How practices are addressing the challenge of telephone accessibility while maintaining quality patient care and operational efficiency.
The Challenge of Telephone Accessibility
For many Australian medical practices, the telephone remains the primary channel through which patients book appointments, request prescription renewals, and seek general information. Despite advances in online booking systems, research indicates that a significant proportion of patients, particularly older demographics, prefer speaking with someone when arranging healthcare appointments.
This preference creates an operational challenge. Reception staff must balance answering incoming calls with attending to patients at the front desk, processing paperwork, and supporting clinical staff. During peak periods, the volume of incoming calls can exceed the capacity of available staff to answer them promptly.
When calls go unanswered, patients may hang up and try again later, attempt to contact an alternative provider, or simply delay seeking care. For practices, each missed call represents a potential missed appointment and, more importantly, a patient whose healthcare needs may go unaddressed.
Understanding Call Patterns in General Practice
Patient calling behaviour follows predictable patterns that can strain reception resources. Monday mornings typically see elevated call volumes as patients seek appointments after the weekend. The periods immediately before and after lunch often experience increased activity. Late afternoons bring calls from patients who have finished work and are attempting to arrange appointments.
These patterns mean that even well-staffed practices may experience periods where demand exceeds capacity. Hiring additional reception staff to cover peak periods is one approach, though this introduces costs that may be difficult to justify when those staff have limited duties during quieter times.
The situation becomes more pronounced outside standard business hours. Patients experiencing symptoms in the evening or on weekends may wish to book an appointment for the following day. Without after-hours reception coverage, these patients must wait until the practice opens—by which time they may have sought care elsewhere or their condition may have changed.
The Rise of Telephone Automation in Healthcare
Various industries have adopted automated telephone systems to manage call volumes. Banking, telecommunications, and utilities have used interactive voice response (IVR) systems for decades. However, traditional IVR systems, with their rigid menu structures and limited understanding of natural speech, have often frustrated callers and proven unsuitable for healthcare environments where conversations can be nuanced and emotionally sensitive.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence have enabled a new category of telephone automation. Modern AI systems can understand natural speech, interpret context, and respond in ways that more closely resemble human conversation. These systems can be trained to handle specific types of enquiries while recognising when a call should be transferred to a human staff member.
In healthcare settings, AI telephone systems are being deployed to handle routine administrative tasks: confirming practice opening hours, providing directions, and increasingly, managing appointment bookings. When integrated with practice management software, these systems can access real-time schedule information and complete bookings without human intervention.
Integration with Practice Management Systems
The value of AI telephone systems increases substantially when they can interact with existing practice management software. Rather than simply taking messages for staff to action later, an integrated system can search for patients in the database, verify their identity, check practitioner availability, and create appointments directly.
For practices using Bp Premier, integration occurs through secure API connections that allow external systems to query and update appointment data. This means an AI receptionist can perform the same appointment-related functions as a human staff member: viewing available slots across multiple practitioners, identifying suitable appointment lengths based on the reason for visit, and confirming bookings with patients in real time.
Such integration also enables patient verification processes. Before making changes to appointments, the system can confirm patient identity by cross-referencing details against existing records. This maintains the security practices that reception staff would ordinarily apply.
Considerations When Evaluating AI Reception Solutions
Practices considering AI telephone solutions should evaluate several factors:
- Voice Quality and Natural Interaction
The system should communicate in a way that patients find comfortable and easy to understand. Australian practices may prefer systems that use Australian-accented voices and understand local terminology and date formats.
- Integration Capabilities
Solutions that integrate with existing practice management software provide greater functionality than standalone systems. The ability to access real-time appointment data and create bookings directly reduces administrative burden on staff.
- Handling of Complex Situations
Not every call can or should be handled by an automated system. Practices should understand how the solution handles calls that fall outside its capabilities—whether that means transferring to a staff member, taking a message, or escalating urgent matters appropriately.
- Privacy and Security
Healthcare information requires careful handling. Any AI system should comply with Australian privacy requirements and use secure methods to access and store patient data.
Staff Workflow Integration
The solution should complement rather than complicate existing workflows. Staff should be able to review call activity, access recordings where appropriate, and maintain oversight of appointment changes.
Practical Applications in Australian Practices
Several scenarios illustrate how AI telephone reception can support practice operations:
- After-Hours Coverage
Patients calling outside business hours can book appointments for the following day without waiting for the practice to open. This is particularly valuable for practices that do not employ after-hours reception staff.
- Peak Period Support
During busy periods, an AI system can answer calls that would otherwise go to voicemail or remain on hold. Reception staff can focus on patients at the front desk while routine telephone bookings are handled automatically.
- Consistent Patient Experience
Unlike human staff who may be busy or unavailable, an AI system answers every call promptly and provides consistent information about practice hours, location, and booking procedures.
Cliniva: An AI Reception Solution for Australian Practices
Cliniva, developed by Melbourne-based company Nerds On Time, is one solution designed specifically for Australian medical practices. The system integrates with Bp Premier through Halo Health’s API framework, enabling real-time appointment booking and patient verification.
Cliniva uses conversational AI to interact with patients via telephone. The system can answer calls, verify patient identity against Bp Premier records, search appointment availability across practitioners, and complete bookings. After appointments are made, confirmation messages can be sent automatically via SMS and email.
The solution operates continuously, providing telephone coverage outside business hours and on weekends. Practices can monitor call activity, review transcripts, and configure the system’s behaviour through an online dashboard.
For practices experiencing telephone accessibility challenges, AI reception technology offers a way to extend coverage without proportionally increasing staffing costs. As these systems continue to develop, their role in supporting healthcare administration is likely to expand.
Newsletter Subscription
"*" indicates required fields
