliott MN, Roland M. Accessing primary care: a simulated patient study. British Journal of General Practice. 2013;63(608):e171-e176. 41 English general practices, May 2010 to March 2011. bjgp.orgFunding: not stated
- Heath S. Average patient appointment wait time is 26 days in 2022 (on Merritt Hawkins/AMN Healthcare 2022 survey of physician appointment wait times in 15 large metro areas). TechTarget Patient Engagement. September 15, 2022. www.techtarget.comFunding: not stated (news report); survey by Merritt Hawkins, a physician staffing firm
- Tetreault M. Remark-ology: Creating a Remarkable Patient Experience Worth Remarking About to Others. Concierge Medicine Today, LLC; 2025.Funding: Concierge Medicine Today (self-published; no outside funder) CMT original
- Lean Enterprise Institute. Lean lexicon: genchi genbutsu. Accessed October 2026. www.lean.orgFunding: not stated (Lean Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit)
- Tetreault M. No More Waiting Rooms: A Customer Service Road Map to Help Remarkable Medical Offices Navigate Their Way Towards an Irresistible Practice Where Gratitude Is on Repeat. Concierge Medicine Today, LLC; 2024. Stories are the author's own experiences and accounts told to the author.Funding: Concierge Medicine Today (self-published; no outside funder) CMT original
Educational and informational only. This CMT Research Brief does not constitute medical, legal, tax, financial, accounting or other professional advice, and it does not create a professional relationship of any kind. Statements about laws, regulations, tax rules and payer policies are general, may not reflect the rules in your state, and can change after publication. Consult a qualified attorney, accountant, tax adviser, compliance professional or licensed clinician before acting on anything here.
Independence. Concierge Medicine Today is an independent publication. It does not accept payment for favorable coverage, and it does not favor one practice model over another. Company names and products are mentioned for context only and are not endorsements. Funding is disclosed for every source in the reference list.
Accuracy. CMT verifies figures against their original or best available sources at the time of publication. Where a figure is an estimate, an inference or a company-reported number, the brief says so. This content is not without possible error or omission.
© 2007-2026 Concierge Medicine Today, LLC. All rights reserved.