Healthcare Agent
Takes the admin off your front desk without touching clinical decisions.
What is healthcare agent?
A healthcare agent handles the administrative work around patient care, including appointment booking, reminders, insurance pre-authorisation chasing and follow up messages, while leaving every clinical judgement to qualified staff.
Clinic reception is where care quietly fails. The phone rings while three people wait at the counter, so calls go unanswered and those patients book somewhere else or simply do not come.
Behind that, an insurance pre-authorisation sits waiting on somebody to chase it, and a patient who should have returned for review three weeks ago has not been contacted.
None of that work is clinical. An agent handles the booking, the reminding and the chasing, which is what returns your front desk to the patients physically standing in front of them.
The line we hold on clinical content
Duara builds healthcare agents from Nairobi for clinics, dental practices, diagnostic centres and small hospitals where reception is overwhelmed and follow up depends on somebody remembering.
We draw a hard line at clinical content. The agent does not triage, does not suggest what a symptom might be, and does not tell a patient whether to come in. Every agent we build routes anything clinical to a human immediately, because a system that guesses at symptoms is dangerous in a way that no efficiency gain justifies.
Who this is for
- Reception cannot answer every call
- Patients miss appointments without warning
- Insurance approvals sit unchased
- Follow up depends on somebody remembering
Industries we serve
- General practice clinics
- Dental practices
- Diagnostic and imaging centres
- Optical clinics
- Specialist consultancies
- Small private hospitals
Problems this solves
These are administrative failures with clinical consequences, which is what makes them worth fixing first.
- Calls going unanswered. The phone rings while patients wait at the counter, and the caller books elsewhere or does not attend at all.
- Missed appointments. A patient forgets, the slot goes empty, and somebody on the waiting list who could have taken it was never asked.
- Pre-authorisations sitting idle. An insurance approval waits on a chase nobody has time to make, and the patient waits with it.
- Follow up depending on memory. A patient due back for review is not contacted because the reminder lived in somebody head.
What we deliver
Booking and rescheduling handled around the clock, reminders sent before appointments, insurance pre-authorisations chased on schedule, and follow up contact triggered automatically, with anything clinical routed straight to staff.
Appointment booking and rescheduling by phone or message
Reminders before every appointment
Waiting list filling for cancelled slots
Insurance pre-authorisation chasing
Follow up contact after visits
Immediate routing of anything clinical to staff
Features
- No clinical content at all. The agent does not triage, interpret symptoms or advise whether to attend. Anything clinical goes to a person immediately.
- Cancelled slots refilled. A cancellation triggers contact to the waiting list, which recovers revenue that otherwise simply evaporates.
- Reminders that allow a reply. Patients can confirm, move or cancel from the reminder, which converts a silent no show into a reusable slot.
- Pre-authorisation chasing on schedule. Insurance approvals are followed up at set intervals rather than when somebody remembers.
- Language matched to the patient. It handles English and Swahili, since a reminder somebody cannot read is not a reminder.
Benefits
- Fewer empty chairs. Reminders with a reply option plus waiting list refilling address the two largest causes of unused clinical time.
- Reception returns to the counter. Staff attend to patients physically present rather than choosing between them and the phone.
- Faster insurance turnaround. Consistent chasing shortens approval times, which is felt by the patient and by your cash position.
- Follow up actually happens. Review contact stops depending on memory, which matters clinically as well as commercially.
Technologies we use
- Clinical content detection. Recognising when a message concerns symptoms or advice and handing it to a person without attempting a response.
- Practice system integration. Reading and writing appointments in your existing scheduling or records system.
- Multi channel contact. Phone, SMS and WhatsApp, since patients reach clinics differently by age and by area.
- Insurance workflow tracking. Following pre-authorisation status and chasing at defined intervals.
- Recall scheduling. Triggering follow up contact at clinically defined intervals set by your team.
The engineering constraint here is refusal. Most of the design effort goes into reliably detecting clinical content and handing it over rather than attempting an answer.
How the process works, step by step
A healthcare agent usually takes six to eight weeks, with the clinical handover rules tested hardest before anything goes live.
