Workflow

Open-ended first, structured second: how a first call sorts a new pain patient into urgent consultation, routine evaluation, or escalation

Not every new pain caller needs the same appointment. How the call opens, which answers change the tier, who makes the emergency decision, and what is recorded whichever way it goes.

Opens open-ended, asking the patient to describe their pain, before any structured question
Follows up on location, duration, radiation pattern, prior treatments, and current medications
Adapts to what the patient says instead of reading a fixed script to the end
Red-flag symptoms such as neurological loss or signs of systemic illness are identified during the call
Those calls escalate to your clinical team rather than being slotted automatically
The appointment type follows from the call: urgent consultation, routine evaluation, or escalation

How it pays back

The First Question Is Not a Form Field

Asking a patient to describe their pain, then following up on what they actually said, gets a different history than reading a checklist at them. The structure comes after the story rather than replacing it.

Urgency Is Settled on the Call

A new caller reporting acute neurological loss or severe trauma-related pain does not sit in the same queue as someone booking a routine evaluation. The tier is decided while they are still on the phone.

A Clinician Makes the Emergency Decision

Red flags trigger immediate notification of your clinical team. They decide whether to prioritize the appointment or direct the patient to emergency care. The call surfaces the signal; the clinical judgment stays with clinicians.

Whichever Tier, the Record Exists

Demographics and appointment details are written to your EMR and the intake summary comes back structured and pasteable. Even an urgent call leaves a record rather than scattered voicemail notes for someone to decipher.

History structured

Pain timeline, prior treatments, surgical history, and medications all captured

New patient records created

Demographics and appointment details written to EMR; intake summary returned for staff review

Red flags escalated

Urgent new patients routed to clinician or emergency care immediately

Chair time preserved

Clinician spends visit time on exam and treatment, not history-taking

Frequently asked questions

Every patient's story is different. How does the AI ask about pain history?

It starts open-ended, asking the patient to tell it about their pain, then follows up on structured topics: location, duration, radiation, prior treatments, and red flags. It adapts to the responses rather than working through a rigid script.

Which symptoms cause a new-patient call to be escalated?

Acute neurological loss, fever, severe trauma, and other urgent signs. When a new patient reports them, the AI escalates to your clinical team immediately rather than continuing to book a routine slot.

Who decides whether a patient should be sent to emergency care?

Your clinical team. The escalation puts the call in front of them, and they either prioritize the appointment or direct the patient to emergency care. That decision is not made by the phone system.

What if the surgical history is complicated?

All prior surgeries, dates, surgical sites, and known complications are captured. Where the details are unclear, they are logged for your clinical staff to clarify at the first visit rather than guessed at in the summary.

Does an urgent new patient still get a record created, or is that skipped in the rush?

It is still created. Demographics and appointment details are written to the EMR and the structured summary, including the red flags, goes to your staff to verify and file. The urgency changes the routing, not the record.