Physician On-Call Scheduling

Principal workflows

• Set the rules: Each department records its coverage requirements and scheduling rules once: which services need call, how many people per shift, rotation patterns, rest rules, and how holidays and weekends are weighted.
• Build the schedule: The rules engine proposes a schedule for the period, honoring approved time-off and privileges, and shows where it could not satisfy a rule so the scheduler decides how to resolve it.
• Publish and maintain: The approved schedule becomes the call list used by operators, the emergency department and clinicians. Swaps and last-minute changes go through the app so the list stays current.
• Review fairness: Call taken by each physician is counted over the periods you choose, with holidays and weekends weighted, so imbalances are visible and can be corrected in the next schedule.

Who uses it

• Medical staff offices and department schedulers at hospitals and health systems
• Department chairs and section chiefs who own call coverage
• Physicians and advanced practice providers who take call
• Switchboard operators and emergency department staff who need the current call list
• Graduate medical education offices that schedule residents alongside attendings

Reporting

• Unfilled shifts and coverage gaps by department and service
• Call distribution with weighted holidays and weekends
• Holiday history and who is next in line
• Rule overrides and who approved them
• Who was on call at any past date and time
• Shifts worked for call pay

Features

• Rules engine: Coverage, rotation, rest and eligibility rules written as named rules per department, with each rule's effect visible in the proposed schedule.
• Holiday and weekend fairness: Holidays and weekends weighted the way your department agrees, with running totals carried across years so the next holiday goes to whoever is owed it.
• Rule conflict explanations: When the engine cannot fill a shift without breaking a rule, it says which rule and why, and the scheduler decides.
• Time-off and preferences: Physicians submit time-off and shift preferences in one place, with request windows and approval by the department.
• Swaps and giveaways: Swaps checked against rules and privileges before they take effect, with approval where the department requires it.
• Privileges awareness: Assignments limited to physicians with current privileges for the service and site, using data from your credentialing system.
• Current call list: One published call list by service and time for operators, the emergency department and clinicians, with primary and backup contacts.
• Work-hour checks: Residents and fellows checked against the work-hour rules your program configures, with warnings before a schedule is published.
• Multi-site and cross-coverage: Schedules across campuses, with cross-coverage between departments or groups recorded so the call list shows who actually covers.
• Calendar sync: Each physician's call shifts available as a personal calendar feed, updated when the schedule changes.
• Point-in-time call history: Who was on call for any service at any past date and time, as published then, with every later change recorded.
• Change history: Every assignment, swap, override and approval kept with the person, time and reason.

Integrations

• Credentialing and privileging: Current privileges by service and site from your credentialing system, including Moraph's Credentialing & Privileging Portal, so only eligible physicians are scheduled.
• Staff directory and HR: Physician records, departments and contact details from your directory or HR system, on a schedule agreed in implementation.
• Switchboard and call list systems: The published call list sent to your operator console, paging or clinical communication system by file or API.
• Residency management: Resident rotations and work-hour logs from your residency system, including Moraph's Residency Program Manager, for combined attending and resident schedules.
• Calendars: Personal calendar feeds for each physician's call shifts, readable by common calendar applications.
• Payroll and call pay: Shifts worked exported for call pay or stipend calculation in your payroll or physician compensation system.
• Single sign-on: Staff sign in through your identity provider (SAML or OpenID Connect).
• Work API: Schedules, call lists and fairness totals available to your data warehouse and other systems through the Moraph Work API.

Deployment

• Moraph cloud: Hosted and operated by Moraph in the United States region. United Kingdom and Australia regions are available for organizations outside the US.
• Dedicated environment: A single-tenant environment for health systems whose policies require isolation, scoped in the proposal.
• With a managed service: Optionally run alongside Moraph support for rule changes, new departments and schedule-period setup.

Security and privacy

• Single sign-on: Staff sign in through your identity provider, so your password and multi-factor policies apply.
• Role-based access: What each person can see and do follows their role and department; building a schedule is separate from approving it.
• Minimal personal data: Schedules hold staff data, not patient records. If your use brings protected health information into the app, Moraph signs a business associate agreement.
• Encryption and keys: Client data is encrypted, with keys Moraph staff cannot use without explicit, time-bound authorization.
• Complete audit trail: Every assignment, swap, override, approval and export is logged with the person and time, and cannot be edited.
• Data residency: Data stays in the hosting region you choose: the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia.

Limitations

• The engine proposes schedules; schedulers and department chiefs decide. Where rules conflict and no schedule satisfies them all, it shows the conflict rather than choosing which rule to break.
• Fairness is measured by the rules and weights your department agrees. The app does not decide what is fair.
• It does not page or call physicians. It publishes the call list to the switchboard, paging or clinical communication system you already use.
• It does not grant or verify privileges. It uses privileges data from your credentialing system and is only as current as that data.
• It is not a time-and-attendance or payroll system. It exports shifts worked for your payroll or compensation process.
• Work-hour checks follow the rules you configure; your graduate medical education office remains responsible for monitoring and reporting resident work hours.
• It is designed for physician and advanced practice provider call. Nurse and general workforce staffing are not included.
• Results depend on the rules being recorded accurately; unwritten department practices need to be captured during implementation to be applied.

Next steps

Book a demonstration or a technical briefing at www.moraph.com/solutions/physician-on-call-scheduling. Purchasing routes and company information: www.moraph.com/how-to-buy.