AI Receptionist for Physiotherapy Clinics: Cost and Booking Setup

A private physio clinic should expect to pay roughly $100 to $600 a month for an AI receptionist, depending on call volume and whether it is built for clinics. It can book into the diary only with a live integration to your software, such as Cliniko; Jane's own AI receptionist is still in development.

The wide range comes from three different pricing models. Some tools charge per call, some per minute, and some sell a managed service where the vendor builds and watches the setup. A solo practitioner with 40 calls a month and a six-practitioner clinic with 600 are buying different things, even though the web pages look alike.

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Decide in this order: volume, price, diary, then the rules. Volume comes first because every plan below is priced on calls or minutes. The diary comes before the rules because an AI without a live link can only take messages, however carefully the rules are written.

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Start with your own call count, not a vendor's

Pull a month of call records from your phone provider. You want inbound calls only, split into answered, missed and under 10 seconds. A typical small clinic finds that the missed group clusters at 8.30 to 9am, at lunch, and from 5pm, which is exactly when the therapists are in the room or leaving.

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Then sort the answered calls into types. Say a four-practitioner clinic logs 320 inbound calls in a month. A sample breakdown, which is invented for illustration, might be:

In this sample, 210 of 320 calls (about two-thirds) are the kind an AI can finish. That is the number to compare against plan allowances. If a plan includes 100 calls a month and your 210 eligible calls do not fit, the extra-call rate decides the true price.

Published prices, as quoted on vendor pages

All figures below were read on vendor pages on 4 November 2026, so they will move. I have kept each vendor's own currency where it is not in dollars.

Lyngo's page says every plan has unlimited minutes, unlimited practitioners, unlimited locations and free setup, and that it counts inbound calls over 10 seconds, not spam, unanswered calls or immediate hang-ups. It offers a 14-day free trial with no lock-in contract. MedReception and FrontDesk are sold to a wider range of medical and dental offices rather than physio alone (FrontDesk lists physical therapy among its industries), so check they handle your appointment types. Lyngo's page shows its prices in A$ before sales tax, so convert at the day's rate and ask for a quote in your own currency; at the 3 November 2026 reference rate, A$139 was about $97.

The same clinic on three pricing models

Take the 210 eligible calls from the sample above at an average of two and a half minutes: 525 minutes a month. On Lyngo Pro, 210 calls is 10 over the 200 included, so A$395 plus A$20, about A$415 (roughly $290). On FrontDesk Pro, 25 minutes over the 500 at $0.65 adds about $16, so roughly $315. On MedReception Essential, the same 25 minutes at $1.25 add about $31, so roughly $526, though that price includes a managed build and scheduling set-up done for you. The cheapest model depends on call length: if your calls average four minutes rather than two and a half, the minute-based plans climb steeply while Lyngo's per-call price stays put, because it does not limit minutes.

Weave's page says an AI Receptionist for veterinary offices is coming soon and that automatic booking is for qualified dental software only, so it is not a physio option today. For the general cost picture across small businesses, see how much an AI receptionist costs.

What "books into the diary" really means

There are three levels, and vendors blur them. Ask which one you are buying.

1. Message only. The AI takes name, number and a preferred time, and emails the front desk. Cheapest, but staff still book it. Useful as a smarter voicemail.
2. Request capture. The AI sends a structured request into a shared inbox or a booking link texted to the patient. Staff or the patient completes it.
3. Live booking. The AI reads real availability and writes the appointment into your diary during the call.

Lyngo's Cliniko page describes level three: it says it reads your live Cliniko calendar, appointment types, practitioner availability and booking rules, then writes bookings, reschedules and cancellations back to Cliniko. It says it is listed in Cliniko's Connected Apps directory and that setup takes a few minutes of your time, with a one to two business day turnaround on the vendor's side. Treat those as the vendor's claims until your own test passes.

Cliniko

Cliniko's price depends on practitioners. Its pricing page (read on 4 November 2026) lists $45 a month for one practitioner, $95 for two to five, and $145 for six to eight. So a four-practitioner clinic pays $95 for the diary and, say, A$249 for the AI on top. Cliniko can send its own SMS reminders, paid for with prepaid credits at 10 cents a message, so decide which tool sends reminders to avoid a double text.

