I have used a company called directpage.com. Originally they supplied me with a pager. For over 10 years now, the number is forwarded to my cell as a text message. While it has the ability to leave a voice message, my message states do not leave a message only text. It has been running about $12/ mo.
I typically get 1-4 pages a day. Many are fairly straightforward. My voicemail states "we do no give refills on routine medicine nor make appointments" I will tell patients who don't follow the rules to call the office for that problem, I won't help them, but that doesn't happen often.
I am now testing one of the "free*" telephone number systems. I have put it on one office but not the other. Many patients "know" the pager number so they don't go to my voicemail to look it up. If it works well (essentially identical to how the directpage system worked, I will probably switch to that. * Although free I picked up a package for lifetime unlimited no ads and such.
I'll report back in a couple weeks.
Things have been hectic over the last several months, nothing bad just busy. I have checked in on the board, but haven't posted much. I'll try to be more interactive
