AI medical receptionist for practices and clinics
An AI medical receptionist is a voice agent that answers a practice's patient calls at any hour. It books and reschedules appointments in your EHR, collects new-patient basics, passes refill requests to your clinical staff, answers questions about hours, insurance and visit prep, and follows your after-hours protocol, sending emergencies to 911 and urgent calls to the on-call provider.
- every call answered
- 24/7
- every call answered
- to call new leads
- ~60s
- to call new leads
- typical go-live
- 7 days
- typical go-live
Why calls slip through at medical practices
In most practices the phones peak right when the office opens, as patients call to book sick visits, ask about refills and check on referrals. The same staff are also checking patients in, verifying insurance and answering portal messages. Hold times stretch, callers hang up, and some of them book with the urgent care down the street instead.
After hours, many practices rely on a service that takes a message for every call, so the on-call provider gets paged for a refill question while a caller with real symptoms waits in the same queue. Routine requests pile up overnight and land on the front desk all at once the next morning.
Calls the AI receptionist handles for medical practices
Appointment booking and changes
Books, reschedules and cancels visits by provider, location and visit type, following your rules for sick visits, physicals and follow-ups.
New-patient intake basics
Collects name, date of birth, contact details, insurance carrier and reason for visit, then books the right new-patient appointment and sends any forms you use.
Prescription refill requests
Records the medication, dose, pharmacy and whether the patient is running out, then routes it to your clinical staff. The agent never approves a refill.
Insurance and billing questions
Answers which plans you accept from your own list and how to pay a bill, and passes account-specific questions to your billing team.
Directions, hours and visit prep
Gives parking and building directions, office hours, and the prep instructions you've approved, such as fasting before lab work or what to bring to a first visit.
After-hours triage
Asks your screening questions, sends emergencies to 911, connects urgent calls to the on-call provider, and holds routine requests for the morning.
What a call sounds like
An example of how the agent handles a typical medical call. Yours is written around your own services, rules and tone of voice.
Try a live call in your browser- AI agent
Thanks for calling Cedar Valley Family Medicine, this is the practice's virtual assistant. The office is closed right now, but I can help. What's going on?
- Caller
Hi, I need a refill on my blood pressure medication. I only have two pills left.
- AI agent
I can send that request to the clinical team. Before I do, are you having any chest pain, severe headache, trouble breathing, or weakness on one side of your body right now?
- Caller
No, I feel fine. I just forgot to call earlier.
- AI agent
Good, thank you. Can I have your full name and date of birth?
- Caller
Robert Hayes, June 12th, 1961.
- AI agent
Thanks, Robert, I found your chart. Which medication and dose is it, and are you still using the pharmacy on Main Street?
- Caller
Lisinopril, 20 milligrams. And yes, same pharmacy.
- AI agent
Got it. I've sent the request to the clinical team and marked that you have two days left, so they'll see it first thing tomorrow. I can't approve refills myself, but they'll review it and contact your pharmacy. If you develop chest pain or trouble breathing, call 911 right away.
Emergencies go to 911, urgent calls go to the on-call provider
- Chest pain, trouble breathing, signs of a stroke like facial drooping or sudden weakness, or heavy bleeding: the agent tells the caller to hang up and call 911 immediately. It does not try to book an appointment.
- Urgent symptoms your protocol names, such as a high fever in an infant or a reaction to a new medication, are connected or paged to the on-call provider with the caller's details.
- Refill requests, test-result questions and routine scheduling are never sent to the on-call provider overnight. They are queued for your staff in the morning.
- Your practice writes the screening questions and escalation rules, and the agent follows them exactly. It never diagnoses, interprets results or gives medical advice.
Leads called back before they move on
Recall and preventive-care calls
Calls patients due for an annual physical, a chronic-care follow-up or a screening your practice tracks, and books them into open slots.
No-show follow-up
Reaches patients who missed a visit the same day and gets them rebooked before the gap in their care grows.
Waitlist fill
When an appointment cancels, calls patients waiting for an earlier slot with that provider until someone takes it.
New-patient inquiry callbacks
People who fill out a new-patient form on your website get a call in about 60 seconds to collect intake basics and book a first visit.
Books straight into the software you already run
- athenahealth
- eClinicalWorks
- NextGen
- Epic (through available APIs)
- DrChrono
- Tebra (Kareo)
- Google Calendar
- Anything with an API
Compliance and privacy
Medical practices have HIPAA obligations, and the agent is configured around yours. During setup we agree exactly what patient information the agent may collect and where call recordings, transcripts and notes are stored, and we keep collection to the minimum needed to schedule and route the call. The agent verifies identity before discussing an existing appointment, never diagnoses or gives clinical advice, and only reads out instructions your providers have approved.
Done for you, live in about a week
- 1
We learn your calls
An hour with you, plus recordings or notes on how calls really go. We map your services, rules and the questions callers ask.
- 2
We build and connect it
We write the agent around your business, connect your calendar, CRM and phone number, and test it on real scenarios.
- 3
You approve, it goes live
You hear it, request changes, and sign off. Then we monitor transcripts and keep tuning it every week.
Medical AI receptionist FAQ
How is an AI medical receptionist different from a traditional medical answering service?
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A traditional medical answering service writes down a message and pages the on-call provider. An AI medical receptionist also handles the request: it books and reschedules visits in your EHR, records refill requests for your staff, answers hours and insurance questions, and only pages the provider when your protocol says the call is urgent. Every call is answered at once.
Which EHR and practice management systems does it work with?
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We connect to athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, DrChrono and Tebra (formerly Kareo), and to Epic through available APIs. Exactly what the agent can read and write depends on what your system and your contract allow, which we confirm during setup. Practices without a supported system can start with Google Calendar or a staff task queue.
How does it handle emergencies and urgent symptoms?
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Callers who describe chest pain, trouble breathing, stroke signs or other emergencies your protocol lists are told to call 911 immediately. Urgent issues are connected or paged to your on-call provider. Everything else is booked or queued for the morning. Your clinicians write the screening rules, and the agent never diagnoses or gives medical advice.
Will patients know they're talking to AI?
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Yes. The agent introduces itself as the practice's virtual assistant at the start of every call. It speaks clearly and patiently, repeats information when asked, and transfers to a staff member during office hours whenever a patient wants to speak with a person.
Is it HIPAA compliant?
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HIPAA compliance depends on how a system is set up and the agreements in place, so we treat it as part of the build, not a badge. During setup we agree with your practice what patient information the agent may collect, where call data is stored and who can access it, and we keep collection to the minimum needed. We configure the agent around your HIPAA obligations and the agreements your compliance process requires.
How long does setup take for a medical practice?
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About 7 days for a straightforward build, and around 10 if we're connecting several systems, like an EHR, a separate scheduling tool and multiple locations. We map your visit types, provider rules and after-hours protocol, connect your systems, test the agent with your staff, and launch. You approve it and we run it.
AI receptionists for other industries
Stop sending medical callers to voicemail
Book a free 30-minute call. We'll scope your agent, place a live AI call during the session, and quote a setup fee and monthly rate for your call volume.