Jane

Jane's own page for virtual assistants and receptionists lists three offers: admin support, human remote receptionists for bookings, cancellations, rescheduling, payments and basic enquiries, and a 24/7 phone-answering AI receptionist marked "in development" with a list to join. If you run Jane, you can already buy human cover from Jane; an AI from Jane is not yet live. I could not confirm a third-party AI receptionist with a live Jane integration, so ask vendors for a reference clinic running Jane, or plan on message-only or request-capture for now.

A worked example: the Monday-morning gap

Illustration only. A three-practitioner clinic uses Cliniko. Between 8.15 and 9.15 on Mondays, two therapists are with patients and the one front-desk person is checking people in. Records show around 14 calls in that hour, 6 unanswered. Suppose 3 of the 6 were people trying to book, and 2 would have booked an assessment at $90.

• Lost bookings a week from that hour alone: 2.
• Value a week: $180. Over four weeks: $720.
• Plan: Lyngo Growth at A$249, which was roughly $175 at the early-November 2026 rate; check it on the day.

The saving on paper is about $545 a month from one hour a week, which is generous. Reality trims it: some callers book elsewhere regardless, some follow-up work lands on staff, and the AI will misread a few requests. Halve the figure and it still pays. The measure to track is not "calls answered" but "new assessments booked from calls the desk would have missed", which the 90-day measurement guide explains.

Calls that should go to humans

Insurers and funders

Calls from an insurer, an employer's scheme or a funder often carry claim numbers, treatment authorisations and disputes about what was billed. A wrong answer has a money cost and a relationship cost. Set the AI to recognise phrases such as "calling from [insurer]", "claim number" and "authorisation", say it will pass the message to the practice manager, and capture the reference and callback number. Here is the sort of message summary to demand:

Caller type: insurer (said "claims department")
Claim reference: as spoken, read back and confirmed
Patient name: as given
Reason: asking whether session 4 is authorised
Callback number: confirmed
Urgency: normal, wants reply by Friday
Action for staff: call back; AI gave no authorisation information

Clinical and safety calls

A patient who says new numbness, chest pain, a fall since the last session or sudden worsening should reach a clinician, or the clinic's published emergency instruction, not a booking flow. Test with five invented phrases and make sure each reaches a person. The scripts in call scripts and escalation rules give wording you can adapt.

Payment and complaint calls

Anyone who is angry, disputing a fee or asking about a refund should get a person, quickly. Configure "I'd like to speak to someone" and "this is a complaint" as transfer triggers.

Setting up the booking rules that stop wrong appointments

Most wrong bookings come from the clinic's rules not being written down. Before the vendor sets anything up, write one page covering the following, filled in for your clinic.

• Appointment types the AI may book. For example: initial assessment 45 minutes, follow-up 30 minutes. Not allowed: ongoing complex cases, post-surgery reviews, home visits.
• Who sees whom. New patients with Practitioner A or B only; follow-ups with the same therapist.
• Notice rules. Cancellations inside 24 hours go to staff, since a fee may apply.
• Buffers. No booking within 12 hours without a human check, to protect urgent clinical gaps.
• Funder rules. Patients who say they are claiming through a scheme get a message to staff, not a slot.

An example of a failure that a rule fixes: a patient asks for "the same slot as last week" and the AI books the first free 30-minute follow-up, which is with a different therapist. Adding a "same practitioner as last time" rule stops that. Check the Cliniko integration can match on practitioner, as Lyngo says it can by specialty, availability or patient preference.

Texts after the call

Decide which tool sends the confirmation text. If both Cliniko and the AI send one, patients receive duplicates and some think the booking is doubled. Pick one sender and turn the other off. Where the AI sends the text, use wording such as: "Hi [first name], you're booked with [therapist] on [day] at [time]. Reply or call [number] to change it."

Testing before you forward every call

1. Book a new assessment during a live test call and confirm it appears in the diary with the right type, therapist and length.
2. Reschedule that appointment, then cancel it, and check the diary after each step.
3. Ask for a time that is full. The AI should offer the next slot or take a message.
4. Pretend to be an insurer. The call should end with a message and no claim information given.
5. Describe a sudden clinical change. A person should be told at once.
6. Check the summary email: does it include the patient's name, number, request and what was done?

