A digital assistant that answers the phone is only half the job. The other half is what's waiting for the team afterwards. A good conversation that ends as a loose note somewhere in a mailbox doesn't achieve much.
So since 21 May, the requests the digital assistantAgentwise, our AI assistant that answers the phone. It holds the conversation, asks follow-up questions and turns every request into a task for the team. takes come in where the practice already works: in the portal's task list. The digital assistant handles the intake. The team decides what happens next.
One list, not a second inbox
A new channel often means a new place to keep track of. We wanted to avoid that. Tasks from the digital assistant sit in the task list the team already uses for callback requests. Appointments and other tasks each have their own heading: appointments by time slot, tasks by arrival time with the newest first.
If a caller has two questions in one call, say a repeat prescription and a question about a result, that becomes two tasks linked to each other. You can see at a glance what belongs together, and which tasks have already been viewed.
Everything the call produced, on one screen
When you open a task, everything you need to handle it is in one place:
- A short summary of what the call was about.
- The details the digital assistant noted, in separate fields set per request type, instead of buried in running text.
- The full transcript, for when you want to read exactly how something was said.
- The caller's earlier tasks, one click away, so you can see whether someone also had a question last week.
From the task you call the patient back in one click, through the connected phone system, such as Xelion. When something about a task changes, like its status or callback number, you see it straight away without refreshing.
No more two people calling the same patient
In a busy practice, several colleagues work through the same list at once. The classic mistake is two people calling the same patient back, or both thinking the other already did.
When a colleague opens a task, everyone else sees it straight away. If two people click at the same moment, one gets the task and the other sees straight away who has it. And because the portal keeps track of who is still actually working on a task, nothing stays stuck with a colleague who has stepped away: once they're no longer active, someone else can take it over.
Planning time for what the digital assistant takes
Every request takes time from the team. So the request types you call back on have become categories in the schedule, each with its own colour.
For each block in the schedule, you decide which types of requests it covers and how many. That way you know in advance how much callback work fits in each block. If you switch off callbacks for a request type that's in the schedule, the portal first shows how many blocks it will be removed from.
Managing the digital assistant as a practice
On the digital assistant's admin page, the practice handles the basics itself:
- Link the phone number: the number the digital assistant answers on.
- Adjust task types: to fit the practice.
- Listen to the greeting: before callers hear it.
- Maintenance mode: one switch pauses the digital assistant. It then takes no calls.
And also
- Xelion: login details are checked when you save them, with a clear message if something is wrong.
- Health tips on the home page now show their source.
This is on for practices that work with the digital assistant. Want to hear how the call sounds on the caller's side? Call our demo line on +31 85 109 6240 or try it at plainwise.com/demo.
See how a call becomes a task
Book a demo and we'll show you what's waiting for your team after a call with the digital assistant.
What came next
We kept building on this foundation. In August the portal got guided tours and a redesigned task view. In September the digital assistant got a new voice and a sharper ear.
Every change, month by month, is in our changelog.
