AI phone assistants for clinics

Why there's no clinic pick here

None of the turnkey products we checked describes itself as built for medical, dental or allied health clinics. Two come close:

• Upfirst lists veterinary practices, books into Google, Outlook, Acuity, Calendly and others, and offers HIPAA business associate agreements (BAAs) on its Enterprise plan only. HIPAA is a US law, so this matters for US practices.
• Sophiie lists "medical" in its FAQ. It is an Australian product built mainly for trades and services.

Neither of those makes them clinic products. Rather than guess, this page gives you the questions to ask any vendor.

Bookings: where does the appointment land?

The biggest question for a clinic is where the booking goes. The products we checked book into general calendars: Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity and similar. None of them names a practice management system on its pricing page.

That leaves three ways to run it:

1. Message only. The assistant takes the patient's details and reason for the call, and your staff book them. This is the safest place to start.
2. Request a time. The assistant offers times from a calendar and staff confirm them in the practice system.
3. Direct booking. This only works if the vendor can show it writes to your practice system without double-booking. Ask for proof, then test it.

Also check whether it can handle the calls clinics get most: cancellations, reschedules, "is the doctor running late?" and repeat prescriptions. Decide which ones it may handle and which go to a person.

After hours and urgent calls

An AI phone assistant should never assess symptoms or decide how urgent a medical problem is. Write the script so it doesn't try. A safe after-hours set-up:

• Tells anyone with an emergency to hang up and call 000 in Australia (911 in the US).
• Gives your after-hours or on-call arrangements, if you have them.
• Takes a message for the next business day, and says when the clinic will call back.

Johnni and Upfirst both offer after-hours cover. Johnni covers nights, weekends and public holidays, and Upfirst can answer only after-hours calls. See the after-hours guide for routing rules.

Privacy and health information

Callers to a clinic will share health information, even when you only asked for their name. Health providers have privacy obligations for that information in Australia and in the US. This page isn't legal advice. Ask your adviser or professional body what applies to you.

Questions to put to any vendor:

• Where are recordings, transcripts and summaries stored, and in which country?
• Who at the vendor can access them, and how long are they kept?
• Can you turn recording off, or delete a recording on request?
• Will they sign the agreement your rules require? In the US that may be a BAA. Upfirst offers one on Enterprise only.
• Is caller information used to train AI models?

A short checklist for clinics

1. Start with message-taking only, then add booking once it works.
2. Write the emergency wording yourself, and test it on every call path.
3. Get the vendor's data storage and retention answers in writing.
4. Check recording consent rules before you turn recording on.
5. Make ten test calls, including a cancellation, an angry caller and a caller who mentions chest pain, and check every one.

Questions people ask