Overview of TrackStat's AI Assistant

TrackStat's AI Assistant is an innovative feature designed to streamline front-office operations in healthcare practices. It acts as a virtual receptionist that intelligently handles incoming calls, identifies patients, answers questions, and schedules appointments - all while integrating seamlessly with your Electronic Health Records (EHR) system. This tool helps reduce missed opportunities, improve patient satisfaction, and free up your staff for more critical tasks.

The AI Assistant is particularly useful for busy offices where calls often go unanswered during peak times, lunch breaks, or after hours. By leveraging your existing TrackStat configurations, it ensures accurate scheduling and personalized responses. This article provides an overview of its capabilities, prerequisites, setup considerations, and best practices to get started.

Note: The AI Assistant is available to clinics using compatible EHR systems like ChiroTouch or ClinicMind/Genesis. TrackStat's AI Assistant feature is coming soon and has been released to a select group of clinics for beta testing.

TrackStat's AI Assistant offers a range of powerful capabilities to enhance your patient communication and scheduling workflow:

Call Answering and Multi-Call Handling: The AI Assistant can answer incoming calls automatically, providing a natural, conversational experience. It handles multiple calls simultaneously, ensuring no patient is left waiting or sent to voicemail unnecessarily.

Patient Identification: For existing patients, the AI identifies them based on the incoming phone number if it matches records in your EHR (ChiroTouch or ClinicMind). Even when the AI recognizes the phone number, it still asks the patient to provide their full name and date of birth to fully confirm their identity for security purposes. This enables personalized interactions without requiring manual lookups.

Appointment Scheduling: The AI can book appointments for both new and existing patients. Availability is determined by your pre-configured settings in TrackStat's Online Scheduling > Settings section. Once scheduled, appointments are automatically populated into your clinic's EHR, reducing data entry errors and ensuring real-time updates.

Custom FAQs and Guided Responses: Add custom Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to tailor the AI's responses to your clinic's specific needs. This guides the AI in handling common inquiries, such as office hours, services offered, or insurance details, ensuring consistent and accurate information.

Customizable Operating Hours: Configure the AI to answer calls during specific times, such as:

This flexibility allows you to maintain control while extending your availability.

Note on Fallback Logic: When the AI Assistant is not active (for example, if you enables the AI only during lunch breaks or after hours), unanswered calls during regular business hours will route to your standard missed call workflow, and your usual voicemail will play according to your existing TrackStat setup.

To activate and use the AI Assistant effectively, your clinic must meet the following requirements:

1. Online Scheduling Enabled: You must already be using TrackStat's Online Scheduling feature for both new and existing patients. This ensures the AI has access to accurate availability data.

2. Missed Call Feature Activated: Enable the missed call handling in TrackStat to route unanswered calls to the AI Assistant seamlessly.

If your clinic hasn't set up these features yet, refer to the related articles for step-by-step guidance.

Encouragement for Adoption: Some clinics hesitate to use online scheduling due to perceived complexity in their operations. We recommend starting small - identify the most common appointment types (e.g., new patient appointments and adjustments) and simplify your scheduling rules for those. This allows you to leverage cutting-edge technology like the AI Assistant without overhauling your entire system. Many practices find that even partial implementation significantly boosts efficiency and patient engagement. TrackStat's support team can help brainstorm tailored solutions.

Here's a high-level overview of the AI Assistant's process when handling a call:

1. Incoming Call Detection: When a call comes in during configured hours (or goes unanswered, if you forward calls after a few rings), the AI answers promptly with a customizable greeting (e.g., "Hello, this is [Clinic Name]'s AI Assistant. How can I help you today?").

2. Patient Interaction: The AI engages in a natural conversation:

- Identifies existing patients via phone number lookup in the EHR and asks for their full name and date of birth to confirm identity (ensuring accuracy in cases where multiple family members share the same phone number).

- Answers questions using your custom FAQs or general knowledge.

- Guides new patients through scheduling.

3. Scheduling Appointments: If the caller requests an appointment:

- The AI checks availability based on your Online Scheduling settings.

- Books the slot and confirms details with the caller.

- Syncs the appointment directly to your EHR.

4. Fallback Options: If the query is too complex or requires human intervention, the AI can transfer the call to a staff member or take a message.

This automated workflow minimizes disruptions and ensures every call is an opportunity to serve your patients.

To get started with the AI Assistant:

1. Access the Settings: Log in to your TrackStat dashboard and navigate to Marketing Campaigns (megaphone icon) under the Incoming Calls (formerly Missed Call-Text-Voicemail) section.

2. Enable the Feature: Toggle the AI Assistant on and verify your prerequisites (Online Scheduling and Missed Call features) are set up.

3. Customize Hours: In the Settings > Office Hours section, select your preferred schedule (e.g., all hours, after-hours only). Use the hours interface to set specific times for working hours, non-working hours and lunch break hours.

4. Add Custom FAQs: Go to the FAQs section and input questions and answers relevant to your clinic. Format them clearly, e.g.:

Save changes and monitor initial calls to ensure smooth operation.

AI Not Answering Calls: Verify your operating hours and ensure the AI Assistant feature is enabled.

Inaccurate Availability: Double-check your Online Scheduling settings for correct provider availability, blocked times, and appointment types.

Patient Identification Failures: Confirm phone numbers are accurately stored in your EHR. If mismatches occur, encourage patients to update their contact info.

Complex Queries: If the AI struggles with certain questions, expand your custom FAQs.