Run these on your own diary, with a test patient record, in the free trial. If something fails, ask whether it is a setting or a limit of the product. A setting can be fixed in a day; a limit is a reason to leave.

Quick sums for three clinic sizes

These are invented volumes to show how the models behave; swap in your own.

• Solo therapist, 35 AI-handled calls a month. Lyngo Starter at A$139 covers 45 calls with no overage. The cost per handled call is about A$4.
• Three practitioners, 160 calls. Lyngo Pro at A$395 includes 200 calls, so cost per call is about A$2.50. Growth at A$249 with 60 extra calls at A$2.50 is A$399, which is why Pro is better at this volume.
• Six practitioners, 420 calls. Past Pro's 200 calls, extras at A$2 each cost A$440 on top of A$395, so A$835 in all. That is the point where asking Lyngo for a Scale quote, or pricing a minute-based plan, is worth a conversation.

The lesson is that plan boundaries matter more than headline price. If you are near a boundary, ask whether the vendor will move you up mid-month without penalty.

Compare this with a human receptionist and you are weighing a different thing: an AI answers at 7am and 8pm and when two calls arrive together, but it cannot greet a patient in the waiting room. Many clinics keep the human desk and add the AI for the gaps. The comparison for another health business is in AI against a front-desk hire, and the tools beyond phones are in AI tools for physiotherapy clinics.

The FAQ sheet the AI answers from

An AI receptionist is only as accurate as the information you give it. Write a one-page sheet and keep it current. A filled-in extract for an illustrative clinic looks like this:

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 8.00-18.00, Sat 9.00-13.00, closed bank holidays
Initial assessment: 45 minutes, $90. Follow-up: 30 minutes, $65
Do I need a referral? No, self-referral accepted. Funders may need one: ask them.
Parking: 6 spaces behind the building; street parking is metered
What to bring: loose clothing, any scans, funder details
Cancellation: 24 hours' notice, otherwise a fee may apply (staff to confirm)
Not answered by the AI: diagnosis, exercise advice, fee waivers, funder queries

The last line matters most. Telling the assistant what it must not answer is as useful as telling it what it can. Review the sheet whenever fees or hours change; a stale fee quoted to a patient is a realistic and avoidable mistake. A good habit is to put a review date in the diary on the first of each quarter.

A before-and-after for the front-desk voicemail

Before: "You've reached the clinic. Leave a message and we'll call back." After the AI is live: "You've reached [clinic]. I'm the clinic's automated assistant. I can book, change or cancel an appointment, and answer questions about fees and opening times. To speak to someone, say 'reception'." The second version tells callers what to ask for, so fewer calls are wasted on things the assistant cannot do.

A mistake and how it showed up

An illustrative case: a clinic left its old online-booking link in the FAQ, and the AI texted it to patients wanting follow-ups. The link opened a page for new patients only, so existing patients booked the wrong type of appointment for three weeks before staff noticed the pattern in the diary. The check that would have caught it was reading a random ten transcripts a week during the first month and comparing each with the diary entry it produced.

Reading a booking transcript and what to fix

This invented exchange shows the kind of review worth doing in week one.

Patient: I hurt my shoulder lifting a box. Can I come this week?
AI: I'm sorry to hear that. I can book an initial assessment. Would Thursday morning suit you?
Patient: Thursday's fine. Is it covered by my insurance?
AI: I can't confirm insurance cover. The clinic team can call you back about that. Shall I book Thursday at 10.15 with [therapist]?
Patient: Yes please.
AI: Booked. You'll get a text confirmation.

What is right: it acknowledged the injury without advising, it declined the insurance question and offered a callback, and it booked the right appointment type. What to fix: the callback was offered but not logged as a task, so the insurance question would be lost unless the summary lists it. Check that every "the team can call you back" in a transcript has a matching line in the summary email. Also confirm the therapist name came from your rules rather than from whoever had the first free slot.

Do this review for ten calls a week for the first month, then five a week after that. It takes under 20 minutes and is the cheapest quality control you will buy. Keep a short log of what you changed and why, so that when you renegotiate or switch vendors you have evidence of what worked.

