Health and wellness clinics
Answer the new patient while the desk is full.
Start with the phone. A HIPAA-eligible AI receptionist answers the calls your front desk can’t get to, books new patients where your practice software allows, and sends anything clinical to a person, with a signed business associate agreement in place before the first patient call. It comes first because the phone is where a new patient is most easily lost, and answering it changes nothing clinical.
30 minutes, no cost. You’ll leave knowing your first step.
Sound familiar?
- “From eight to nine every morning, the desk is checking people in and checking people out, and the phone loses.”
- “Our recall list has hundreds of patients who are overdue, and nobody at the desk has time to call them.”
- “Someone left us a one-star review last month, and I still haven’t answered it because I don’t know what I’m allowed to say.”
In a clinic, the money leaks at the front desk, and mostly when the desk is busy with the patients already in the room. The phone rings during check-in, a new patient gets voicemail and books with the next practice on Google. Patients who are due for a cleaning, a Botox touch-up or the rest of a plan of care drift away, because calling the recall list is the first job that slips. Reviews go unanswered, or get answered in a way that puts the practice at risk. And the same questions about insurance, prices and preparation arrive on the website after hours. I put the phone first because a new patient is the most valuable call you get. The patient-data review done for that step, including which vendors sign a business associate agreement, carries over to every step after it. Then we bring back the patients already in your practice software, answer reviews with a reply guide built for HIPAA, and last, put the approved answers from the phone onto your website.
If you need a tool that talks to patients about symptoms, diagnoses, treatment or test results, this isn’t it. Every step here stays on the front-office side, and anything clinical goes to a person. Hospitals and large medical groups with their own compliance and IT teams usually need more than this route.
If that’s your week, here’s where to start.
Start here
Step 1 · Consideration
Answer every new-patient call
Solution Front Desk
Start here because a new patient who reaches voicemail often calls the next practice, and it’s the leak you can fix without changing anything clinical. For a clinic, the work isn’t building a receptionist. It’s choosing a HIPAA-eligible product, often one your patient communication platform already sells, and getting a signed business associate agreement (BAA) that covers the recordings and transcripts before the first patient call. Then I write the approved information with you: services, insurance plans you accept, the new-patient process, hours, preparation instructions and what counts as urgent. It gives no clinical advice. Symptoms go to a person, and anyone describing an emergency is told to call 911. The data review done here sets up every step after it.
See how Front Desk worksWhat it looks like
It’s 12:20 on a Tuesday, two patients are checking in and the phone rings. The AI receptionist picks up, says it’s an AI assistant and that the call is recorded, confirms the caller’s dental plan is on your accepted list, and books a new-patient exam into an open Thursday slot where your practice software allows. The next caller mentions a swollen jaw. It gives no advice, takes her number and flags the call for the dentist right away. Both summaries land in your practice inbox, covered by the same BAA.
$32k
a year in first-year visits from new patients who would have called the next practice
Illustration: 3 missed new-patient calls a week, half of whom would have booked, at $450 in visits over their first year, across 48 weeks (1.5 × $450 × 48). It leaves out everything after the first year. Count your own missed calls first. The missed-call audit does that.
Every figure here is an illustration. On the call, I run it with your hours, your rates and your deal sizes.
Then add these, in this order
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Retention
Bring overdue patients back
Solution Regulars Return
Second, because once new patients get through, the next cheapest visit is from a patient you already have. Regulars Return works here as patient recall. The three moments become a note after a new patient’s first visit to book the next one, a reminder when a patient passes their usual interval, such as six months for a cleaning, about three to four months for Botox, or partway through a plan of care, and one occasion message. Messages stick to recall and the practice’s own services, which under HIPAA are generally not treated as marketing, and texts need consent under the TCPA. The first job is checking what your practice software or Weave already sends, and keeping what works. The held-back group still gets your usual appointment reminders. It only skips the new messages.
