Glossary
What is AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that answers calls and handles patient communication automatically, the way a human receptionist would, but available 24/7 and at unlimited volume. It books appointments, answers questions, sends reminders, and escalates urgent issues to staff, all without a human on the line.
An AI receptionist is sometimes called an AI front desk, an AI voice agent, or a virtual receptionist. The defining quality is that it holds a real, two-way spoken conversation rather than routing callers through a fixed phone menu, and it completes tasks (scheduling, intake, insurance Q&A) end to end.
Echo Booking is an AI receptionist purpose-built for healthcare. It is HIPAA-compliant, signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) before going live, supports 70+ languages, and has direct two-way integrations with Athena, eClinicalWorks, NextGen Healthcare, Practice Fusion, PrognoCIS, Dentrix, and Open Dental. On those systems it reads the live schedule and writes appointments, reschedules, and notes back into the chart in real time. Practices on other systems still get 24/7 call and text coverage, and new integrations are added regularly.
Related terms
All 41 terms in the AI calling glossary.
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