What You'll Learn
- Set up the AI Receptionist and complete the consent wizard
- Navigate all four tabs: Consultant, Call Logs, Forwarding, and Advanced
- Initiate test calls and review call intelligence data
- Understand what SMS messages the AI Receptionist can send during a call
- Configure call forwarding from your existing phone number to the AI Receptionist
Your 24/7 Front Desk
The AI Receptionist is accessed from the sidebar under AI Receptionist. When you visit this page for the first time, you are guided through an Agreement Wizard that explains how the AI voice agent works, its capabilities, and its limitations. You must complete this consent step before accessing the receptionist features.
Once consent is granted, the page reveals four tabs, each serving a distinct function.
Tab 1: AI Receptionist Consultant
This is your primary workspace for configuring and interacting with the AI voice agent. The Consultant tab is powered by the WebVoiceAgent component, which provides a real-time interface for managing your agent's behavior.
Here you can define call templates -- scripted conversation flows the AI follows when handling calls. Each template includes a name, greeting, questions to ask, and actions to take (like booking an appointment or collecting payment). You can also manage a Knowledge Base of entries that the AI references during calls, ensuring it has accurate information about your practice's services, hours, providers, and policies.
A Test Call feature lets you try your configuration before going live. Click the Test Call button, select an agent template, enter a phone number, and the AI calls that number immediately. This costs one credit per call and is the best way to verify your agent's behavior before forwarding your practice phone number.
Tab 2: Call Logs
The Call Logs tab displays a comprehensive record of every call the AI Receptionist has handled. Powered by the Call Intelligence component, this view shows the call direction (inbound or outbound), status (completed, no answer, initiated), duration, patient information, and timestamp.
Each call log entry can be expanded to view the full transcript of the conversation, the AI's actions during the call, and any follow-up items generated. Active calls -- those initiated or queued within the last 10 minutes -- are highlighted with a live indicator.
Tab 3: Call Forwarding
The Call Forwarding tab configures how your practice phone integrates with the AI Receptionist. You don't need to change your existing phone number — simply forward calls to your dedicated AI answering line. When you're ready to stop, remove the forwarding and your original number is completely unaffected.
How It Works
- The AI Receptionist phone number is provisioned during setup — the Setup Agent purchases a dedicated phone number in your preferred area code. You'll see this number in your Call Template settings. Only one AI phone number is provisioned per account.
- You forward your existing line to that number — configure your current phone system (office line, cell phone, or VoIP) to send calls to the AI number.
- Calls ring your AI Receptionist — the AI greets patients, schedules appointments, sends links, collects payments, and routes urgent calls.
Forwarding Options
- Forward all calls — every incoming call goes to the AI Receptionist
- After-hours only — calls forward only when your office is closed or you don't answer within a set number of rings
- Overflow / busy forwarding — calls forward when your line is busy, so the AI handles overflow during peak hours
Setup Instructions by Phone System
Google Voice
- Open Google Voice (voice.google.com)
- Go to Settings (gear icon)
- Under Calls, find Forward calls
- Add your AI Receptionist phone number as a forwarding destination
- Verify the number when prompted
Cell Phones (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile)
-
Forward all calls: Dial
*72+ your AI Receptionist number, then press Call -
Cancel forwarding: Dial
*73and press Call -
Forward when unanswered: Dial
*71+ your AI Receptionist number (carrier-dependent)
You can also configure forwarding in your carrier's app or account settings online.
Office Landlines
- Pick up the handset and dial
*72 - Wait for dial tone, then dial your AI Receptionist number
- Wait for confirmation tone or for the AI to answer
- Hang up — forwarding is now active
- To cancel: pick up and dial
*73
VoIP Systems (RingCentral, Vonage, Ooma, Grasshopper, etc.)
- Log into your VoIP admin portal
- Navigate to Call Handling or Call Forwarding rules
- Add a forwarding rule pointing to your AI Receptionist number
- Set conditions (always, after hours, when busy) as needed
PBX / Office Phone Systems
Configure forwarding in your PBX admin panel under call routing rules. Contact your PBX administrator if you need assistance.
Testing Your Forwarding Setup
Call your original number from another phone. The call should forward to the AI Receptionist. You can also use the Test Call feature to verify the AI is answering correctly.
Important Notes
- Your original number stays yours — forwarding is a setting on your phone, not a change to the number itself.
- If you unsubscribe, remove the forwarding from your phone system. Your original number continues to work as before.
- One AI number per account — all your call templates share this number.
- Call transfers — the AI Receptionist can warm-transfer calls to another phone number when a patient needs to speak with staff directly.
Tab 4: Advanced Settings
The Advanced Settings tab provides granular control over the AI Receptionist's behavior. This includes voice selection, speaking speed, language preferences, and custom instructions that fine-tune how the agent interacts with callers.
This tab is designed for users who want maximum control over the AI's personality and responses. Most practices can rely on the defaults, but the advanced options are available when you need to match a specific tone or workflow.
