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Comparison

How to answer every call at your clinic: the 4 alternatives compared

There are four ways for a clinic to stop missing calls: hire one more person for the front desk, pay an outsourced call centre, set up a chatbot or phone menu, or install an AI agent connected to the calendar. They differ in the hours they cover, in whether they can book appointments and in cost. The right one depends on the clinic's volume.

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By , founder of Loominary · LinkedIn·

The four alternatives

What options does a clinic have to answer every call?

  • One more person at the front desk

    Hiring someone for the phone. They know the clinic, greet patients at the desk and handle delicate situations. They cover their own working hours, one call at a time.

  • Outsourced call centre

    A call centre answers on the clinic's behalf. It covers more hours, but the people answering serve several companies and follow a script. Without access to the calendar, they take a message for the clinic to call back.

  • Generic chatbot or phone menu

    A WhatsApp chatbot with fixed replies, or a phone system with menus ("press 1 for appointments"). Always on and cheap, but it routes instead of solving: in the end, someone at the clinic picks up the request.

  • AI agent connected to the calendar

    An AI agent set up with the clinic's details answers the phone and WhatsApp, understands what the patient says in their own words and books in the calendar. This is what Loominary does. It does not replace the front desk.

    See the virtual assistant

Side by side

How do the four alternatives differ?

Comparison by category, not by named provider. Every call centre and chatbot works differently: check these points with whoever sends you a proposal.
One more personOutsourced call centreChatbot or phone menuAI agent connected to the calendar
Hours coveredThat person's hours: 40 hours a week full timeThe hours agreed with the call centre24 hours a day24 hours a day
Answers calls and WhatsAppYes, one conversation at a timeMostly calls; WhatsApp depends on the serviceOne channel per tool: the chatbot on WhatsApp, the menu on the phoneCalls and WhatsApp, several conversations at once
Books in the calendar (iMed, Zappy)Yes, in the clinic's softwareOnly with calendar access; often it's a messageNo, or it sends a separate booking linkYes, directly in the management software
Knows the clinic (treatments, insurers, preparation)Yes, once trainedLittle: follows a scriptOnly what's in the fixed repliesWhatever the clinic sets up: treatments, insurers, hours and instructions for the appointment
European PortugueseYesDepends on where the call centre isDepends on the providerYes
GDPRData stays in the clinicNeeds a processor agreementNeeds a processor agreement and a clinic numberProcessor agreement with Loominary; encrypted data
Time to go liveWeeks to months: hiring and trainingDays to weeksDays1 to 2 weeks
Cost modelSalary and employer costs, 14 payments a yearMonthly fee, per minute or per call, depending on the providerLow monthly fee or price per conversationOne-off implementation plus a fixed monthly fee, no per-call charge

How much does one more front desk person cost?

It's the only one of the four with a public reference cost. In 2026 the national minimum wage in mainland Portugal is €920 a month (Decree-Law 139/2025, at DGERT), paid 14 times a year, and the employer pays 23.75% in Social Security contributions (Social Security contributions, at gov.pt). Those two items alone come to about €15,900 a year, before meal allowance, workplace accident insurance and cover for holidays and sick leave.

That buys 40 of the 168 hours in a week. We compare an AI receptionist with a human one in AI vs human virtual receptionist.

When does each alternative make sense?

One more person at the front desk

When the clinic needs someone else at the desk and not just on the phone: greeting patients, taking payments, dealing with insurers. A person does what none of the other options do, which is being there. It's also the right choice if the volume justifies a full-time post and calls are only missed during office hours.

Outsourced call centre

When what's missing is someone to answer and take notes, and the clinic has someone to call back the same day. It also works for short peaks, such as a campaign that brings many calls in one week.

Generic chatbot or phone menu

When volume is very low and the questions repeat: opening hours, address, parking. A menu that routes emergencies to the right number beats a phone that rings with no answer.

AI agent connected to the calendar

When calls and messages are missed after hours, at lunchtime or while the front desk is with a patient, and what the patient wants is to book, reschedule or ask something specific. The calendar connection is what makes the difference: the request is solved within the conversation. At MLClinic, in Cascais, that meant 22 more appointments in the first month, as the case study explains.

When Loominary is not the best choice

  • The clinic has low volume and nobody goes unanswered. One doctor, 15 calls a day and a receptionist who answers them all: you don't need this.
  • What's missing is someone physically there. The agent doesn't greet patients, take payments or run the practice. If the front desk is overloaded at the counter, you need a person.
  • Most calls are clinical. Symptoms, test results, advice: the agent gives no clinical advice and passes all of that to the team.
  • The clinic's WhatsApp is on a personal phone and can't change. The agent works with the clinic's number and WhatsApp Business. If that isn't possible, the first step is a different one.
  • The management software has no way to connect. In that case the agent collects the booking request and passes it to the front desk, but automatic booking is lost.

If that's your case, we'll tell you in the free 15-minute assessment, before any proposal.

Frequently asked questions

Questions from clinics choosing an option

  • Which alternative is cheapest?

    In cash terms, almost always the chatbot or phone menu. But the cost that matters includes the appointments you lose: a menu that can't book leaves the patient waiting for a call back, and many call another clinic instead. Compare each option's cost with the appointments it recovers.

  • Does an AI agent replace the receptionist?

    No. It answers the phone and WhatsApp when the front desk is busy or closed. The person keeps the desk, the patients in front of them and the situations that need a person.

  • Doesn't a call centre do the same as an AI agent?

    Partly. The difference is knowing the clinic and having access to the calendar. A call centre that only takes messages makes the front desk call back; an agent connected to iMed or Zappy books the appointment during the conversation, as shown on the iMed integration page.

  • How long does each alternative take to set up?

    Hiring and training a person takes weeks, sometimes months. A call centre or chatbot can start within days. An AI agent connected to the calendar goes live in 1 to 2 weeks, without stopping patient service.

  • How much does Loominary's AI agent cost?

    It is built to measure for each clinic, so there is no price list. The model is a one-off implementation fee plus a fixed monthly fee, with no per-call or per-message charge from Loominary. WhatsApp messages the clinic sends on its own initiative, such as reminders, carry Meta's rate and are paid to Meta. The amount varies with the channels (phone, WhatsApp and email), the integrations with the management software and the number of locations, and is presented in the free 15-minute assessment.

Further reading

More on choosing how to answer patients

Not sure which of the four fits your clinic?

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