Contract points to check

• Month-to-month or a minimum term? Lyngo says no lock-in during its trial; check the term after.
• Who owns the phone number if you leave? Keep your number with your phone provider and forward to the AI, so you can switch off the forwarding.
• Where are patient names and call recordings stored, and can you delete a call? Lyngo says it is GDPR compliant and aligned with several national privacy laws; ask for the agreement in writing.
• What happens if the integration breaks, for example after a Cliniko update? You want same-day notice and a fallback to message-only.

Physio clinic questions

Can an AI receptionist book into Cliniko?

Yes, some can. Lyngo states that it reads live Cliniko availability, appointment types and practitioners, and writes bookings, reschedules and cancellations back. Others only take a message. Ask the vendor to book a real test appointment in your own account before you pay.

Does Jane have its own AI receptionist?

Jane's own page describes its AI receptionist as in development, with a list to join. Jane does offer human virtual receptionists today. If your clinic runs on Jane, check which third-party tools list a Jane integration before assuming one exists.

What counts as a call on a per-call plan?

Definitions differ. Lyngo counts inbound calls over 10 seconds and excludes spam, unanswered calls and immediate hang-ups. Another vendor bills per minute. Read the definition, because a clinic with many short wrong-number calls pays differently on each model.

Should insurer calls go to the AI?

No, route them to a person. Insurer and funder calls involve claim numbers, authorisation and disputes where a wrong answer costs money. Let the AI take a message with the claim reference and a callback number, and let staff return it.

Is a free trial enough to judge it?

Only if it carries real calls. A 14-day trial covers two Mondays, the busiest day for most clinics. Forward calls on those days and read every summary against the diary.

Further reads

• How Physiotherapists Use AI to Write Treatment Notes Faster — Notes, once the phones are covered.
• What to Do When an AI Receptionist Gets a Booking Wrong — What to do when a booking is wrong.
• Marketing a Physio Clinic With AI: Posts, Tips, and Newsletters — Filling the diary from the marketing side.
• AI Receptionist or Answering Service for a Booking-Based Business? — Human answering against AI for booking businesses.
• AI Receptionist for a Chiropractic Office: Cost, Recurring Visits — Recurring-visit booking in a sister profession.
• Creating Home Exercise Programmes With AI for Physio Patients — The next AI job once the phones are covered.
• Best AI Receptionist for a Medical Practice: What Each Type Does — Booking AI versus transcription-only tools for a small medical practice, compared on one 20-call test with EHR and cost checks.
• Best AI Scribe for Physical Therapy: Four Tools Compared — Four AI scribes for a physical therapy practice compared on per-clinician cost, BAA, treatment-note fit and timed-billing detail, with examples.
• Cliniko Pricing in the UK: Practitioner Plans and Text Costs — A two-practitioner Cliniko bill worked out line by line: the $95 plan, text credits, reminder timing and where SMS spend creeps up.
• Osteopath Software: Which Packages Add AI and What to Check — A seven-part checklist for osteopaths comparing practice software that advertises AI, with verified vendor prices and a scoring sheet.
• Physiotherapy Clinic Software Compared: Which Has Built-In AI? — Jane, Cliniko, Splose and Zanda compared on what their AI actually does, what it costs a three-practitioner clinic and how to test before you switch.
• Virtual Receptionist for a Small Clinic: Live, AI or Hybrid? — Compare human, AI and hybrid virtual receptionists for a small clinic by cost per call, hours, quality checks and contract terms.
• AI Receptionist for Medical Clinics With Two Sites: Routing and Hand-Offs — Route calls between two clinic sites with one menu or two numbers, site fact sheets, closed-site transfer rules and a shared calendar check.
• AI Scribe for Physiotherapists in the UK: A Consent and GDPR Checklist — A twelve-step checklist for a UK physio clinic adopting an AI scribe: consent, DPIA, vendor contract, data location, retention and HCPC standards.
• AI for Physiotherapists: Employer and Workplace Contract Proposals — Write a workplace physio proposal with AI: scope, pricing tiers, reporting and confidentiality, shown with a 40-employee worked example.
• AI in Physiotherapy: Filling Cancellations From a Waiting List — A clinic-owner workflow for matching cancelled slots, sending time-limited offers and stopping duplicate bookings.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: Lyngo pricing and Cliniko integration pages, MedReception AI pricing page, FrontDesk pricing page, Jane App virtual assistants and receptionists page, Cliniko pricing (checked 4 November 2026).