Never miss a patient call again
An AI phone agent that answers patient calls around the clock, handles routine requests, and knows when to bring in a human.
The AI Receptionist picks up incoming calls when your front desk is busy, after hours, or on weekends. It speaks naturally, understands why patients are calling, and can handle the most common requests on its own: booking appointments, confirming existing ones, providing office hours and directions, and answering frequently asked questions about your practice. When a call requires human judgment, like a clinical question or a billing dispute, it routes the caller to the right staff member or takes a detailed message. Your practice never sends another patient to voicemail, and your front desk gets relief during the busiest parts of the day.
How it works
What AI Receptionist actually does for your practice
Natural Conversation for Common Requests
The AI speaks in a natural, conversational tone rather than reading from a rigid phone tree menu. When a patient calls to book an appointment, it asks about the reason for the visit, checks provider availability in real time, and confirms a time that works. It handles the back-and-forth of scheduling, such as 'Actually, can we do Thursday instead?' without losing context. Patients often do not realize they are not speaking with a person.
Intelligent Call Routing
Not every call can be handled by automation. When a patient describes symptoms that sound urgent, asks a clinical question, or requests to speak with a specific person, the AI recognizes this and transfers the call to the appropriate staff member. If no one is available, it takes a structured message with the patient's name, callback number, reason for calling, and urgency level, then delivers it to your team's inbox immediately.
After-Hours Coverage
The AI Receptionist does not clock out. Patients who call at 6am, 9pm, or on a holiday weekend hear a helpful voice instead of a voicemail greeting. It can answer questions about your hours, book appointments for the next available day, and collect messages for your team to review when the office opens. For practices that have an after-hours on-call provider, it can route truly urgent calls to that person based on criteria you define.
Customizable Knowledge Base
You provide the AI with information about your practice: accepted insurance plans, parking instructions, new patient paperwork requirements, telehealth options, and anything else patients commonly ask about. When a patient calls and asks 'Do you accept Blue Cross?' or 'Where do I park?', the AI gives an accurate, specific answer drawn from your practice's own information, not a generic response.
Real scenarios
See AI Receptionist in action
Patient calling before the office opens
A patient wakes up at 6:45am with back pain that has been getting worse. They want to get on the schedule for today before all the slots fill up. They call the office knowing it does not open until 8am, expecting to leave a voicemail and hope someone calls back in time.
The AI Receptionist answers, asks about their concern, checks same-day availability, and books them into a 10:15am slot with their preferred provider. By the time the front desk arrives at 8am, the appointment is already on the calendar.
Front desk overwhelmed during the lunch rush
Between 11:30am and 1pm, the front desk coordinator is checking in patients, processing co-pays, and handling walk-in questions. The phone rings constantly during this window, and half the calls go to voicemail. Some of those patients call a different practice instead of leaving a message.
The AI Receptionist handles overflow calls automatically. It books three appointments, answers two questions about office hours, and takes a message from a patient with a billing question. The front desk coordinator reviews the message log after the rush and returns the billing call, knowing the routine requests were already handled.
After-hours call about a prescription refill
A patient realizes at 8pm that they are out of their blood pressure medication and their pharmacy says they need a new prescription from the doctor. They call the practice hoping to leave a message but are not sure the right person will get it before the pharmacy opens tomorrow.
The AI Receptionist takes a detailed message including the medication name, dosage, pharmacy name and phone number, and marks it as a refill request. The message is delivered to the clinical team's inbox and tagged for morning follow-up. The patient gets a confirmation that their request was received and will be handled when the office opens.
Common questions
Questions about AI Receptionist
How does the AI know when to transfer a call to a real person?
You define routing rules based on the nature of the call. Clinical questions, calls mentioning specific symptoms, requests to speak with a doctor, and billing disputes are common triggers for a transfer. The AI also recognizes when a caller is frustrated or repeating themselves and offers to connect them with a staff member. You can adjust these rules over time as you learn which types of calls the AI handles well and which ones benefit from a human touch.
Can the AI actually book appointments, or does it just take messages?
The AI books real appointments directly into your Curowell calendar. It checks live provider availability, respects appointment type durations and provider assignments, and confirms the booking with the patient before hanging up. The appointment shows up on your schedule just like one booked by your front desk. If the AI cannot find a suitable slot based on the patient's preferences, it offers alternatives or adds them to the waitlist.
What if the AI gives a patient incorrect information?
The AI only answers questions using the knowledge base your practice provides. It does not guess or make up information. If a patient asks something that is not in the knowledge base, the AI says it does not have that information and offers to take a message or transfer the call. You can review call transcripts to see exactly what was said, and if you notice a gap in the knowledge base, you add the correct answer so the AI handles it properly next time.