LeadSixty/Medical practices

For medical practices, clinics, therapists and chiropractors

A medical answering service, done for you.
An AI virtual receptionist that answers every patient call, day or night.

We build and run an AI medical answering service for your practice, from a single doctor's office to a multi-provider clinic. It answers in your practice's name while the front desk is with patients or after the office closes, verifies the caller, books and moves appointments, takes new-patient and insurance details, and sends refill, results and urgent calls to the right person on the protocol you write. It never gives medical advice. No software for your team to learn.

Book a Where AI Fits call First 30 days free, then $297 a month

24/7Every patient call picked up

30 daysFree before you pay anything

1 protocolYours, for what is urgent

0 medical adviceAnything clinical goes to your team

The problem

Why do medical offices miss the calls that matter?

Because the people who should answer are checking patients in, rooming them or on another line. The calls that matter most, a new patient choosing between practices, a patient whose symptoms changed after hours, arrive at exactly those moments. New patients rarely leave a voicemail; they call the next practice on the list.

The clock is short. The Lead Response Management study, which analyzed more than 15,000 web leads, found the odds of qualifying a lead fall 21 times between a 5-minute and a 30-minute reply.

What happens today	What happens with the answering service
New patient calls during morning check-in	Answered, insurance and reason for visit taken, appointment booked, confirmation texted
Existing patient needs to reschedule	Identity verified, appointment moved, calendar updated
Refill or results request	Details taken and sent to the right person as a message; nothing clinical discussed
Symptoms your protocol calls urgent, at 9 pm	Emergency instruction first when your protocol says so, then the on-call clinician reached
"Do you take my insurance?"	Answered from your approved list; coverage questions go to the office
A therapy client in distress after hours	Your crisis instruction read first, such as the 988 Lifeline, then your on-call clinician

What we build

How does an automated medical answering service work?

Set up for you in the first week and tuned to how your practice answers the phone. Your team keeps caring for patients. Callers get a real conversation and a next step.

Answers in your practice's name, 24/7

Picked up within a couple of rings, during check-in, at lunch, at night and on weekends. The greeting says the call may be recorded. The voice and wording are chosen with you.

Follows your urgent-call protocol

You write which symptoms get an emergency instruction first, which reach the on-call clinician now, and which book the first opening. The receptionist applies it the same way at 2 am as at 2 pm, and never diagnoses.

Verifies the caller before anything else

Name, date of birth and phone number before any appointment detail is read back. New patients give their details and insurance; nothing about another patient is ever confirmed.

Books and moves appointments

New-patient visits, follow-ups and consults, each with the length and provider you set. Where your practice software exposes its schedule we book directly; otherwise the front desk gets a complete booking to enter. We confirm which on the call.

Routes refills, results and messages

Refill and results requests, billing questions and messages for a provider are taken with the details and sent only to the people you name. The patient is told when the office will respond.

Transfers to a person when it should

Anyone who asks for a person, anything clinical, and every urgent call goes to the office during hours or the on-call clinician after. Your team sees a summary of every call by morning.

After hours medical answering service: what happens on a patient call?

An existing patient calls at 9 pm. Their symptoms changed since the afternoon visit, and the office closed four hours ago.

1 · AIAnswers in the practice's name, says the call may be recorded, asks how it can help.

2 · AIVerifies the patient with name and date of birth.

3 · AIAsks the questions in your protocol. If any answer means an emergency, it gives your emergency instruction first.

4 · AIReaches the on-call clinician with the details, or books the first opening if the protocol says it can wait.

5 · Clinician and officeThe clinician calls the patient back; the office sees the summary in the morning.

Answering, verifying and routing from the AI. Every clinical judgment, from your team.

What it does not do: tell a patient what a symptom means, discuss results or medications, promise what insurance will cover, or confirm to a caller that someone else is a patient. For mental health practices, your after-hours protocol can name the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which its site says "is available 24/7/365" by call, text or chat.

Is it a HIPAA compliant medical answering service?

It is built for the rule, and the rule asks for a signed agreement. A medical practice is a covered entity, and a service that takes patient calls on its behalf creates and receives protected health information. Under 45 CFR 160.103 that makes the service a business associate, and under 45 CFR 164.502(e) the practice must obtain satisfactory assurance that it will safeguard the information. In practice, that assurance is a signed business associate agreement.

So the receptionist handles the minimum: identity verification before any appointment detail is read back, collection rather than discussion of anything clinical, a recording disclosure in the greeting, and summaries that go only to the people you name. Ask us about a business associate agreement on the call; nothing goes live before your compliance contact has reviewed the scripts and the agreement. This is a plain-language reading of the rule, not legal advice. When you compare other services, check whether their HIPAA terms cover AI answering as well as people; Abby Connect's medical page, for example, limits its AI receptionist to calls "that carry no protected health information."

For the platforms and what each says about HIPAA and triage, see AI receptionist for medical offices. Dental practices have their own page: AI dental receptionist.

How does this compare to a live medical phone answering service?

Live prices are from each service's own pricing page, read on September 24, 2026; the medical breakdown is in medical answering service cost.

