Your front desk faces an impossible choice every day: answer the ringing phone or help the patient standing at check-in. Someone always loses. Usually, it's the potential patient on the other end of that call—who hangs up and dials the next practice on Google.

For small and mid-sized physician practices managing multiple providers, complex scheduling, and insurance verification, every missed call represents not just a lost appointment but a lost patient relationship. At $150-200 per visit, those missed calls add up to over $42,000 annually in lost revenue.

And the staffing crisis isn't getting better. 60% of medical practices cite staffing as their biggest operational concern, with 33% unable to hire administrative personnel at acceptable wages. You can't solve this by adding more people—because qualified people aren't available at prices you can afford.

The Problem Isn't Your Team—It's the Math

Your front desk is overwhelmed because the workload is mathematically impossible for humans to handle during peak hours:

9:00 AM on a typical Tuesday:

• 3 patients checking in for appointments

• 2 patients checking out, processing payments

• 1 patient asking about insurance pre-authorization

• Phone ringing with: new patient inquiry, prescription refill request, appointment change, insurance question

• Text messages piling up

• Voicemails from after-hours and early morning

One receptionist can't handle this. Two receptionists struggle. Three is financially impossible for most practices.

The coverage gaps aren't failures—they're inevitable:

• Peak hours (8-10 AM, 1-3 PM): Phones ring constantly while handling in-office patients

• Lunch rotation (12-1 PM): Reduced coverage when calls still come in

• After hours (5-8 PM): Working patients call when they're finally off work

• Sick days and vacations: Gaps appear with no backup coverage

Each gap represents lost patients to competitors who answered faster.

What RelayAI Actually Does for Medical Practices

RelayAI doesn't replace your front desk—it captures the patients falling through coverage gaps. Every missed call becomes an organized Bookable Patient Request (BPR) delivered to your team in Spruce Health. Your staff books the appointment in ~2 minutes instead of 10-15 minutes of phone tag.

Here's Exactly How It Works:

When you miss a call:

Option 1: Text Capture ($299/month base)

1. Patient calls, reaches voicemail

2. Within 10 seconds, auto-SMS arrives: "Hi! We missed your call at Central Medical Group. Are you: 1) New patient 2) Existing patient? Reply 1 or 2"

3. Patient replies, system collects: name, DOB, reason for visit, insurance, urgency, preferred time

4. Complete booking request appears in Spruce with all information

Option 2: Voice + Text ($399/month base)

1. Patient calls, AI answers: "Thank you for calling Central Medical Group. We're currently with patients, but I can help you schedule. Are you a new or existing patient?"

2. AI conducts natural conversation, collects: name, DOB, chief complaint, insurance, urgency indicators, preferred time

3. For patients who prefer texting, seamless switch to SMS

4. Complete booking request appears in Spruce

What Your Team Actually Sees:

Instead of vague voicemail: "Hi, um, I need to see a doctor for my knee..."

You get organized booking request:

📅 APPOINTMENT REQUEST - NEW PATIENT
Name: Michael Torres
DOB: 03/22/1978
Phone: (555) 234-5678
Chief Complaint: Knee pain after running, swelling, difficulty walking
Onset: 3 days ago
Urgency: Moderate (not emergency, wants to be seen this week)
Insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO
Member ID: XYZ123456789
Preferred Time: Afternoons, any day this week
Status: [Ready to Book]

Your scheduler calls Michael once, confirms he can come Thursday at 2 PM, books in your system, marks complete. Total time: 2 minutes.

The Multi-Provider Complexity RelayAI Handles

Medical practices aren't dental offices with one doctor doing similar procedures all day. You have:

• Multiple providers: Different specialties, different schedules, different patient panels

• Appointment types: New patient consultations (45 min), follow-ups (15 min), annual physicals (30 min), urgent same-day slots

• Insurance complexity: Pre-authorizations, referral requirements, specialist networks

• Clinical triage: Urgent symptoms needing same-day vs. routine scheduling

RelayAI's conversation flows collect the information your schedulers need to route appropriately:

For New Patients:

• Insurance information (payor + member ID)

• Reason for visit (chief complaint)

• Urgency assessment

• Provider preference (if any)

• Scheduling preferences

For Existing Patients:

• Reason for visit

• Urgency assessment

• Provider preference

• Recent symptom changes

• Scheduling preferences

Urgency Flagging:

System detects keywords indicating urgent symptoms:

• "Chest pain" → Immediate team notification

• "Difficulty breathing" → Emergency flag

• "Severe bleeding" → Urgent escalation

• "High fever + rash" → Same-day flag

Non-urgent requests route normally for standard scheduling.

