Play 1
Book new patients after hours
Visitors at night can book a first visit online, and after-hours calls get a text back with the same link.
One call to set appointment types.
Zygo Local · Medical and dental offices
AI for the front desk that's already with a patient
The short answer
For a medical, dental or chiropractic office, AI pays off at the front desk: every new-patient call gets an answer, visitors can book after hours, overdue patients get a reminder with a link, and routine questions get handled by text. Any tool that touches patient information needs a signed business associate agreement with your practice first. Ben Johnson's founding 30-day sprint is $2,000.
01
Where patients slip away
The phone rings while the front desk is checking someone in. A new patient finds you at 9 p.m. and can't book until morning. Patients who were due in the spring never got the nudge. Those are the gaps I'd close first.
Play 2
Bring overdue patients back
Patients past due for a cleaning, a checkup or a follow-up get a friendly reminder and a link to book. It stops the moment they schedule.
Approve the wording once.
Play 3
Less time on the phone for the front desk
Routine questions (hours, insurance on file, directions) get answered by text so your team can focus on the people in the room.
Nothing after setup.
Play 4
Every new-patient call gets an answer
When the front desk is with a patient, the caller gets a text within a minute with a link to book, and the request lands on your schedule instead of in voicemail.
Works with the phone line you have.
02
Patient information and the BAA
Under HIPAA, a vendor that creates, receives, keeps or sends protected health information for your practice is a business associate, and your practice needs a written business associate agreement (BAA) with it. HHS uses a third-party chatbot that handles appointment scheduling and reminders for a provider as one of its examples.1
- BAA first. Every tool that touches patient information signs a BAA with your practice before it goes live. If a vendor won't sign one, we don't use it.
- The least information possible. In week one we decide together what each tool is allowed to see. A reminder that says "time to book your visit" doesn't need a chart.
- Accounts in your name. Every account is opened in your practice's name, so the agreements, the data and the logins stay with you.
- No clinical answers. The system books, reminds and answers routine questions. Anything clinical goes to your staff.
I'm not your compliance officer or your lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. If your practice has someone who owns HIPAA, they see the plan before anything is switched on.
03
AI receptionist or text back?
An AI receptionist talks to the caller. A missed-call text back sends a text within a minute of any call nobody picked up, with a link to book. The text back is the simpler place to start: it puts a booking link in front of every caller you missed, and you can add a receptionist later if the phones still need it.
What an AI receptionist costs next to an answering service · How missed-call text back works
04
What it costs
The founding offer
$2,000 for the first 30 days
Five local businesses get it this fall. Two start in November and three in December. About four hours of your time. I pay for the tools during the sprint, and everything is set up in your practice's name.
Every sprint comes with a written guarantee, spelled out in the one-page plan before you say yes.
After day 30, keep me on for $1,500 a month at the founding rate (regular $2,500), or run it yourself. How the 30 days run.
05
Who's doing the work
I'm Ben Johnson. My family and I live in Montgomery. Most of my career happened on a screen, and I want the next chapter to be with businesses I can drive past.
At Amazon I managed hundreds of millions of dollars a year in business. Then I built and ran a portfolio of consumer brands that grew to $80M+ a year. Today I lead growth and operations for a handful of consumer brands and media companies, mostly by fixing how leads, orders and money move through each business.
I do the work myself. The person who walks through your business in week one is the person who builds your system.
15 yrs in growth. 0 yrs in medicine. You'd teach me that part.
06
Questions offices ask
Is there an AI receptionist for medical offices?
Yes. AI receptionists answer calls, collect the caller's name and reason for calling, answer routine questions, and offer appointment times. In a medical or dental office the vendor will likely handle patient information, so it needs to sign a business associate agreement with your practice before it goes live.
Is an AI receptionist HIPAA compliant?
No tool is compliant on its own. HHS lists a third-party chatbot that handles appointment scheduling and reminders for a provider as an example of a business associate, which means the practice needs a signed business associate agreement with the vendor. How the practice sets the tool up matters too. Ask any vendor for its BAA before you sign anything else.
Can AI handle dental recall and reactivation?
Yes, and it is often the fastest win. Patients past due for a visit get a reminder with a link to book, and the reminders stop once they schedule. You approve the wording once, and your scheduling software stays the record.
Will the AI give patients medical or dental advice?
No. It books, reminds and answers routine questions like hours and directions. Clinical questions go to your staff, and you decide what the system is allowed to say before it says anything.
What does it cost?
The two published AI receptionist plans compared on this site start at $79 and $150 a month. My founding 30-day sprint is $2,000, and keeping me on after that is $1,500 a month at the founding rate (regular $2,500).
07
Sources
Next step
Fill the schedule from your own patient list.
Pick a time on my calendar, or email me and ask for a one-page plan for your business. I'll write down what I'd fix first, what it costs, and the guarantee that comes with it.
Zygo Consulting, Ben Johnson, Montgomery, TX. AI implementation for local businesses in Montgomery, The Woodlands, Conroe, Spring, Magnolia and north Houston.