Automated patient communication by phone: what practices should know

Many calls to a medical practice repeat themselves: booking an appointment, moving or cancelling one, asking for a repeat prescription or a therapy prescription, checking opening hours. Automated patient communication means that an AI phone assistant answers these calls and handles them. This article explains which requests are suitable, which rules apply and how a practice can test the introduction before patients are affected. The legal situation described here is that for practices in Germany. As of: 20 October 2026.

What is automated patient communication by phone?

It means an AI phone assistant that answers calls to the practice number on its own. It understands spoken language, asks what the caller needs and either deals with it or passes it on to the practice team in an orderly way. There are three typical outcomes: an appointment is in the practice calendar, a request (for example for a repeat prescription) is recorded as a note with a call-back request, or the call is forwarded to a person. Unlike an answering machine, the system does not wait for someone to call back; it holds the conversation itself.

Which patient calls are suitable for an AI, and which are not?

Requests with a clear procedure are suitable:

• Booking, moving and cancelling appointments
• Requests for repeat prescriptions and therapy prescriptions, which the practice team then checks
• Questions about opening hours, directions and documents to bring
• Call-back requests

Medical assessments and advice are not suitable. An AI on the phone does not make a diagnosis and does not recommend treatment. The greeting needs a clear note for emergencies: in life-threatening situations callers should dial 112, and outside surgery hours the German on-call medical service is available on 116117 (source: National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, 116117.de, retrieved 20 October 2026).

Does the AI on the phone have to say that it is an AI?

Yes. Under Article 50(1) of the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), AI systems that interact directly with people must be designed so that the person is informed that they are dealing with an AI, unless this is obvious. The information must be given in a clear and distinguishable manner at the latest at the time of the first interaction (Article 50(5)). Under Article 113, Article 50 applies from 2 August 2026. The voiceOne AI phone assistant therefore identifies itself as an AI at the start of every call.

What does medical confidentiality mean for an AI phone assistant?

In Germany, doctors and members of other healthcare professions with state-regulated training are bound by Section 203 of the Criminal Code (StGB). They may disclose patient secrets to external service providers only to the extent that this is necessary for the provider's involvement (Section 203(3), second sentence). At the same time they must ensure that these providers are bound to confidentiality; otherwise they commit an offence themselves (Section 203(4), second sentence, no. 1). The General Data Protection Regulation also applies: health data is a special category of personal data under Article 9, and a data processing agreement with the provider is required under Article 28.

Questions a practice should ask before signing a contract:

• How long are recordings and transcripts stored?
• Are calls used to train language models?
• Which sub-processors are involved, with their location and purpose?
• How is the confidentiality obligation set out?

For reference, this is how voiceOne answers two of these questions today: audio files are deleted after 30 days, transcripts after 180 days. Call data is not used to train language or AI models, including by the model providers we use. More on the page Data protection on calls.

How does a practice introduce automated patient communication?

1. Sort the requests: for one week, note which calls come in and decide which ones the AI may handle and which always go to the team.
2. Set the greeting and forwarding: welcome, AI disclosure, emergency note with 112 and 116117, forwarding during surgery hours.
3. Connect the calendar: the AI should only offer free slots that really exist.
4. Make test calls: the team calls in themselves, including difficult cases such as unclear pronunciation, dialect or several requests in one sentence.
5. Inform the team and patients: a notice in the practice or on the practice website saying that the practice uses AI support on the phone.
6. Review after a few weeks: which calls did the AI complete, which did it pass on, where did callers hang up? Then adjust the rules.

What does mediOne handle in the practice?

mediOne is the practice edition of voiceOne for medical practices and physiotherapy practices. The AI phone assistant answers calls on its own phone numbers, provides information, books appointments directly in Google, Outlook, CalDAV or eTermin calendars and forwards calls. After every call there is a summary, and the contact is stored in the CRM. An optional data protection filter can, with supported language models, replace details such as date of birth, health insurance number or IBAN with placeholders before they reach the language model; the correct value is stored in the calendar and CRM.

You can hear what this sounds like: on +49 951 16092950 the voiceOne assistant answers, in German or English.

Sources

All sources retrieved on 20 October 2026.

• Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 50 and Article 113; official text: eur-lex.europa.eu
• Section 203 German Criminal Code (StGB), German original: gesetze-im-internet.de; English translation: gesetze-im-internet.de
• National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), on-call medical service, 116117.de
• General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Articles 9 and 28, eur-lex.europa.eu

AI textThis article was created with the support of AI. voiceOne editorial team · published on 20 July 2025 · updated on 20 October 2026.