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Your phone, text inbox and website can all bring in patient requests at the same time. A caller wants to book. A patient texts to move an appointment. Someone on your website wants to know how to get started.
Hello Patient builds AI agents for healthcare. By phone or text, the agents book, reschedule and cancel appointments right in your schedule, inside the scheduling rules your practice sets. Website chat answers questions and books visits for the people who come to your site. A patient can move or cancel a booked appointment by call or text, after the agent checks who they are.
This page explains what the agent can finish on each channel and what your practice chooses for each one.
What can an agent finish on a patient phone call?
A voice agent books visits during the call, for the visit types your practice chooses. The agent completes your required identity checks, finds or creates the patient record, follows your scheduling rules and books the visit. The visit goes straight into your schedule, so the time the patient hears is the time on your calendar.
A patient might ask, “Can I book at your north location next week?” The agent can check that location for an eligible visit and book it. If your practice would rather patients pick their own time, the agent texts them your self-scheduling link after the call.
Hello Patient integrates with the EHR, practice management, and CRM systems healthcare already runs on.
Your practice also decides whether the agent can change, cancel or confirm eligible appointments. A refill request goes to staff. The agent does not approve it.
The voice agent transfers calls to the people your practice picks. Your practice also decides what happens after hours and who on your team gets each kind of request, with the details the agent collected.
What can an agent do in a patient text conversation?
In a two-way text conversation, the agent moves a patient's appointment to a new time. It completes the required identity checks and finds the patient's record before it makes the change. Your scheduling rules and open visits determine what it can offer.
A patient might text, “Thursday won't work. Can I come Friday instead?” If an eligible Friday visit is open, the agent can make the change. The new time goes straight into your schedule, so the time in the patient's text is the time on your calendar.
Requests your practice routes to staff reach your team as a message, with what the patient asked.
Where does website chat help a patient book?
Hello Patient's website chat answers a new patient's questions and books their first visit. It can answer questions about hours and services using the practice information it has. Questions your practice routes to staff reach your team as a message, with what the visitor asked.
Someone on your website might ask, “Are you open on Saturdays? I'm looking for a first appointment.” The agent answers from the information your practice supplied and books that first appointment.
Your practice chooses which visit types new patients can book in chat.
To move or cancel a booked appointment, a patient calls or texts. The agent checks who they are first.
Hear the agent, or book a call to request a free demo agent.
Which channels work inbound and outbound?
Phone and text work for both inbound and outbound conversations. Hello Patient's website chat answers the people who come to your site.
Inbound means the patient starts the conversation. A patient might call your practice or send a text. Outbound means your practice starts it, such as by calling or texting a patient. Your practice decides which jobs the agent handles in each direction. When the agent reaches out to patients, it stays inside the outreach plan and the consent rules your practice set.
After a phone call, the agent can text the patient a self-scheduling link. The patient finishes the call, receives the text and uses the link to choose a time.
How does this help with AI patient engagement?
It helps a person take the next administrative step while the conversation is still open.
For example, a consumer-health brand might use a conversational AI agent to answer a prospective member's questions and help them continue signup.
What should a conversational AI vendor show your practice?
A vendor should show you what happens with your own requests from start to finish. Bring three requests your team hears often. Use the patient's words, the location involved and the channel where the request comes in.
If your starting problem is a front desk that cannot keep up with the work arriving, choose requests from that waiting work.
Ask the vendor to book a visit by phone. Then ask by text to move an eligible appointment. Then ask a question in its website chat and book a first visit there.
Follow each request all the way through. If identity checks are required, watch them happen. If the agent needs schedule access, have the vendor show it. Look for the confirmed change in the connected system, the link the patient receives or the message your staff will see.
If you plan to send a text after a call, test that sequence too. Then try a request your practice routes to staff, including one that comes in after hours. You should be able to see who receives the request and what the patient is told.
Find out whether Hello Patient fits your practice. Book a call to test the relevant channels against your practice's requests, and ask for a free demo agent.
Frequently asked questions
Where does a conversational AI agent get answers about a medical practice?
Hello Patient's agents use your practice website and the material your practice supplies. Your team can give the agent the hours, services and other practice information patients ask about. The agent answers from that information, so patients hear your practice's own answers. For a multi-location group, test questions that change from one office to another. Ask whether a service is offered at one office, then ask the same question about another office, and check both answers against your material.
Does calling a healthcare product “conversational AI” establish HIPAA compliance?
The “conversational AI” label is not what makes a product HIPAA-compliant, so here is what Hello Patient has in place. Hello Patient is HIPAA-compliant, SOC 2 Type 2 certified, and signs a BAA with every client. Ask what agreement covers the service, what patient information it handles and how that information is used and protected. HHS explains business-associate arrangements and contracts for services involving protected health information. Review your planned use with your privacy and security team. This is not legal advice. See the healthcare AI receptionist compliance guide for more.
What is the difference between a healthcare chatbot and a conversational AI agent?
Hello Patient uses “chatbot” for a chat interface, while a conversational AI agent can be the agent working through that interface, so the two labels can overlap. A product being called a chatbot does not tell you whether an agent is behind it. Hello Patient's agents book visits by phone, by text and in website chat, and reschedule or cancel by phone and text. When you compare products, ask what each agent finishes on each channel.
Can website chat tell patients whether a medical practice accepts their insurance plan?
Yes. Hello Patient's website chat can tell someone whether the practice accepts a plan using information the practice supplies. Anyone on your site can ask, because the answer comes from your practice's list of accepted plans, which your team keeps up to date. When a patient books by phone or text, the agent also collects the plan details and adds them to the appointment note, so your team has them before the visit.
Can a patient get a medical payment link through website chat?
Yes. Hello Patient's website chat can send a payment link that your practice has set up. By phone or text, the agent can also tell a patient their balance. It has to complete the required identity checks first. Your practice chooses whether to offer that on each of those channels. “Where can I pay?” gets the link in chat, and “How much do I owe?” gets an answer by call or text. The patient opens the link and pays there.
How should a medical practice interpret conversational AI patient-engagement results?
Hello Patient recommends checking exactly what event the result counts and which patients are included. Hello Patient publishes Carbon Health's primary and urgent care case study: 40% of patients who received an SMS booking link booked in Carbon Health's after-hours program. A patient replying to a message, booking an appointment and completing a visit are three different measures. Decide which event you care about before you compare one program's result with another.
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