	Live medical answering service	Self-serve AI receptionist	LeadSixty
Price for 100 calls a month	About $384 to $1,725 on published plans	About $79 to $236.50 on published plans	$297 a month after a free first 30 days, no setup fee
Who answers	People working from your protocol	AI you configure	AI we configure with you
Who writes the protocol into the system and keeps it current	You, by brief	You	Us, including every change
Also covers texts, web forms, website chat and DMs	Usually calls only	Usually calls only	Yes, all of it, in the same voice
Business associate agreement	Ask each service	Ask each vendor	Discussed on the call before anything goes live

Honest note: a trained medical receptionist reads a frightened patient better than any AI, and a live service gives every caller a person. If that matters more than cost and coverage for your patients, a live service fits better. The AI wins on the calls you are missing now: during check-in, at lunch and after hours.

What does it cost?

First 30 days free, then a flat $297 a month, no setup fee, cancel anytime. That covers the phone receptionist, replies to texts, web forms, website chat and social messages within 60 seconds, booking, reminders and no-show rebooking. The full list, and what happens at unusually high volume, is on the pricing page.

Want to hear how it would handle a call to your practice before the free month starts? On a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call we look at your call volume by hour, your practice software and your urgent-call protocol. If a live service fits your patients better, we will say so.

Book a Where AI Fits call

Fit

Who is this for, and who should not buy it?

Good fit: independent primary care and specialty practices with a small front desk; therapy and mental health practices that send after-hours calls to voicemail; chiropractors, physical therapists and wellness clinics with heavy scheduling volume; any practice paying a live service that only takes messages. If many of your patients call in Spanish, compare options in our bilingual answering service guide; if you need every hour covered, see 24 hour answering service.

Not a fit: a practice that needs nurse triage by phone; that is clinical work for licensed people. A hospital or large group that needs deep EHR integration before anything else. A practice whose patients expect a person on every call, whatever it costs.

FAQ

Questions medical practices ask before they start

What is a medical answering service?+

A service that answers a medical practice's phone when the front desk cannot, during check-in, at lunch and after hours. It books and moves appointments, takes new-patient details, sends refill, results and billing requests to the right person, and reaches the on-call clinician for urgent calls on the practice's protocol. It can be live receptionists, AI, or both.

What is a virtual medical receptionist?+

Another name for the same job done remotely: a person working off-site, or an AI, that answers patient calls in your practice's name, books appointments and routes messages. Ours is AI, set up and run by us, with urgent calls and anything clinical going to your team.

What is a physician answering service?+

The same service, named for a physician's or doctor's office: it answers the practice's phone when staff cannot, books and moves appointments, sends refill, results and billing requests to the right person, and reaches the on-call physician for urgent calls on the practice's protocol. Ours is AI, set up and run by us.

Is it a good answering service for a doctor's office or clinic?+

It fits independent primary care and specialty offices and clinics with a small front desk, especially ones that miss calls during check-in, at lunch or after hours. It does not fit a practice that needs nurse triage by phone, or a hospital that needs deep EHR integration first.

Is it HIPAA compliant?+

It is built to handle the minimum: identity verification before any appointment detail, no discussion of anything clinical, a recording disclosure and summaries only to the people you name. A service that takes patient calls is a business associate under 45 CFR 160.103, so ask us about a business associate agreement on the call; nothing goes live before your compliance contact reviews it.

Does it work as a chiropractic answering service?+

Yes. A chiropractic office's calls are mostly new-patient bookings, reschedules and questions about hours and insurance, and the receptionist books those onto your calendar with the visit lengths you set. Anything clinical goes to the doctor, and the same business associate agreement conversation applies.

What happens when a patient calls with an emergency?+

Your written protocol decides. Answers that your protocol treats as an emergency trigger your emergency instruction first, such as calling 911, and then an alert to the on-call clinician. Everything else reaches the on-call clinician or books the first opening, as the protocol says. You test it with your own calls before the first real night.

Does it work for therapy and mental health practices?+

Yes. It books and moves sessions, handles new-client inquiries and routes messages to the right clinician. Your after-hours protocol can include a crisis instruction, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, before the on-call clinician is reached. It never gives clinical advice.

How much does it cost, and what if we stop?+

First 30 days free, then a flat $297 a month with no setup fee. If you stop at day 30 you owe nothing. After that you can cancel any month. The full terms are on the pricing page, and that page is the only place the price is stated.

Sources

Lead Response Management study (InsideSales.com with Dr. James Oldroyd). More than 15,000 leads; 21-fold decrease in the odds of qualifying from 5 to 30 minutes. leadresponsemanagement.org
45 CFR 160.103 and 45 CFR 164.502(e), via Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute. 160.103, 164.502
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 988lifeline.org, read September 24, 2026.
Abby Connect medical answering service page, read September 24, 2026. abby.com
Live and AI answering service prices: see the sources in answering service cost, read September 24, 2026.

Published September 24, 2026. Every figure was read on its source and checked again before publishing; see how we research and write.

Every patient call answered. Every clinical question still reaches your team.

Book a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call. We look at your call volume by hour, your practice software and your urgent-call protocol, and we tell you honestly whether this is worth $297 a month for your practice.