What it looks like
The usual-gap report shows that hygiene patients who go past seven months rarely book on their own. In March, 140 patients cross that line. Each gets a short text in your practice’s voice with a link to book, naming no treatment, and 14 of them, chosen at random, are held back. In May you compare how many in each group booked.
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Advocacy
Reply to every review safely
Solution Review Desk
New patients read how you answer reviews, and in health care a careless reply is a real risk: the HHS Office for Civil Rights has settled with dental practices whose Yelp replies revealed patient information. So the clinic setup is stricter than Review Desk’s usual one. Replies come from a short approved set that never confirms the reviewer is a patient and mentions no visit, treatment or bill, a person approves every reply, and nothing posts automatically. The weekly digest still shows what reviewers keep saying. It comes third because the reply guide should be written with your compliance lead, and the first two steps bring more patients through the door to review you.
What it looks like
A one-star Google review says the cleaning was rough and the bill was higher than quoted. The draft waiting for you thanks the reviewer, says the practice takes every concern seriously and invites them to call the office manager directly. It doesn’t say whether they’re a patient, and it mentions no visit, treatment or bill. You approve it the next morning, and that week’s digest shows billing surprises came up in four reviews.
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Consideration
Answer questions on your site
Solution Always-On Answers
Last, because it reuses the approved information written for the phone: services, prices where you publish them, insurance accepted and preparation instructions. The questions callers asked in the first few weeks of transcripts become the answer bank. Always-On Answers answers only from that bank, says it doesn’t know instead of guessing, and gives no clinical advice: questions about symptoms or recovery go to a person, and emergencies are told to call 911. If the chat or your inbox collects patient details, that vendor needs a BAA too. For most clinics the website gets fewer questions than the phone, which is why it waits.
What it looks like
At 10pm someone on your med spa’s site asks whether you take HSA cards, what a consultation costs and how long swelling lasts after filler. The assistant answers the first two from your answer bank, says the provider covers recovery at the consultation, and offers the booking link. The swelling question shows up in Monday’s gap report.
Works with what you already use
Existing tools first. Custom software only when nothing simpler will work.
Dentrix, Eaglesoft or Open Dental
Dental practice management, where the schedule, recall list and patient records live. Bookings and recall work fit alongside it and connect where your system allows, after the BAA review.
Weave
Patient communication for many dental and medical practices: phones, texting, reminders and reviews. If you already pay for it, its own features are the first option I check and set up properly, including its AI receptionist where it supports your practice software, which today mainly means dental systems such as Dentrix, Eaglesoft and Open Dental.
Jane
Booking, charting and billing for chiropractic, physiotherapy and multi-discipline clinics. Recall and phone bookings fit alongside the schedule you already keep there.
WebPT
Documentation, scheduling and billing for physical therapy clinics. Patients who stopped partway through a plan of care are the recall list, and nothing about your documentation changes.
Boulevard, Zenoti or Mindbody
Booking, client records and marketing for med spas and wellness businesses. Rebooking reminders and approved answers fit alongside what these tools already send, and their built-in features get switched on and checked first.
Google Business Profile
Where most new patients find your number, hours and reviews. Review replies are drafted here first, and the receptionist’s hours and services are checked against it.
Leave these for later
- An AI that answers clinical questions or triages symptoms. Diagnosis and treatment advice carry professional and legal responsibility, so every assistant here stays on the front-office side and sends anything clinical to a person.
- AI scribes for clinical notes. Many practice systems now offer their own, and choosing one is a clinical decision for your providers, with its own BAA. The time you lose at the front desk comes first, and it’s simpler to fix.
- Testimonials or before-and-after posts built from patient stories. Using a patient’s story or photos in your marketing needs their written HIPAA authorization, so it’s a poor first step. Answering the reviews patients already post publicly comes first.
