Key points
- The share of US physicians in private practice fell from 60.1% in 2012 to 42.2% in 2024, and practices grew larger.1
- A group front desk can run central, local or hybrid, with one thread per patient whichever site they contact.
- Approval rules are set once for the group and owned by each site, with clinical questions going to the clinician who sees the patient.
- wai Admin drafts every reply for the team to approve, keeps every site on one record, and is priced per location.456
Summary
Choose an AI front desk that keeps one thread per patient across every site, lets each location's team approve its own replies while a central team covers nights and overflow, and reports response time, bookings and no-shows by location. Pilot it in two sites with different set-ups before rolling it out to the group.
Every patient who contacts the group hears back within minutes, in one voice, while each site's team keeps its own diary. The approval design, who approves what at which site, is what carries that from two sites to ten.
See it in your clinicThirty minutes on your own patients and doctors.
Request a demoSee enquiries for two of your sites arrive in one inbox, each reply drafted in your group's voice and approved by the right team.
| Criterion | What to ask in the demo | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| One patient, one thread | Show a patient who emails one site and calls another | One thread on one record, visible to both sites |
| Central, local and hybrid | Switch nights to a central team without rebuilding | Routing by site and by hour, changed in settings |
| Approval by site | Who approves a booking reply for site three | Site team approves its own, clinical goes to its clinicians |
| Group voice and facts | Change a group price once | Every site drafts from the new price the same day |
| Access by role and location | Log in as a site receptionist | Sees own site's patients only, central team sees all |
| Per-location reporting | Show reply time, bookings and no-shows by site | Weekly numbers per location, comparable across sites |
| Audit trail | Export who approved last Tuesday's replies at one site | Every draft and approval logged with name and time |
| Pricing that scales | What a new site adds to the cost | Published per-location price, nothing hidden |
A front desk built for many sites
In the AMA's benchmark survey, the share of US physicians working in private practice dropped by 18 points, from 60.1% in 2012 to 42.2% in 2024, while practices grew larger and more often combined specialties.1 Patients contact whichever site they find and expect the group to know them at the next one.
Central, local or both
A central team answers for every site, local teams answer for their own, or a hybrid has local teams in hours and a central team for nights and overflow. Groups move between these as they grow, so the system supports all three without rebuilding.
Every message from a patient, on any channel and to any site, lands in one thread on one record, so whoever picks it up sees the full history. Access is set by role and location, so a site team sees its own patients while the central team sees the group.
Approval rules that scale
Every drafted reply has a named approver. Set the rules once for the group, then let each site own them. The site where the patient is booked approves booking, rescheduling and directions. Group-wide prices and policies are written centrally so every site drafts from the same facts.
Clinical questions go to a clinician at the site the patient attends, with the thread attached, and complaints go to the site manager with the group operations lead copied. The same principle is set out in human approval before a clinic message sends.
Speed across every site
In the research behind the Harvard Business Review's study of online enquiries, firms that responded within an hour were more than 60 times as likely to qualify an enquiry as firms that waited 24 hours or longer.2 A central team covering nights for ten sites answers in minutes, and the patient books before the morning.
Reminders sent from the same desk add to the gain. Across 21 randomised studies pooled in a meta-analysis, patients who received digital notifications missed 15% of appointments against 21% without, a 25% relative reduction.3
Reporting by location
Track five numbers per location every week. Median time from a patient's message to the approved reply, the share of enquiries that become bookings, missed calls followed up within the hour, no-show rate, and deposits taken at booking.
The site with the fastest replies and the highest booking rate becomes the playbook for the rest.
One record for every site
wai Admin keeps email, web, WhatsApp and calls in one thread per patient, drafts each reply in the group's voice for staff to approve, and follows up missed calls with a drafted text.46 Booking reads each clinician's busy times from Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar so patients are only offered open times, with reminders, deposits and waitlist backfill.4 A patient seen at one site is known at the next. Access is role-based and least-privilege, and every message, draft and approval is logged.7 Admin is priced per location and starts with a demo and a scoped 90-day pilot, with prices published on the pricing page.5 More on group set-up at wai for clinic groups.
Where to start
Pick two sites that run differently, one busy and one quieter, or one with a full desk and one without. Write the approval map for both, decide whether nights go to a central team, and record the five location numbers for four weeks as a baseline.
Run the pilot in those two sites for 90 days, compare the numbers by location, then roll out site by site using the better of the two as the template. Our guide to one inbox for every channel covers the channel set-up.
Bring a week of enquiries from two sites. We show the drafts, the approvals by site and the numbers by location.
Frequently asked questions
Should a clinic group centralise its front desk?
Usually in part. Local teams know their diaries best, and a central team covers nights and overflow efficiently. Choose a system that supports both without rebuilding.
Does the AI reply to patients on its own?
wai drafts each reply and staff approve it before anything is sent.6 Clinical questions go to a clinician.
Can each site see only its own patients?
Yes. wai enforces role-based, least-privilege access for clinic staff in the database.7 Ask to see the roles for each of your sites in the demo.
What should we measure by location?
Reply time, enquiry-to-booking rate, missed calls followed up, no-show rate and deposits at booking.
How is wai Admin priced for a group?
Per location, starting with a demo and a scoped 90-day pilot. Prices are published on the pricing page.5
Where is patient data hosted?
wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic.6
Sources
- 1American Medical Association, 2026Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, physician practice characteristics in 2024Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 2Harvard Business Review, Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, 2011The Short Life of Online Sales LeadsRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 3BMJ Open, Robotham and colleagues, 2016Using digital notifications to improve attendance in clinic, systematic review and meta-analysis (PubMed abstract)Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 4wai, 2026wai Admin, the front desk and back officeRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 5wai, 2026wai pricingRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 6wai, 2026wai for clinic groups and chainsRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 7wai, 2026Security at waiRead 14 October 2026Read source
Every patient answered in minutes, at every site, in one voice.
Fifteen minutes on two of your sites, with each site's drafts and approvals and the numbers by location. We reply within one working day.
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See it on your own patients, then build it with us
Thirty minutes on your own patients, doctors and rules, in your market. We reply within one working day, and the clinics that partner with us early shape what we build next.
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