Patient communication
How a Midwest DPC practice stays reachable without leaning on its clinicians.
Direct Primary Care runs on access. Members join because they can reach their practice. But if every text and call lands on the physician, access turns into burnout. This central Indiana practice, with about 400 members, needed a team and a system that could handle the everyday communication load, so clinicians could stay focused on clinical care.
- ~400
- Active members
- ~1,480
- Weekday patient replies in the last 30 days from the care team and shared practice inbox, not the physician or nurse practitioner
- 86%
- Phone calls answered live (424 of 493) in the last 30 days, with zero failed calls
- 108,000+
- Patient messages and internal care notes handled since late 2022
What the Freedom Healthworks team runs
- One shared patient inbox. Every patient text, message and call comes into one place. The care team answers scheduling, billing, refill and general questions from a shared practice inbox.
- Live phone coverage. Calls are answered, sorted and routed, so clinicians aren't pulled out of visits.
- Team handoffs. Internal care notes travel with each conversation, so anyone on the team can pick up where someone else left off. Clinicians are brought in only when a clinical question needs them.
- Monthly reporting. The practice sees its real communication volume, response activity and trends.
The results, measured
- The team carries the weekday load. On weekdays in the last 30 days, about two-thirds of patient replies (about 1,480 of 2,220) came from the care team and the shared practice inbox. Clinicians answered the rest, focused on clinical questions.
- A busy weekday, handled. On a typical weekday the practice handled about 290 messages, calls and care notes.
- Calls answered. Of 493 calls in the last 30 days, 424 were answered live and none failed.
- Built to grow. Monthly phone volume has roughly tripled over the past year, from about 105 calls a month to about 400, and the same system took on the increase.
- A long track record. Since late 2022 the practice has handled 40,852 outgoing messages, 29,895 incoming messages, 38,375 internal care notes and 3,313 calls through the platform.
Figures are counts from the practice's messaging and phone records for the periods stated. The member count is a single point in time. The practice is anonymized. Results vary by practice and are not a guarantee of future performance.