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Hospice answering service that pages your on-call nurse for families.

Families can reach the on-call nurse, leave a message for the care team, and ask about supplies.

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Page the nurse for families when it matters

A family in distress reaches a nurse. A request that can wait goes on the morning list.

The agent answers equipment and supply questions from info you approve, and asks whether the patient needs help right now.

What a hospice answering service should do first

What is a hospice answering service?

A hospice answering service answers your care line when the office is closed. Families on this line are often alone with a patient at home in the night, so this agent's first job is getting a nurse moving, before any intake.

  • Read supply and delivery info
  • Save a family call
  • Page the on-call nurse
  • Page the backup nurse
  • Transfer to the nurse

What happens when a family calls about a breathing change?

The agent asks what is happening and where the patient is, then pages the on-call nurse. It takes the patient's name while the page goes out and connects the call when the nurse picks up.

My mother's breathing sounds different tonight.

page_hospice_nurseNurse Teodora paged

I'm sorry. I can't assess her, but I've paged the on-call nurse. What is your mother's name?

How does a hospice care answering service handle a missed page?

After the window you set, this one pages the backup nurse and tells the family what it has done. It runs that order the same way at 3 a.m. as at 9 p.m., and nobody has to decide when to escalate.

  • Breathing change, nurse connected2:12
  • Equipment delivery message1:34
  • Backup nurse paged3:05

Can a home hospice answering service give comfort advice?

No. It can't say whether a change is expected, can't name a medicine and can't stand in for a nurse's judgment. Requests that can wait, like more pads or the hospital bed, get an approved answer or a place on the morning list.

Nurse reached

Did the call end with the caller connected to the on-call nurse, or told when a nurse would call?

What a family and a night nurse can count on

Nobody on this line wants to talk to software for long. Everything here exists so the call reaches a person.

The page goes out before the paperwork

Your nurse gets paged once the family says what is happening. The patient's name comes while they wait.

A backup when the first nurse is with a patient

If the window you set passes with no answer, the backup nurse gets paged, and the caller hears that it happened.

Families aren't left guessing

While the page is out, the agent stays on the line and says what it has done and who picked up.

Nurses pick up knowing the situation

By the time the transfer connects, the nurse has the patient's name and what the family described.

Supply calls stay off the on-call phone

Questions about gloves, pads and drop-off days get answered from your information, after the agent asks if the patient needs help right now.

No assessment and no medicine talk

Asked if a parent seems comfortable or what to give, the agent says it can't judge that and brings in the nurse. A caller who asks for 911 hears your script.

For calls no one wants to make

Families on this line may be crying, whispering in a dark room or stopping mid-word. Cartesia's speech models leave room for that.

  • $0.03per minute
  • #1on Speech Agent Arena and EVA-Bench
  • 24/7answers every call, at any hour

Leaves room for silence

A caller may stop to check on a parent or catch their breath. The agent stays quiet until they're ready.

Page first, on any LLM you choose

Pick the LLM and give it tools that page the on-call nurse, page the backup, read supply info and save a family call.

Soft and unhurried

Find a library voice that suits your care team, so the first thing a family hears fits the moment.

Covering the care line overnight

A hospice 24 hour medical answering service usually means an operator contract, and some hospices have the on-call nurse carry the line. The gaps show when two families call at once.

Cartesia agentLive answering serviceNurse carries the line
When the nurse hears about itOnce the family says what is happeningAfter the operator finishes intakeRight away, the nurse answers
A second family calls at onceBoth calls get answeredUsually, if an operator is freeVoicemail, while the nurse is on a call or driving
Backup nursePaged after the window you setUsually, if the operator follows the escalationDepends on a second phone
A person's voice from the first wordNo, it says it's an AIYesYes
Supply questionsAnswered from approved infoOften a message for morningThe nurse takes them between visits
How you pay$0.03 per minute plus LLM usageOften a monthly contract with call feesOn-call pay, plus interrupted visits

See which calls reached a nurse

Every call is recorded and transcribed. See which calls connected the on-call or backup nurse, and which ended with a time a nurse will call.

Launch an AI hospice answering service in three steps

Start building

  1. Clone the Care line

    Add this agent to your account, then enter your hospice name, greeting and supply information.

  2. Connect paging for both nurses

    Through tools you configure, link the on-call and backup pages and your morning list, set your window, then forward the care line.

  3. Test a breathing change call

    Call as a family member, leave the first page unanswered, and confirm the backup goes out and the transcript shows what the caller heard.

Enterprise-grade security

  • HIPAA compliant badge

    HIPAA compliant

  • SOC 2 Type 2 badge

    SOC 2 Type 2

  • GDPR badge

    GDPR

Hospice answering service FAQs

What is a hospice answering service?

A hospice answering service answers a hospice care line when the office is closed. This one is a voice agent. It pages the on-call nurse as soon as the family says what is happening, pages a backup when nobody answers, and takes messages for the care team.

How much does a hospice answering service cost?

A hospice answering service costs $0.03 per minute of call time for the agent, so a three-minute call is $0.09 in agent time. LLM usage is billed separately, and a Cartesia phone number adds $0.014 per minute, or nothing if you bring your own Twilio account or SIP trunk. The free plan includes $1 of agent calls a month, so you can test the agent before you pay. See pricing.

Will a hospice answering service give medical or comfort advice?

No. The agent can't assess a patient or name a medicine, so it asks what is happening and pages the nurse.

What does a hospice answering service do if the nurse does not answer?

After the window you set, the agent pages the backup nurse and tells the caller. It is not an emergency service, so it reads your 911 script if a caller asks for 911.

Can a hospice answering service answer supply and equipment questions?

Yes, from the information you approve. It also asks whether the patient needs help right now, and saves a request that can wait for the morning list.

Can a hospice answering service handle patient information under HIPAA?

Yes. Cartesia is HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type II certified, and signs business associate agreements with healthcare customers. See the HIPAA answering service page for what the agent records.

Can the agent transfer a family to the on-call nurse?

Yes. The agent pages the nurse, takes the patient's name while it waits, and connects the family when the nurse picks up. You control exactly when else it transfers.

How is a hospice answering service different from an AI receptionist?

A receptionist books and routes callers by day. This agent connects a family to a nurse at night, as what to buy and what to build explains.

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