SMS Capabilities
During a live AI Receptionist call, the system can send one-way SMS messages to the caller's phone — sharing links, forms, and payment URLs in real time. The caller sees the SMS come from the same number they're speaking with.
What the AI Receptionist Can Send via SMS
Practice Links from Your Knowledge Base
The AI can text any link you've added to your practice's knowledge base — intake forms, scheduling pages, patient portals, telehealth links, and review pages. During the call, the AI decides when a link is relevant and sends it automatically.
- Links are looked up server-side from your knowledge base — the AI only references a link ID, never a raw URL
- All links must be HTTPS (no HTTP links allowed)
- Links are validated at send time to prevent broken or unsafe URLs
- Maximum of 5 link SMS per call
Secure Payment Links
If your payment account is connected, the AI Receptionist can send a secure payment link during the call. The caller receives a text with a unique checkout URL where they can pay immediately.
- Amounts from $0.01 to $10,000.00
- Payment links are unique per transaction — no reuse
- Duplicate sends are blocked (same service + same amount won't send twice)
- Payment records are automatically saved and linked to the call log
Info Request SMS (Fallback for Voice)
When the AI has trouble hearing the caller (e.g., poor connection, background noise), it can text a short request asking the caller to reply via text with the information needed — such as their name, date of birth, or callback number.
- Used only after 2 failed voice capture attempts
- Maximum of 3 info-request SMS per call
- The AI waits up to 5 minutes for a text reply
- If the caller replies via text, the response is injected back into the live conversation
- If no reply within 5 minutes, the AI moves on
Two-Way SMS Inbox (Comms Hub)
In addition to SMS sent during calls, DeepCura includes a full two-way SMS inbox in the Comms Hub (accessible from the sidebar). From the SMS tab you can:
- Receive inbound texts — when a patient texts your AI Receptionist number, the message appears in your inbox with an unread indicator
- Reply to patients — select any conversation and type a reply (1 credit per outbound SMS)
- Start new conversations — click "New Message," enter a phone number, and send an SMS to any patient
- View full conversation threads — all inbound and outbound messages are grouped into threaded conversations with delivery status tracking (sent, delivered, failed)
Patient names are automatically resolved from your records when available. The SMS inbox works independently of the AI Receptionist — you can message patients at any time, not just during calls.
Note: The AI Receptionist does not auto-reply to inbound texts outside of a live call. Inbound messages land in your inbox for you to review and respond to manually.
Common SMS Use Cases
- New patient intake: AI texts the intake form link so the patient can fill it out before their visit
- Payment collection: AI texts a copay or balance payment link during a billing inquiry
- Telehealth link: AI texts the video visit link to a patient calling about their upcoming appointment
- Patient portal: AI texts the portal URL when a patient asks how to access their records
- Scheduling page: AI texts an online booking link when the patient wants to schedule
Email Notifications
After every AI Receptionist call, DeepCura sends a notification email to your account email with a PDF summary of the call — caller name, reason, urgency, action items, and a PHI-redacted transcript. By default these are sent from DeepCura's shared sender, which works well for most providers but can occasionally be delayed, junked, or outright rejected by mail servers with aggressive spam filtering.
To eliminate these delivery issues entirely, you can connect your own Gmail account. Once connected, every call notification routes through your Gmail — sent from your own address through Google's mail servers, which bypasses third-party spam filtering completely. The PDF summary stays attached.
When to Connect Your Own Gmail
You're not receiving call notifications (or they're landing in spam)
If notifications are missing, or you're finding them in your spam/junk folder, the cause is almost always your mail server filtering DeepCura's shared sender. Connecting your own Gmail solves this immediately:
- Notifications send from your Gmail address, not DeepCura's
- They route through Google's mail infrastructure, which is universally trusted
- Your domain's spam filters never see them as third-party email
- The PDF summary attachment ships intact
Notifications are too noisy in your primary inbox
If the volume of call notifications is cluttering your main work inbox, you can isolate them by creating a separate Gmail account dedicated to receptionist alerts (e.g., a free Gmail like yourpracticenotifications@gmail.com) and connecting that one to DeepCura instead of your primary address.
- Notifications land in the dedicated inbox only, leaving your primary email clean
- You can review them on your own schedule rather than seeing them mixed with patient and team email
- You can share access to that inbox with front-desk staff without exposing your primary email
- Switch back to your primary Gmail anytime by reconnecting
How to Connect Gmail
- Open Settings from the sidebar
- Go to Profile Settings
- Click the Integrations tab
- Find the Email section and click Connect Gmail
- Sign in to the Google account you want to use and grant DeepCura permission to send email on your behalf
Once connected, every call notification (and other transactional email DeepCura sends you) routes through that Gmail account. To switch accounts, disconnect and reconnect with the new Gmail.
Credit Usage
Each call initiated through the AI Receptionist costs one credit. This applies to both test calls and production calls. Outbound SMS messages sent manually from the Comms Hub also cost 1 credit each. The cost is deducted when the action is initiated, and your credit balance updates immediately in the sidebar.
Next Steps
Continue to Lesson 4.3 — AI Nurse & Patient Intake.