Payer phone lines degraded for structural reasons: scripted staff with no authority to decide, adjudication questions the script cannot answer, and volume that gets managed rather than reduced. What to run instead, named from the source: the 270/271 eligibility transaction, 276/277 claim status, the 278 for authorisation, portals, the ERISA and external review appeal route, the CMS-0057-F prior authorisation dates, plus the desk design and vendor standards that make the phone channel’s cost visible.