After-hours answering and clinical triage for hospice
Reliable after-hours support for hospice teams
When patients and families call after hours, a licensed registered nurse answers, listens, and gathers the details that matter. We follow your hospice's approved protocols, then promptly send clear, organized information to your on-call nurse or designated team member.
We support your clinical team — we don't replace it. Care decisions stay with your hospice's nurses, physicians, and medical director.
Call summary
- Caller
- Daughter, primary caregiver
- Concern
- Increased restlessness since evening
- Protocol
- Hospice symptom-call protocol
- Next step
- Escalate per protocol
Relayed to on-call nurse per protocol
After hours is when families need you most — and when coverage is hardest
These moments are familiar to most hospice teams. They aren't a failure of effort. They're what happens when a small on-call team is asked to do everything at once.
Missed calls during visits
An on-call nurse can't always answer while caring for another patient at the bedside.
Families left waiting
Worried caregivers may wait without knowing whether anyone received their message.
Incomplete messages
Callbacks start with missing names, numbers, or details, and time goes to tracking them down.
Unnecessary interruptions
Calls that could wait until morning still pull field nurses away from visits and rest.
Urgent concerns are harder to spot
Without structured intake, the calls that need immediate attention may not stand out quickly.
Answering services that don't know hospice
General call centers often aren't prepared for end-of-life conversations or hospice workflows.
After-hours support built around your hospice
Every hospice is different. We set up call handling around your census, coverage hours, on-call structure, and approved protocols.
After-hours phone answering
Calls to your dedicated after-hours line are answered by a professional, courteous team member.
Clinical call intake
We gather the caller's concern, patient details, and relevant context in a consistent, structured way.
Hospice-specific triage protocols
Calls are handled using the protocols and escalation parameters your hospice approves.
Complete, organized information
Your on-call staff receive a clear summary instead of a fragmented message.
Urgency identification and escalation
Concerns are prioritized according to your instructions, and urgent calls are escalated the way you direct.
Prompt communication with your team
Information goes to your on-call nurse or designated team member by phone, text, or email, whichever your team prefers.
Customized call-handling instructions
Instructions for specific situations, facilities, or callers can be built into your call flow.
Call documentation and reporting
Every call is documented, with reports to support your records and quality review. [PLACEHOLDER: confirm report format and frequency.]
Support for every caller
Patients, families, caregivers, facility staff, and referral partners.
We provide after-hours and weekend coverage, and 24/7 coverage can be arranged. Coverage hours, call-handling steps, and communication timeframes are set with each hospice and documented in your service agreement.
From phone call to your on-call team, in four steps
Simple for callers. Organized for your staff.
A call comes in
A patient, family member, caregiver, or facility calls your designated after-hours number.
A registered nurse answers
A licensed RN listens, reassures the caller, and gathers the information your team needs.
The call is assessed
The concern is assessed using your hospice's approved instructions and escalation parameters.
Your team is informed
The appropriate hospice team member receives the information quickly and clearly.
Escalation timeframes and communication methods are customized for each hospice and agreed on before service begins.
An extension of your team, not a message service
We're nurse-founded and nurse-staffed. Our job is to make every after-hours call easier for the family and more useful for your nurse.
Registered nurses on every call
Every call is answered by a licensed registered nurse who knows what your on-call team needs to hear.
Compassionate communication
Callers are met with patience and calm, especially in difficult moments.
Hospice-focused workflows
Our processes are built for hospice care, not adapted from general answering scripts.
Faster information transfer
Structured intake means your team can act without chasing missing details.
Consistent documentation
Each call is recorded in the same clear format, supporting continuity and review.
Customized protocols
We follow the instructions your hospice approves and update them as your needs change.
Fewer interruptions for field nurses
Calls are routed by your escalation rules, so nurses are contacted when your protocols call for it.
A seamless extension of your team
We represent your hospice with the care and professionalism you expect from your own staff.
We understand the calls that come in after hours
Hospice calls are rarely just messages. Often a family is frightened, a loved one's condition is changing, or a facility needs direction quickly. We approach every call with that in mind.
End-of-life communication
Speaking with families gently and clearly during some of the hardest hours of their lives.
Family anxiety and uncertainty
Listening first, and letting callers know what will happen next.
Symptom concerns
Gathering details about pain, breathing, agitation, and other changes for your nurse's review.
Medication questions
Documenting questions and routing them to your team per your protocols. We don't prescribe or change medications.
Falls and changes in condition
Recognizing the situations your protocols flag for prompt escalation.
Facility communication
Working with assisted living and skilled nursing staff who call about your patients.
After-hours hospice workflows
Respecting your on-call structure, visit expectations, and chain of escalation.
Accurate documentation and timely escalation
Because the next person to act on a call depends on what was captured.
Generic answering service or hospice-focused triage?
General answering services serve many businesses well. After-hours hospice calls often need more.
| What matters | Generic answering service | Valley Triage Services |
|---|---|---|
| How calls are handled | General call scripts | Hospice-specific protocols your team approves |
| What is gathered | Message-taking only | Structured clinical information gathering |
| Who answers | Agents who may not have clinical training | Licensed registered nurses |
| What your team receives | Basic messages | Organized, useful call summaries |
| Workflows | One-size-fits-all | Customized hospice instructions |
| Escalation | Timing and method may vary | Clearly defined escalation processes, agreed in advance |
This comparison describes typical general-purpose answering services. Individual providers vary.
Supporting hospice care wherever it happens
Hospice agencies
Hospice nursing teams
Hospice administrators
Assisted living communities working with hospice
Skilled nursing facilities working with hospice
Home hospice programs
Founded by hospice nurses who've answered these calls
Valley Triage Services was founded by Michael Fatina and Davon Lewis, two hospice nurses with more than 20 years of combined experience in after-hours hospice triage.
For years, we were the voice on the other end of the line — at 2 a.m., on holidays, and in the middle of another patient's visit. We know how much it means to a frightened family when someone calm and knowledgeable picks up. And we know what it takes for a nurse to carry that phone night after night.
Working side by side, we kept seeing the same gap: families waiting for answers, nurses stretched thin, and hospices searching for after-hours coverage that truly understood hospice. We believed families deserved better, nurses deserved better, and hospices deserved a more efficient way to cover nights and weekends.
So we built it. Valley Triage Services exists so that every family who calls reaches a registered nurse who understands, every on-call nurse receives information they can act on, and every hospice we serve can strengthen its after-hours care while caring for the team that provides it.
We answer every call the way we'd want our own family's call to be answered.
Nurse-founded, nurse-staffed
Every call is answered by a licensed registered nurse.
Where we work
Hospices across the greater Phoenix area, including the West Valley and East Valley.
When we cover
After hours and weekends, with 24/7 coverage available by arrangement.
What stays with your team
We don't diagnose, prescribe, or make final clinical decisions. Those remain with your hospice's clinicians and medical director.
Give your hospice team the support they need after hours.
Whether you serve the West Valley, the East Valley, or the whole metro area, let's talk about your current coverage and what would make nights and weekends easier for your staff and the families you serve.
Schedule a conversation
Tell us a little about your hospice and how after-hours calls are handled today. We'll follow up to learn more and answer your questions.
- info@valleytriageservices.com
- (623) 252-7324
- Business inquiries: Mon–Fri, 9 AM–5 PM Arizona time [PLACEHOLDER: confirm hours]
This form is for hospice organizations and business inquiries only. Please do not submit patient names, medical details, or other protected health information. This form is not monitored for patient care — patients and families should call their hospice directly, or 911 in an emergency.