Patient data and HIPAA come first
Most dental, chiropractic and physical therapy practices that bill insurance are covered by HIPAA. Before any patient information flows through a new tool, including call recordings and transcripts, each vendor has to sign a business associate agreement (BAA), confirm it has its own BAA with the AI model provider behind the product, and rule out training on your patients’ data. No BAA means no patient data. Consumer ChatGPT or Claude accounts are never used for patient information. Review replies get the strictest rules, because the HHS Office for Civil Rights has settled with dental practices whose Yelp replies revealed patient information. Recall reminders about a patient’s own care are generally not “marketing” under HIPAA, while messages a third party pays you to send are, and need the patient’s written authorization. Texts also fall under the TCPA, so consent is reviewed during setup. A cash-only med spa may not be a HIPAA covered entity at all, but state health-privacy laws, such as Washington’s My Health My Data Act, can still apply, so I set up every clinic as if HIPAA applies. No assistant gives clinical advice: symptoms go to a person, and anyone describing an emergency is told to call 911. I review all of this with you during setup, but I’m not a lawyer, so your compliance lead or attorney should sign off too.
Questions about AI for health and wellness clinics
Where should a dental office or small clinic start with AI?
Start with the phone, because new-patient calls are the ones a busy front desk loses first, and a HIPAA-eligible receptionist can answer them without touching anything clinical. Once the business associate agreements are signed and every call is answered, bring overdue patients back, reply to reviews with a reply guide built for HIPAA, then put the same approved answers on your website.
Is it HIPAA compliant to use an AI receptionist in a dental office?
It can be, if the product is HIPAA-eligible and every vendor that records, transcribes or stores the calls has signed a business associate agreement (BAA) with you before the first patient call. The vendor, in turn, needs its own BAA with the AI model provider behind the product, and the agreements should rule out training on your patients’ data. Dental-specific receptionists exist, and if your patient communication platform already sells one, I check it first. I review the agreements during setup, but I’m not a lawyer, so your compliance lead should sign off too.
Can my staff use ChatGPT or Claude with patient information?
Not on a personal or standard consumer account, because those don’t come with a business associate agreement. Some AI providers offer a BAA on certain business plans, and patient information only goes into a tool once that agreement is signed and covers the use. Until then, staff can use AI for work that holds no patient details, like drafting a new-patient FAQ.
How should a dentist respond to a negative Google review?
Calmly, briefly and without confirming that the reviewer is a patient or mentioning any visit, treatment or bill. The HHS Office for Civil Rights settled with two dental practices, for $10,000 in 2019 and $23,000 in 2022, over Yelp replies that revealed patient information. A safe reply thanks the reviewer and invites them to call the office directly, and a person approves it before it’s posted.
Can we text patients that they’re overdue for a cleaning?
Generally yes, as long as the texting tool is covered by a business associate agreement and the patient has agreed to get texts from you. Reminders about a patient’s own care are generally not treated as marketing under HIPAA, while messages a third party pays you to send are, and need the patient’s written authorization. Texts also fall under the TCPA, so consent is reviewed during setup. This isn’t legal advice.
Does HIPAA apply to a med spa?
It depends on whether the med spa bills health plans electronically, and a cash-only med spa may not be a HIPAA covered entity. State health-privacy laws, such as Washington’s My Health My Data Act, can apply anyway, and many med spas work under a medical director whose practice is covered. So I set up every clinic as if HIPAA applies.
Will an AI assistant give my patients medical advice?
No, it’s set up not to. The receptionist and the website assistant answer only from information you’ve approved, such as services, insurance accepted, hours and preparation instructions. Anything about symptoms, pain or recovery goes to a person, and anyone describing an emergency is told to call 911.
What does it cost to get started?
It depends on where you start and how much setup that step needs. Each step is a one-time setup plus optional ongoing care, and you get a fixed quote before anything starts. I don’t publish prices, but on the free call I’ll tell you honestly whether the first step is worth it for your numbers.
Look up last week’s missed calls in your phone system. I’ll show you how many were new patients, and which agreements need to be signed before an AI answers them.
30 minutes, no cost, no pressure.