New and follow-up appointments
Confirms the patient and provider, books onto a real opening and texts the confirmation. New-patient rules and insurance questions answered from your instructions.
How the receptionist worksThe week
The calls that go unanswered today
Each one is a client, a claim or a job that went to whoever picked up.
- MON 07:58Twelve patients calling as the line opens
Two front-desk staff, one line, ten people on hold or hanging up.
- TUE 12:20A refill request during the lunch closure
Voicemail, a callback, a pharmacy fax, two days.
- WED 18:05A patient whose symptom got worse
Reaches an answering service reading from a script, or nobody.
- FRI 16:50A new patient asking if you take their insurance
The forty-second answer that decides whether they become a patient.
Setups by size
How medical practices run Ody, at every size
Pick the shape of your business. Every feature below links to its own page; every setup is one you can build in an afternoon.
A front desk that never puts anyone on hold
Your line rings the desk. The receptionist takes the overflow.
One practice number rings your front desk during hours; the receptionist picks up when the desk is on another call or at lunch, books onto real openings and texts confirmations. Outside hours it answers first ring and routes urgent calls to your on-call number.
- AI receptionistHours on the line, AI overflow and after hours
Set practice hours per number. Inside them, the desk rings first and the receptionist picks up after a few rings. Outside them it answers first ring, books next-day openings and follows your urgent-call instructions.
- Business textingConfirmations and reminders from the practice number
Appointment confirmations and day-before reminders by text, with replies landing in the patient's thread. One-time 10DLC registration at onboarding; collect texting consent at intake.
- Business voicemailVoicemail transcripts for the desk to triage
Every number gets voicemail with a transcript in the inbox on every plan, so the desk reads and prioritizes instead of listening back. Or route the line to the receptionist and skip voicemail.
AI receptionist
The calls a practice gets, handled the way you instruct.
You describe providers, services, hours, insurance and what counts as urgent. The receptionist books what it can, collects the minimum you specify and routes everything clinical to a human.
Reschedules and cancellations
Moves the visit within the windows you allow, fills the opening from your instructions, and posts the change to the thread.
Business textingPrescription refill requests
Collects the medication, pharmacy and callback number, tells the caller your refill turnaround, and creates a task for the nurse. No clinical advice.
Shared inboxSymptoms that shouldn't wait
Follows your urgent-call instructions: 911 guidance for emergencies, on-call ring order for the rest, and a texted summary to the provider.
Ring ordersInsurance, hours, directions, forms
Answers from your instructions and texts the intake-form link you provide.
How the receptionist worksNights, weekends, lunch closures
Answers first ring, books next-day openings, routes urgent calls to on-call, and texts back anyone who hung up.
How the receptionist worksThe record
Every call logged, summarized and searchable.
On Growth and above, each recorded call is transcribed with speaker labels and summarized into who called, why, what they were told and the next step. You decide which lines record. Voicemail transcripts are on every plan.
- Recording, transcript and AI summary on every answered call on an enabled line
- Search by patient, phrase or date to find what was said
- Summaries posted to Slack for the care team, or pushed to your PM system through Make
- Voicemail transcripts on every plan
Call summaryGenerated by Ody
- Caller
- Parent of existing patient · +1 (512) 555-0211
- Reason
- Child (6) with fever since the previous night, requesting same-day visit with Dr. Okafor.
- Told
- Same-day opening offered and confirmed by text. ER guidance given per instructions.
- Next action
- Booked 10:40 AM with Dr. Okafor. Desk to verify insurance on arrival.
Your stack
Works alongside your practice management system
Native integrations are listed as such. EHR and PM systems have no native connection yet, so Ody reaches them through Make, webhooks or the REST API.
- athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Kareo, DrChronoMake, webhooks or APIAPI docs
Push call summaries and booking details into your workflow via Make or the REST API webhooks
- CSV importNativeIntegration
import your patient contact list so callers show up by name
- SlackNativeIntegration
urgent calls and voicemails posted to the care-team channel
- Asana, ClickUp, TrelloNativeIntegration
refill requests and callbacks as tasks
- MakeNativeIntegration
connect the rest of your stack
Browse all 43 integrations, or connect anything else through Make and the REST API.
Trust
Patient conversations, handled with care
Calls, transcripts and messages are encrypted in transit and at rest and never used to train third-party models. A Business Associate Agreement is available on request. You decide how much the receptionist collects: name, callback number and reason for the call is the default.
- SOC 2 Type II
- Encryption in transit and at rest
- BAA available on request
- Minimum-necessary intake by default
Rollout
Live in an afternoon, not a quarter
No hardware, no consultant, no call-flow diagram. Four steps and the line is answered.
- 01
Port or add numbers
Bring the practice number over, or start with a new local number. Porting is free and the old line keeps working until cutover.
- 02
Describe the practice
Providers, services, hours, insurance you accept, new-patient rules, what counts as urgent. Plain sentences, not call flows.
- 03
Set the routing
Ring the front desk, a phone menu, a ring order for on-call, or one number per location, plus what the receptionist does after hours.
- 04
Listen for a week
Review transcripts and summaries, tighten the instructions, then let the receptionist book more of the schedule.
Resources
Guides for medical practices
The concepts behind this setup, explained without the jargon.
What businesses need to know about IVRLearn how auto-attendants, DTMF digits, and multi-level menus route inbound callers before a person answers.Read guide What businesses need to know about hunt groupsLearn sequential, simultaneous, longest-idle, and circular ringing, and when a queue is the better model.Read guide What businesses need to know about SMS consentHow express written, express, and conversational consent differ, what a compliant opt-in looks like, and how STOP and HELP keywords behave.Read guide
FAQ
Medical practices: common questions
More industries
Also in health & wellness, and nearby
Practices where the front desk is the phone.
Health & wellnessDental practicesNew-patient calls booked, hygiene recalls confirmed, emergencies reached on call.Health & wellnessVeterinary clinicsSick-pet calls triaged and booked, refills routed, ER referrals given at 11pm.Health & wellnessTherapy & counselingA second number that isn't your cell, intake calls answered between sessions.Health & wellnessPhysical therapy & chiropracticPlan-of-care visits booked and confirmed, walk-in questions answered mid-adjustment.Health & wellnessHome care agenciesCaregiver call-outs, family calls and on-call coordinators reached around the clock.
Comparing options? Answering service comparison · Ody vs Ruby · Ody vs RingCentral
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