A patient who wants an appointment calls. When staff are with another patient, that call goes unanswered or the patient waits for someone to pick up. An AI phone assistant such as AiMED Voice answers every call and books the appointment in the same conversation.
But the assistant books only as well as it knows your calendar. This is an overview of what it needs.
How the assistant knows what is open
The assistant uses the calendar in the portal: doctors’ working hours, absences, service durations and appointments already booked. It offers the caller only slots that are open according to that calendar. An appointment it books is immediately visible to staff.
That is why preparing the calendar is not a technical job. It is a description of how your institution really works.
1. Services
Every service a patient can book by phone should be in the portal, with its duration. The assistant uses the duration when it looks for an open slot.
Along with the service you enter the price and the preparation instructions, so the assistant can tell them to the caller.
Check the names too. Patients often call a service something different from what you call it, so the name in the portal should be the one the caller will say.
2. Doctors
The assistant finds open slots by service and doctor. For each doctor, enter the working hours as they really see patients.
3. Working hours and absences
Annual leave, conferences, days off: the assistant takes into account only the absences that are in the calendar. Enter them as soon as they are known, because the assistant books even when nobody on staff is looking at the calendar.
The assistant answers at any hour, including outside working hours. A patient can call in the evening and book an appointment, and that call is marked separately in the call log as a call outside working hours.
What the assistant does in a call
Booking. The assistant asks for the service and a time that suits the caller, offers open slots and books only once the caller confirms.
Rescheduling. The assistant moves an existing appointment to another open slot, by the same calendar rules.
Cancelling. The assistant cancels an appointment. A patient who wanted to cancel but reached nobody often simply does not show up. When someone answers the call, the cancellation reaches the institution.
Checking identity. If the number is known, the assistant checks whether it is talking to that person. If not, it asks for a first name, last name and date of birth. It does not disclose patient data until the identity is confirmed.
At the start of every call the assistant says that it is an AI assistant and that the conversation is recorded.
What the assistant does not do
The assistant takes over the admin, not the decisions. It does not interpret symptoms, does not advise on therapy and does not assess urgency. When a caller says they have urgent symptoms, the assistant tells them to call emergency services on 112.
What you see in the call log afterwards
Every call has a time, caller, reason, outcome and duration, along with an AI summary, transcript and recording. For booking, that means three things.
- Next to the call you see whether an appointment was booked or rescheduled, and the appointment itself is in the portal calendar.
- Calls outside working hours are marked separately, so in the morning you see what happened overnight.
- When the assistant didn’t know something, you see the reason for the call and a summary, so you know whom you are calling and why.
Only the institution the patient called can see the recordings, transcripts and summaries, and every view of a call is recorded in the access log.
A checklist before the first call
- Every service that is booked by phone is in the portal, with its duration.
- Every doctor has working hours entered.
- Known absences are entered in the calendar.
- The services have a price and preparation instructions.
- The service names are the ones patients say.
- It is clear who in the institution reads the call log and calls back.
What the assistant knows about appointments is what is in the portal calendar. When working hours or an absence change, change them there too.
To see what such a call looks like and what stays in the portal afterwards, watch the animated presentation on the How it works page. If you would like to see the assistant with your services and calendar, request a demo.
