An AI receptionist is an artificial intelligence assistant that does a clinic’s front desk work. It answers the phone, replies on WhatsApp, books, moves and cancels appointments in your diary, and sends confirmations and reminders. It works at any hour, without anyone on your team having to step in.

You’ll also see it called a virtual AI receptionist or an AI assistant for clinics. They’re the same thing. At HeyCAi we call ours CAi.

AI receptionist or virtual receptionist service

“Virtual receptionist” gets used for two very different things, and it’s worth keeping them apart.

A virtual receptionist service with people is an outsourced call answering service: someone in another office picks up your calls, takes notes and passes the messages on. It stops the phone ringing out, but that person usually can’t see your diary, so the patient hangs up without a booking and someone on your team has to ring them back.

An AI receptionist works inside your diary. It checks the real availability, offers slots to the patient and saves the booking while they’re still on the line. The patient hangs up with the appointment made.

It isn’t an answering machine either, or a “press 1, press 2” menu. The patient speaks normally (“I need to move Thursday’s appointment, something’s come up”) and the receptionist understands what they want.

What it does at a clinic

  • Answers every call, including at lunchtime, in the evening and on bank holidays. Several at once, with no waiting and no voicemail.
  • Replies to the clinic’s WhatsApp straight away, with real availability.
  • Books, moves and cancels appointments directly in your diary, without double bookings.
  • Sends the confirmation on WhatsApp and reminders before the appointment.
  • Lets patients on the waiting list know when someone cancels.
  • Tells patients about services, prices, opening hours and directions, using what you give it.
  • Leaves you a summary and a transcript after every call.

If you’d like to see a call step by step, read what an AI voice agent is.

What it doesn’t do

It doesn’t give clinical advice or diagnose. If a patient asks about their treatment, it takes a note and passes it to your team.

It doesn’t make up answers either: if it doesn’t have the information, it says so. And if something falls outside what it knows, it puts the call through to you or an on-call number, or takes a message and alerts your team on WhatsApp. You choose.

When you still need a person

Some conversations need judgement and empathy, and a person does them better: a patient unhappy with their treatment, a complaint, a sensitive case or someone who just needs to be listened to for a while. Payments and paperwork done face to face at the clinic, too.

That’s why many clinics use it alongside their front desk: the AI receptionist covers the calls the team can’t take, the busy hours and everything that comes in out of hours. We compare the two properly in AI receptionist vs human receptionist.

How it gets set up

Keep your number: calls go to CAi when you can’t answer, out of hours or always. You choose.

To book, it has to be connected to your diary. It books directly into PracticeHub and QuiroHiro, and into other diaries such as Cliniko, Jane App or Google Calendar. If you use another system, we’ll look at it on the video call.

Up and running in about 20 days. We’re with you through the whole process: we tell CAi about your services, your hours and how you work, and you test it before it speaks to real patients.

If you’d like to hear it first, try it with your clinic: enter your clinic’s website and your mobile, and CAi rings you.

Frequently asked questions

Is a virtual AI receptionist the same as an AI receptionist?

Yes. They’re two names for the same thing: an AI assistant that answers your clinic’s phone and messages and manages bookings in your diary. The big difference is between an AI receptionist and a service where people take messages from another office.

Can it handle the diaries of several practitioners?

Yes. It assigns the appointment based on each practitioner’s real availability, their speciality or the patient’s usual therapist. If the practitioner the patient asks for has no slots, it says so and offers the next free date.

What if a patient wants to speak to a person?

If something falls outside what it knows, it puts the call through to you or an on-call number, or takes a message and alerts your team on WhatsApp. You choose.

Which languages does it speak?

It answers in Spanish and English. It picks up the language from the patient’s first few words and carries on in that language.

Does it replace my receptionist?

That depends on your clinic. If you work alone, it does the front desk work you can’t do while you’re treating. If you have a receptionist, it takes the phone off their hands so they can look after the patients who are in the clinic.