September 22, 2025
Comments Off on Integrating Telephony into Telehealth Solutions

There’s one important catch to telehealth: not everyone has reliable internet access, and connectivity can fail at any point during remote medical appointments, even in regions with strong coverage.

Telephony integration using traditional voice networks remains a vital backup solution when digital connections drop during virtual healthcare visits. This technology connects conventional phone systems with modern telehealth platforms, ensuring appointments can be completed whether patients are using smartphones with spotty data coverage or landlines in rural areas.

By combining legacy voice infrastructure with web-based communication systems, healthcare providers can maintain reliable patient connections regardless of internet limitations. At WebRTC.ventures, we help close this connectivity gap using advanced technologies including PSTN, VoIP, SIP, and WebRTC to unite phones, browsers, and digital health platforms.

In this post, we’ll explore how telephony and WebRTC applications work together to make telehealth more reliable and accessible. We’ll cover the key technologies involved, how they integrate with clinical workflows, and the practical impact for patients and providers.

From PSTN to WebRTC: Building the Bridge

The PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is the traditional phone system. It’s been around for decades, and it’s still how billions of calls are made every day. On the other hand, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) lets us make calls using the internet instead of dedicated phone lines.

For clinics, it’s not an either/or situation. They need both PSTN and VoIP. Patients may call from a landline, but providers want to answer inside a web app that is integrated with their other systems like EHRs, databases and scheduling. This is where VoIP gateways and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) come into play. They act as translators between old-school phone systems and modern applications.

And then there’s WebRTC, the open standard that powers audio and video communication directly in the browser. WebRTC was designed with encryption and security in mind, making it a natural fit for healthcare applications.

The latter is important because connecting phones and browsers isn’t just about convenience. It has to be safe. Patient health data is sensitive, and that means encryption, access controls, and audit trails are non-negotiable. At the same time, latency needs to be kept low so conversations feel natural, whether it’s a phone-to-phone call or a phone-to-video upgrade.

When you put it all together, the flow looks something like this:

Depiction of the flow when a user calls a provider in a telehealth web application from landline
Depiction of the flow when a user calls a provider in a telehealth web application from landline

Where Telephony Integration Makes the Biggest Impact in Healthcare

So what does this look like in practice? Let’s explore a few clinical workflows that become much more powerful with telephony integration.

Triage and Intake

When a patient calls a clinic, an IVR system or voicebot can handle the first step. They might confirm identity, check the nature of the issue, and route the call to the right provider. This saves staff time while keeping patients moving quickly toward care.

Follow-Up and Outreach

Not every interaction needs a video visit. Sometimes, a simple phone call is enough for a prescription refill, test results, or a medication reminder. By integrating telephony into the telehealth platform, clinics can log these calls alongside other patient interactions—making follow-up seamless and documented.

EHR Integration

This is where it really clicks. Imagine opening a patient’s chart and seeing not just their lab results and notes, but also their call history. With integration, calls can be:

  • Triggered directly from within the record (click-to-call).
  • Logged automatically with details like duration and outcome.
  • Even transcribed securely, when compliance allows.

No more switching between systems, no more lost context. Everything stays tied to the patient’s file.

Phone-to-Video Upgrades

Sometimes you start on a phone call and realize, “We really need to see each other.” With a properly integrated system, that transition can happen instantly—schedule a meeting for later, send a secure link, and the patient joins a video consultation at his/her convenience.

Keeping Workflows Compliant

All of these workflows need to stay compliant with HIPAA, GDPR, and other regional requirements. That means ensuring private spaces for telehealth, encrypting communications, and keeping audit logs of interactions. Building trust with patients depends not just on convenience, but also on clear safeguards for their data.

A Practical Example: Inbound Phone Call Into a Telehealth App

To see how this works in the real world, take a look at our telehealth-telephony-demo repo. This simple application shows how to connect a traditional phone call to a modern video consultation room.

Here’s the workflow in the demo:

  1. A patient dials a phone number. This call is managed by Twilio, a popular platform for programmatic voice and messaging.
  2. Twilio uses SIP to route the call directly to a LiveKit instance. LiveKit is a WebRTC platform that powers the communication.
  3. The patient is placed into a WebRTC call, and a provider can then join from his/her web browser.

This demo is a great starting point for understanding how to bridge the gap between the PSTN and WebRTC. While it’s not a production-ready application, it provides a clear and functional example of how these powerful technologies can be used together to create a more inclusive telehealth experience.

If we apply the diagram from above to the demo, it will be like this:

Depiction of the flow when a user calls a provider in a telehealth web application from landline.
Depiction of the flow when a user calls a provider in a telehealth web application from landline.

Telephony isn’t “old tech.” It’s a lifeline that ensures no patient is left behind. Integrating phones into digital care platforms helps clinics:

  • Reach more patients, even those without an internet connection available.
  • Reduce friction by unifying communication channels.
  • Stay compliant and organized with proper record-keeping.

Telephony may be traditional. But in the world of telehealth, it’s the missing link that makes digital care more inclusive and effective.

👉 Want to extend your telehealth solution beyond the internet? Our team at WebRTC.ventures can help design and build secure telephony workflows that connect traditional phones with modern digital care platforms. Contact us today to see how we can help. Let’s make it live!

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