How is this different from a voicemail or a normal answering service?+
Voicemail captures nothing reliably, and a traditional answering service reads a script and takes a message that reaches your provider on a delay. Lydoh routes: it deflects emergencies to 911, lets the patient say whether it's urgent or routine, and for urgent calls it actually reaches your on-call provider, dialing them, waiting for them to accept, and cascading to the next provider if no one answers. Every attempt is timestamped.
Does the AI decide whether a call is a medical emergency?+
No. Lydoh never makes a clinical judgment and never gives medical advice. It opens with a 911 reminder and asks the caller to choose urgent or routine. The patient decides; Lydoh only routes. Clinical triage stays with your licensed staff.
How does on-call escalation actually reach my providers?+
When a caller flags an urgent matter, Lydoh tells them they'll be called right back, then phones your on-call provider with a short prompt to accept the call. On accept, the provider is connected to the patient. If they don't answer, Lydoh moves to the next provider in your rotation, and if no one accepts, it texts your whole on-call team the callback details so nothing is dropped.
Can I set a rotation and handle holidays?+
Yes, single provider, weekly rotation, or day-of-week schedules, plus date overrides for holidays, vacations, and coverage swaps that always take priority. Lydoh resolves who's on call in your practice's timezone at the exact moment each call arrives.
Is this an after-hours phone answering service or a virtual receptionist?+
Both jobs, one service. Like an after-hours phone answering service, Lydoh picks up every call to your office number when you're closed and takes down what the caller needs. Like an after-hours virtual receptionist, it answers questions about hours, location, and services from your own content, and captures appointment requests for your team in the morning. What it adds is the on-call step: urgent calls reach your provider that night.
What should my after-hours greeting say?+
Who the caller reached, that the office is closed and when it reopens, a line to hang up and dial 911 for an emergency, and what happens next for urgent and routine matters. Our free after-hours greeting generator writes one from your practice name, office hours and the tone you pick. With Lydoh answering, the greeting is spoken by Lydoh and opens with the 911 reminder on every call.
How much does an after-hours answering service cost?+
Lydoh After Hours is $99/mo, with after-hours triage and on-call escalation included rather than sold as add-ons, and a 14-day free trial. Traditional services bill per minute or per call and add a surcharge for nights, weekends, and holidays, so a busy night gets expensive and unpredictable. For the market rates, with sources, see our medical answering service cost teardown.