What Medical Practices Actually Experience

Dr. Williams, Family Practice (Portland): "We were losing 12-15 calls daily during peak hours. First month with RelayAI, we got 94 booking requests. Even accounting for some we might have eventually reached, we definitely captured 20-30 we'd have lost entirely. And the time savings is massive—Maria used to spend 90 minutes daily returning voicemails. Now it's 30 minutes of quick booking calls with complete information."

Dr. Nguyen, Internal Medicine (Houston): "The after-hours capture changed our new patient acquisition. We were missing 20-25 calls weekly between 5-9 PM. Those are working people who can't call during the day—exactly who we want as patients. First month we captured $11,200 in after-hours booking requests. System paid for itself in two weeks."

Multi-Specialty Group Practice (Denver): "The triage intelligence was crucial for us. The system collects enough information that our schedulers know immediately whether it's routine with Dr. Martinez, urgent with whoever's available today, or emergency we need to escalate to on-call. Everything organized in Spruce instead of scattered emails and voicemails. Our front desk efficiency improved 40%."

The Real Math: What 100 BPRs Means for Your Practice

Conservative Scenario:

• 100 complete booking requests captured monthly

• 50% actually book appointments (50 patients)

• 80% show for appointments (40 patients)

• $180 average collection per visit (post-insurance)

• Captured revenue: $7,200/month

Your Investment:

• $299-399 monthly base (includes 1 Spruce seat)

• $49 per additional seat (most practices use 2-4 seats total)

• $10 per medical BPR (Text) or $14 (Voice + Text)

• Total bill for 100 BPRs: $1,200-1,800

ROI: 4-6× your investment

Plus the 3× guarantee: If your month-end pipeline from BPRs isn't at least 3× your bill, we adjust the bill so it is. If you prefer to wait for actual insurance collections, we'll check at 60 days and refund to 2.5× collections.

"But We Could've Gotten Those Patients Without You"

This is the most common objection, and it deserves a real answer.

The Truth:

Without RelayAI:

1. Patient leaves vague voicemail (if they leave one—50% don't)

2. Front desk finds it 2-6 hours later during a break

3. Calls back, gets voicemail

4. Phone tag continues over 24-48 hours

5. 40-50% of patients give up and call another practice

6. You eventually book 50-60% of the persistent ones

7. Total time: 10-15 minutes per patient across multiple attempts

With RelayAI:

1. Patient gets response within 10 seconds

2. Complete information collected while motivation is high

3. Scheduler calls once with all details, books in 2 minutes

4. 70%+ booking rate because information is complete

5. Patients feel valued, not forgotten

The Three Real Benefits (Even for "Patients You'd Get Anyway"):

1. Speed = Fewer Abandons Immediate response captures patients while motivation is high. Waiting hours/days loses 40-50% to competitors or changed minds.

2. Complete Information = Efficient Booking 100 BPRs × 13 minutes saved per booking = 21.7 hours monthly saved (~$540 at $25/hour). Your team books in 2 minutes instead of 15 minutes of phone tag.

3. Professional Organization = Better Patient Experience Spruce Health provides team assignment, status tracking, and collaboration tools. No more scattered voicemails, emails, and Post-it notes. Patients notice the difference in responsiveness.

Even if you captured the exact same number of patients (which you won't—immediate response captures more), you're saving 20+ hours monthly on administrative phone tag.

Common Questions from Physician Practice Managers

"What about insurance verification and pre-authorization?"

RelayAI collects insurance information (payor and member ID) for new patients. Your team does verification and pre-authorization as they normally would before the appointment. We're not replacing your clinical or administrative workflows—we're just capturing complete information upfront so your team isn't playing phone tag to collect it.

