AI phone assistantfor physiotherapy

An AI phone assistant is a voice AI that answers calls on your practice's number and clarifies the request in conversation. Some call it an AI receptionist or AI answering machine. The difference from a classic answering machine: Marie asks follow-up questions, books appointments, takes cancellations directly and puts finished cases straight into your team's system, via interface or email, instead of voice messages. She can also make calls herself, for example when a slot opens up.

There are specialized providers for medical and therapy practices and general platforms like ScaleTalk that are set up for a practice. For physiotherapy, watch for three things: Does the assistant know the deadlines of the German Remedies Directive (Heilmittel-Richtlinie), does it handle home visits and self-pay patients properly, and can it also make outbound calls, for example for the waiting list. The quickest way to check is a test call.

In the physio.de forum the same words come up again and again: the constant ringing of the phone, phone calls as a time sink, rebooking and rescheduling appointments as a time killer. On top of that comes the skilled labor shortage. The German Federal Employment Agency ranks physiotherapy at the very top of shortage occupations, with a shortage score of 2.8 out of 3.0.

Under Section 15 of the German Remedies Directive (Heilmittel-Richtlinie), treatment must begin within 28 calendar days of the prescription. If urgent treatment need is stated, within 14 calendar days at the latest. Otherwise the prescription loses its validity. That is why Marie asks for the issue date first on every new prescription.

If urgent treatment need is stated on the prescription, treatment must begin within 14 calendar days at the latest instead of 28. For the practice this means such calls need an appointment quickly. Marie checks the box and marks the shorter deadline for your team and on the waiting list.

Under Section 16(4) of the German Remedies Directive (Heilmittel-Richtlinie): if treatment is interrupted for more than 14 calendar days without adequate justification, the prescription loses its validity. Marie can call patients who cancelled and have no new appointment yet before this limit is reached.

For patients, the most honest help is a waiting list where the practice really calls back. That is often exactly where it fails, because nobody has time to phone around. With Marie, every caller who cannot get an appointment goes on the list with their time window and prescription date, and when someone cancels she calls the matching patients one after another.

From your patients' point of view: yes, and with Marie even on a Sunday evening. She takes the cancellation, offers a replacement appointment right away and states your no-show policy matter-of-factly, without blame. Whether to charge a cancellation fee remains your practice's decision.

ScaleTalk starts at €99 per month. The exact price depends on your practice's call volume, which we work out together in the needs analysis.

No. Everything runs through call forwarding on your existing number. You decide whether Marie always picks up, only when nobody answers at the front desk, or only outside opening hours. You can switch the forwarding off again at any time.

Yes, and that is mandatory. Since August 2, 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires that people are told when they are speaking with an AI system. Marie says so at the start. Anyone who prefers to speak with a human is transferred if someone is free, or gets a callback.

Yes. Many practice programs such as STARKE Praxis or Optica have no open interface. In that case Marie works as a structured front desk: cancellations, new prescriptions and callback requests reach your team neatly sorted by email, and she books appointments directly into your online calendar, for example eTermin, samedi, Google or Outlook. With THEORG it works via the partner interface, with tinana via the open interface. Which route fits, we clarify in the needs analysis.