A 24/7 virtual care service means freedom from on-call hours
A new initiative, Penn Medicine OnDemand, frees Penn primary care doctors from most on-call duties after work hours, while patients still have 24-hour access to virtual care.
2 min. read
A primary care provider (PCP) has to be ready to answer urgent calls, any time, day or night, outside of their traditional office hours. While PCPs know the importance of being there for their patients, blurring the lines between professional and personal lives contribute to a feeling of burnout.
Aileen John is a regional medical director for Penn Medicine Primary Care.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)
“During the work week, I could get two to three calls a night, and depending on if it was flu season, maybe 20 calls over the weekend—you’d have to be next to your phone at all times,” says Aileen John, a family medicine doctor at Penn Family Medicine West Chester and a regional medical director of Penn Medicine Primary Care.
Now, when a patient calls after hours, instead of reaching their doctor during their personal time, they are automatically rerouted to Penn Medicine OnDemand, a 24/7/365 virtual care service, where a provider is ready and available to meet with them. It’s their job to be available even when traditional primary care offices are closed. While the program’s formal role providing practices’ after-hours coverage is relatively new, Penn Medicine OnDemand is also available to any patient in the region, even if they don’t currently see a primary care provider at Penn Medicine.
The change has been huge for physicians who once had dozens of interruptions when not at work.
In a 2024 survey of the first 17 practices to implement it, every single physician reported their on-call experience was better after Penn Medicine OnDemand started taking calls.
The primary care leadership team estimates that call volume has been decreased by at least 95 percent for clinicians, and the calls they do get are only from their colleagues—for example, a critical lab test result or an emergency department provider calling about a mutual patient.
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