"How do you handle urgent vs. routine triage?"

The system uses keyword detection for urgency indicators:

• "Chest pain," "difficulty breathing," "severe bleeding" → Immediate team notification via Spruce paging

• "High fever," "severe pain," "recent injury" → Same-day flag for rapid scheduling

• Everything else → Standard routing to schedulers

Your team makes all clinical decisions. The system just flags urgency for appropriate escalation.

"We have multiple providers with different specialties. How does routing work?"

The system collects: chief complaint, provider preference (if any), urgency, insurance. Your schedulers use this information to route appropriately based on your practice's protocols. You maintain full control over which provider sees which patients.

"What if the patient needs to speak to a nurse for clinical questions?"

All clinical questions are escalated to your team. The system is designed for administrative booking information only, never clinical advice. If a patient asks "Should I see a doctor for this symptom?" the system responds: "Let me connect you with our clinical team" and creates an urgent callback request.

"Do you integrate with our EHR (Epic, Athena, eClinicalWorks, etc.)?"

No, and that's actually a feature. EHR integration takes months and requires IT involvement. RelayAI delivers organized booking requests in Spruce—your schedulers then book in your EHR exactly as they do today. Go-live in 7-14 days instead of 3-6 months.

"What about HIPAA compliance?"

Spruce Health is a HIPAA-compliant platform with SOC 2 Type II certification and Business Associate Agreement. All patient information is encrypted and stored securely. RelayAI adds an automation layer that operates within Spruce's compliance framework.

Text Capture vs. Voice + Text: Which Makes Sense?

Choose Text Capture ($299/month base + $10/BPR) if:

• Solid coverage during business hours

• Just want overflow capture (lunch, after-hours, peaks)

• Patients are comfortable texting

• Budget is primary concern

• Want team to maintain full scheduling control

Choose Voice + Text ($399/month base + $14/BPR) if:

• Get urgent after-hours calls needing triage

• Older patient demographic less comfortable with texting

• Need bilingual support (English/Spanish)

• Want AI to handle initial questions before escalating

• Currently paying $500-800 for answering service

Not sure? Most practices start with Text Capture and add Voice if urgent coverage needs emerge.

How to Get Started: Risk-Free Pilot

Text Capture Pilot:

• Duration: 30 days (single location) or 60 days (multi-location)

• Cost: Base waived—pay only $10 per medical BPR delivered

• Guarantee: If captured revenue isn't 3× your bill, we true up

• Setup: 7-10 days to go live

• Includes: Full system, Spruce organization, team training

• After pilot: Convert to $299/month + $10/BPR, or walk away

Voice + Text Pilot:

• Duration: 60 days (lets you track booking and show rates)

• Cost: Base waived—pay only $14 per medical BPR delivered

• Guarantee: If captured revenue isn't 3× your bill, we true up (or 2.5× collections at 60 days)

• Setup: 10-14 days to go live

• Includes: AI voice answering, text fallback, Spruce organization, team training

• After pilot: Convert to $399/month + $14/BPR, or walk away

The Bottom Line for Medical Practices

You're losing $42,000+ annually to missed calls. Not because your front desk is failing—because the workload during peak hours is mathematically impossible for available staff.

RelayAI captures those missed opportunities and delivers organized booking requests your team can action in 2 minutes. You pay only for complete requests (not spam, wrong numbers, or incomplete responses), and we guarantee 3× ROI or adjust your bill.

The technology works. The ROI is proven. First-movers capture patients from competitors still using voicemail.

Next Steps:

1. Calculate your opportunity: How many calls go to voicemail daily? Multiply by $180 × 22 working days. That's your monthly lost revenue.

2. Start a pilot: 30-60 days, base waived, pay only for booking requests delivered. Zero risk.

3. Track results: Month-end, we show exactly how many booking requests captured and their estimated revenue value.

4. Scale or walk away: If ROI isn't there, we true up your bill or you cancel. If it is (and it will be), you've solved a $42,000/year problem for $15,000-20,000/year.

Ready to stop losing patients to voicemail?

Schedule a 10-minute demo or Start your risk-free pilot