Patients keep calling your clinic's own number; you forward it to your InvocaCare number. Your InvocaCare number is in Clinic → Settings, with a copy button.
Which calls to forward.
- With the phone menu, InvocaCare's menu answers every call, so your clinic's number forwards all incoming calls to InvocaCare (unconditional forwarding).
- With on-call alone, callers still reach you first. Calls you don't answer, and calls after hours, are forwarded to InvocaCare (forward when no one answers, when busy, and after hours).
- Or keep your own menu and add "press 0". With on-call alone you can leave your phone menu as it is and add one option for urgent calls that transfers to InvocaCare: open your phone provider's admin page, add a menu option such as "press 0", and set its action to transfer to an outside number — your InvocaCare number.
By phone system.
- Landline: call your phone company, or sign in to its website, and ask for the forwarding above. Set the forwarding number to your InvocaCare number.
- Weave: sign in as an admin, open the phone settings or call routing for your main number, and forward to your InvocaCare number.
- RingCentral: sign in to the admin portal, open call handling for your main company number, and forward to your InvocaCare number as an external number.
- Other systems: open your phone provider's admin page and add a forwarding rule to your InvocaCare number.
Check it. Call your clinic phone number from any other phone (with on-call alone, let it ring out). On the dashboard, Phone system connected is ticked once a forwarded call arrives; calls from your staff's own numbers don't count. Under it, Check caller ID tells you whether your carrier passes the caller's number on: start the check, call your clinic phone number, and it says whether InvocaCare saw the caller's number, your clinic's number instead, or none. Either way, triage asks every caller to confirm the number to call back.
Forwarding only changes incoming calls: your desk phones still make outgoing calls and 911 calls on your own line.
Direct line (optional). You don't need one to start. A direct line rings your front desk and is not forwarded to InvocaCare. InvocaCare sends calls there when you pause call routing (for example during working hours), and a menu option can send callers there. It can't be your clinic phone number: InvocaCare would dial it, your carrier would forward the call back to InvocaCare, and it would loop. Add one in Clinic → Settings if you have one; otherwise a menu option can ring a staff member's softphone instead.