[Home](/) / [Industries](/industries/) / Physical therapy clinics AI front desk for physical therapy clinics # Your physical therapy clinic's phone, answered by an AI receptionist that keeps every visit on the calendar. New evaluations, follow-up visits, referral calls and cancellations are handled while your team is with patients.[Book a demo](https://cal.com/vidhaniai/30min)[How pricing works](/pricing/) Physical therapy clinicExample call - Caller: I need to move my appointment on Tuesday. - Front desk: Of course. May I have your name and date of birth first? - Caller: Sam Sample, July 9th, 1985. - Front desk: Thank you, Sam. This desk is set up to check those details before opening your record. I see you Tuesday at 9:00. I have Wednesday at 9:00 or Thursday at 10:30. Which works? - Caller: Thursday. - Front desk: Done: moved to Thursday at 10:30. I've texted you the new time and a reminder. - ✓ Moved: Tuesday 9:00 to Thursday 10:30 Why the phones lose ## The front desk of a therapy clinic is never free A physical therapy clinic runs on a tight schedule of short visits. Your front desk checks in one patient, collects a copay for the next and answers a question from a third, with the phone ringing underneath. An AI receptionist for a physical therapy clinic takes the phone out of that pile. It books, moves and confirms visits so the person at the desk can look at the patient in front of them. The calls it handles are mostly about time. Someone hurt their back on Sunday and wants the soonest evaluation. Someone with a plan of care needs to swap Thursday for Friday. Someone is stuck in traffic and will be ten minutes late. Each one is a small scheduling decision, made best when the answer is immediate. New patients ## A new patient calls after an injury or a referral This call can decide whether the patient ends up in your clinic or the one down the road. The caller may be in pain and may have already tried another number. The receptionist is warm, brisk and specific. Patient intake is built to collect your approved health, referral and plan information in the caller's own words. It then offers real evaluation openings, matched to the therapist and the visit length you set for new patients, and books one. - **Referral or not.** Some callers hold a referral from a physician. Others come on their own where your state allows it. You tell us which path your clinic follows, and the questions change to match. - **Injury type.** Work injury, car accident, sports injury, post-surgery and plain stiffness can each route to a different therapist or visit length. - **Paperwork.** The confirmation text carries the intake link or the list of items to bring, as you decide. An example, written for illustration: - **Caller:** I hurt my shoulder lifting a box last week. Can I get in soon? - **Receptionist:** I am sorry to hear that. Did a doctor refer you, or are you calling on your own? - **Caller:** On my own. - **Receptionist:** Then I will book a first evaluation. I have Friday at 8:15 or Monday at 4:00. Which suits you? - **Caller:** Friday at 8:15. Alex Sample, 555-0100. - **Receptionist:** Booked: your first evaluation Friday at 8:15. Your text has the time and what to bring. The receptionist gives no view on what the injury is or how long recovery takes. That belongs to the therapist. Follow-ups ## Plan-of-care visits: the series is the product Therapy is not one appointment. A plan of care may call for two or three visits a week for several weeks, and each of those can slip. The receptionist works inside the plan. A patient who asks to move Tuesday sees the nearest openings with the same therapist first, and the rest of the series stays intact. When a patient asks for a time the plan does not allow, such as three visits in one week, the receptionist does not argue. It books the nearest compliant slot and notes the request for the therapist. The rules you set for visit spacing are applied at every call, whether it comes at noon or on Sunday evening. A freed slot is open again for the next caller the moment a visit moves. Whether you keep a waitlist for it is something you tell us at setup. Cancellations ## Cancellations, late arrivals and no-shows A late cancellation can cost a clinic a whole treatment hour. The receptionist cannot make patients keep appointments, but it can make rescheduling easier than skipping. - **The reminder text.** Goes out before every visit with a simple way to confirm or move it. Patients who reply to move are offered new times at once. - **The cancel call.** Handled in a sentence or two, followed by the question that matters: when would you like to come in instead? - **The late arrival.** If the patient is running late, the receptionist checks your rule for how long the therapist can wait and tells them honestly if the slot must move. - **The repeat cancel.