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Step 1
Free reception review
We measure unanswered calls, no show rate and how follow up currently happens.
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Step 2
Handover rules defined
Your clinicians define what counts as clinical, and the agent is built to hand those over without exception.
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Step 3
Handover testing
We test the refusal path deliberately and repeatedly, because this is the failure that would matter.
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Step 4
Booking and reminders live
Scheduling and reminders go first, since they carry the least risk and recover the most time.
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Step 5
Insurance and recall
Pre-authorisation chasing and follow up contact are added once booking is stable.
Quality assurance and how we work
The commitments attached to a system that contacts patients.
- It never gives clinical advice. No triage, no symptom interpretation, no advice on whether to attend. Anything clinical is handed to a person immediately.
- The refusal path is tested hardest. We deliberately attempt to make it answer clinical questions during testing, because that is the failure that would actually matter.
- Patient data stays in your systems. Records are never exported and never used to train public AI models.
- Patients can always reach a person. Every interaction offers a route to staff, and it is offered rather than buried.
- We will say when a clinic is not ready. Where scheduling data is too disorganised for reliable booking, we say so rather than automating on top of it.
Frequently asked questions about healthcare agent
Does it give medical advice?
No, under any circumstances. It does not triage, interpret symptoms or say whether somebody should attend. Anything clinical goes to a person immediately.
What if a patient describes symptoms?
It hands over to staff without attempting a response. We test that path deliberately and repeatedly, because it is the failure that would matter.
Is patient data safe?
It stays inside your systems, is never exported and is never used to train public AI models.
Can it book appointments directly?
Yes, into your existing scheduling system, including rescheduling and cancellation.
Will it reduce no shows?
Reminders with a reply option plus waiting list refilling address the two main causes. We measure against your current rate rather than quoting a figure.
What happens to a cancelled slot?
The waiting list is contacted, which recovers clinical time that otherwise evaporates entirely.
Does it send reminders in Swahili?
Yes. A reminder a patient cannot read is not a reminder, so language is matched to the patient.
Can patients reach a human?
Always, and the route is offered rather than buried. This is a fixed requirement, not a setting.
Does it chase insurance approvals?
Yes, at defined intervals, which is usually faster and more consistent than chasing when somebody remembers.
Can it handle emergencies?
No. Emergency contact is routed to staff immediately and the agent does not attempt to assess urgency.
How long before it is booking appointments?
Six to eight weeks, with handover rule testing taking the largest share of it.
Does it work with our practice system?
Most common systems, yes. Where an older system has no integration route, we will say so at the review stage.
Can it send test results?
No. Releasing results is a clinical decision and stays with clinicians.
Will it call patients or only message?
Both, and the mix depends on your patient base. Older patients frequently prefer a call.
Can it manage recall for chronic patients?
Yes, at intervals your clinicians define. It schedules contact, it does not decide the interval.
Does it replace reception staff?
No. It handles calls they cannot reach and chasing they have no time for, which returns them to the patients in front of them.
What about patient consent for messaging?
Consent is recorded and respected, and patients can opt out of any contact type at any point.
Can it handle multiple branches?
Yes, with booking routed by location and by clinician availability.
Is this compliant with the Data Protection Act?
It is built to keep patient data within your systems. Your data protection officer should review the specific deployment and we support that review.
What does this cost a clinic to run?
Appointment and message volume determine it, quoted against your own clinic figures before anything is agreed.
Glossary of terms
Terms used around clinic administration.
- Pre-authorisation
- Insurer approval obtained before treatment so the claim will be paid.
- No show
- A booked patient who neither attends nor cancels, leaving clinical time unused.
- Recall
- Contacting a patient when they are due for review or repeat treatment.
- Waiting list
- Patients who would take an earlier slot if one became free.
- Triage
- Clinical assessment of urgency, which this agent does not perform under any circumstances.
- Practice management system
- The software holding your appointments, patient records and billing.
Related services in AI Agents
Talk to us about healthcare agent
Count your no shows last month and the calls that rang out. Those two numbers usually make the case on their own.
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