Visit type setup for your AI Receptionist now lives in its own Visit Types tab, separate from your Online Appointment Booking (OAB) settings. This gives you direct control over which visit types the AI Receptionist can book, lets you add the context it needs to match patient requests accurately, and lets you set fallback visit types for new and returning patients.
Who Sees This Setting
The Visit Types tab appears for any practice with AI Receptionist (Voice or SMS) turned on. If you don’t see it, confirm that AI Receptionist is enabled for your practice.
Where to Find It
Go to New Settings → AI Receptionist → Visit Types. This tab sits between Overview and Knowledge Base.
1. Turning On Visit Types
Your Visit Types list shows every visit type at your practice, including ones that are inactive or turned off in Online Appointment Booking. Each row shows:
The visit type name and a data-completeness indicator (for example, “2 of 4 fields filled”)
An OAB status badge — Active, OAB Off, or Inactive
An AI Receptionist Access toggle, which controls whether the AI Receptionist can book that visit type
AI Receptionist Access works independently of OAB status. An inactive or OAB-off visit type can still be booked by the AI Receptionist if its access toggle is on. Likewise, turning off an active visit type’s toggle stops the AI Receptionist from booking it, even though it remains active in OAB.
Important: At least one visit type must have AI Receptionist Access turned on, or the AI Receptionist won’t be able to book any appointments.
Need a new visit type? Click “Create new visit type” at the top of the list to open the visit type creation screen.
2. Adding Detail to Each Visit Type
Click any visit type to expand it. Four fields help the AI Receptionist match what a patient says to the right appointment type.
Symptoms / Medical Issues: Common complaints associated with this visit (e.g., tooth pain, swelling, sensitivity). Click the AI suggestion button to generate tag suggestions based on the visit type name and existing information; review and approve them before they’re added.
Services Provided: Services delivered at this visit (for example, cleaning, X-rays, exam). Uses the same tag format and AI suggestion option as above.
Open Description: A free-text field for any extra context. This field is filled in manually; there’s no AI suggestion option here. Keep it plain text.
Treatments Planned at This Visit: A checklist of treatments and services drawn from your Knowledge Base. Check anything that can be discussed or planned during this visit type, or use “Fill with AI” to have suggestions selected for your review.
Whichever field you’re working in, nothing is saved without your approval. You can accept, edit, or dismiss any suggestion individually. A “Generate All” option also runs suggestions across every visit type at once, with the same review step.
Whenever you update one of these fields, the system automatically rebuilds a summary description for that visit type. This summary is what the AI Receptionist actually reads when matching a patient’s request.
3. Setting Default Visit Types
At the bottom of the Visit Types tab, two dropdowns let you choose fallback visit types the AI Receptionist uses when it can’t match a patient’s request after two clarifying questions:
Default for New Patients
Default for Returning Patients
We strongly recommend setting both. Without them, requests that the AI Receptionist can’t match may be escalated to your staff instead of being booked. A good default is a general-purpose visit type that works as a catch-all, such as New Patient Exam or General Emergency.
It’s worth keeping an eye on how often these defaults get used; frequent fallbacks usually mean your visit type details could use more depth.
4. How the AI Receptionist Handles Treatment Requests
When a patient asks about a specific treatment for example, “I want Invisalign” or “Can I book a crown?” the AI Receptionist confirms the appointment, but first lets the patient know what to expect: “Just so you know, this visit is a consultation. Your dentist will assess your situation, discuss your options for [treatment], and go over what the process, timeline, and costs would look like. The treatment itself would begin at a follow-up appointment based on what you decide together.”
The AI Receptionist waits for the patient to confirm before it looks for an appointment slot. If the patient declines, it offers to book a different visit type instead or to connect them with your office.
If the AI Receptionist can’t find a matching visit type and the patient is describing a treatment rather than a symptom, it directs them to contact your practice directly for a callback.
Quick Checklist
Task | Required? |
Enable AI Receptionist Access on at least one visit type | Required |
Add Symptoms and Services enrichment to each enabled visit type | Recommended |
Set Default Visit Type for new patients | Recommended |
Set Default Visit Type for returning patients | Recommended |
Use AI generation to fill enrichment fields faster | Optional |