** Patients who cancel several times in a row are flagged to your office manager in the daily list, not scolded on the phone. Your late-cancel policy is read to the caller only if you want it read. Waiving a fee remains a human decision. Referrals ## Calls from referring offices and other clinics Physician offices, surgeons' schedulers and case managers call to send a patient. They are short on time and expect a clear yes or no. Referral intake is set up to collect only the patient and clinical details your practice approves. It then confirms what your clinic needs next, such as a faxed order or a signed prescription, based on what you tell us. It does not accept a referral your clinic would decline. You list the conditions and age groups you see, and anything outside them goes to a staff member with the referral notes attached, so a human makes the call. Insurance and billing ## Insurance, authorization and cost questions Therapy callers ask about money early. Do you take my plan? How many visits does it cover? What will I pay each time? The receptionist answers from the list of plans you accept and the way your clinic quotes costs, and no further. It does not look up a patient's benefits or predict an insurer's payment. Plan intake is built to collect only the member and subscriber details you approve for your billing team to verify. Cash-pay and self-pay prices are given only if you provide them. Workers' compensation and auto-injury cases are routed the way you decide, because each follows a different path. The setup ## What you tell us for a therapy clinic Setup begins with a 30-minute call. For a therapy clinic we ask for the following, and you can send most of it as a document. | Topic | What we need from you | Why it matters | |---|---|---| | Visit types | Evaluation, follow-up, re-evaluation, discharge and their lengths | Each is booked into a different slot | | Therapists | Who treats what, who is new-patient friendly, who works which days | Patients are matched to the right person | | Referral rules | When a referral is needed and what you accept | Callers get the right first question | | Plans accepted | The list of plans and any you refuse | The honest answer to the first money question | | Policies | Late arrival, cancellation, minors, parking | The receptionist repeats your words, not its own | | Escalation | Who is called for a patient in distress or a hurt caller | The call reaches a person | The [how it works page](/how-it-works/) describes what happens after that call. The receptionist books and updates visits in the scheduling software your clinic already uses. Limits ## What a therapy clinic should not expect from it - **No clinical advice.** It does not suggest exercises, name a condition, say whether to ice or rest, or comment on pain. - **Emergency wording is your rule.** If a caller describes chest pain, numbness with sudden weakness or a serious fall, the example rule says to tell them to call emergency services and alert your clinic. The receptionist applies your wording. It does not assess severity. - **No promises about outcomes.** It does not say how many visits a patient will need. - **No guessing at benefits.** A coverage question that is not on your list goes to billing with the details taken. Example rules you set cover the sentence a caller hears in each case. The wording is yours, and the [receptionist](/ai-receptionist/) follows it. The year ## Busy times in a therapy clinic January brings new-year resolutions and fresh deductibles. Spring brings runners and gardeners. Autumn brings sports injuries and school teams. Winter brings slips on ice. Surgeons release patients to therapy in clusters, so a week of referral calls can arrive from a single practice. A typical week starts with Monday injury calls from the weekend, a midweek swell of reschedules and a Friday wave of next-week confirmations. The first hour of the morning and the last hour of the afternoon are the worst for your desk. Those are also the hours when callers expect an answer. A clinic that also sees dental or general patients might compare notes with [the dental office desk](/industries/dental-offices/), which solves a similar recall problem. Questions ## What clinic owners ask before they hand over the phone ### Does it work for chiropractors and other manual-care clinics? Yes. Any clinic that books recurring visits by phone fits, including chiropractic, massage and sports medicine. Visit types and rules are written around your practice. ### Can it tell a new patient from an existing one? It asks, and is set up to check the name and date of birth against your records before sharing any visit detail. A caller who cannot be matched is set to be treated as new or sent to staff. ### What does the front desk see afterward? A list of the visits booked, moved and cancelled, the new-patient details and any call that needs a person. It is arranged so the first person in each morning can work from it. ### Can it phone patients who skipped a visit? Reminder and confirmation texts go out before visits. It calls patients who missed an appointment and books their next session. ### What if a patient asks whether their exercise is safe? The receptionist says that is a question for the therapist and offers a message or a call-back slot. Clinical advice stays with your therapist. ### Can it handle a patient who speaks another language? It switches to the caller's language during the call. Which languages your clinic wants covered is part of the setup call. ### How does it treat a minor's appointment? It is set up to check the parent or guardian against your rules before sharing a minor's appointment details. A call needing staff goes straight to them. ### Will it replace my front desk staff? No. It takes the phone load so staff can check in patients, collect payments and handle questions that need a person. A desk built for check-in was never meant to cover phones as well. ### Does it work when we are closed? Yes. A hurt caller at night is booked into the first evaluation opening. Your emergency rule can tell a caller who describes an emergency to seek emergency care. Related ## Related front desks[Dental ### Family dental practice](/industries/dental-offices/)[Salon ### Hair salon and spa](/industries/salons-and-spas/)[Law ### Neighborhood law office](/industries/law-offices/) ## Hear it answer for your business.[Book a demo](https://cal.com/vidhaniai/30min)