The Visit Types tab teaches your AI Receptionist how to identify a patient's needs and recommend the appropriate appointment. This is one of the most important parts of the setup process because it enables the AI to ask the right questions, match symptoms to the correct visit, and confidently schedule patients.
You can access the Visit Types tab by navigating to: New Settings → AI → AI Receptionist → Visit Types
Best Practice: Complete your Visit Types before enabling the Voice Bot. Well-configured visit types help ensure patients are scheduled correctly and reduce the need for staff intervention.
Understanding the Visit Types Page
The Visit Types page displays every visit type available to your practice.
For each visit type, you'll see:
OAB Status – Indicates whether the visit type is active in Online Appointment Booking (OAB). Only active OAB visit types can be configured for the AI Receptionist.
AIR Access – Controls whether the AI Receptionist can schedule this visit type.
AI Available – Indicates whether AI-enhanced setup features are available.
Setup Progress – Shows how many required sections have been completed for each visit type.
Expand any visit type to configure its details.
Step 1: Review Your Visit Types
Begin by reviewing the list of visit types.
Only configure appointment types that you want your AI Receptionist to schedule.
Inactive visit types or visit types with AIR Access turned off won't be available for AI scheduling.
AIR Access
Use the AIR Access toggle to determine whether the AI Receptionist can book a specific visit type.
Enabled
Patients can be matched to this visit type.
The AI can recommend and schedule this appointment when appropriate.
Disabled
The visit type remains available to staff.
The AI will never recommend or schedule this appointment.
Recommendation: Only enable AIR Access for appointment types that have been fully configured.
Step 2: Configure Symptoms / Medical Issues
The Symptoms / Medical Issues section tells the AI when a patient should be scheduled for this appointment.
For example:
Emergency Consult
Tooth pain
Swelling
Broken tooth
Lost filling
Dental trauma
Adult Cleaning
Routine cleaning
Preventive visit
Hygiene appointment
The more complete your symptom list, the better the AI can understand patient intent.
AI Assistance
Select AI to have the system generate suggested symptoms based on the visit type.
You can also manually edit the list at any time.
Best Practice: Review AI-generated suggestions before saving to ensure they match your practice's terminology and scheduling workflow.
Step 3: Add Services Provided
The Services Provided section tells the AI which procedures are typically performed during this appointment.
Examples include:
Adult Cleaning
Prophylaxis
Periodic Exam
Fluoride Treatment
Emergency Consult
Limited Exam
X-rays
Pain Evaluation
Adding services helps the AI better understand the purpose of each appointment and improves scheduling accuracy.
You can either:
Select AI to generate suggested services.
Select Edit to add your own.
Step 4: Review the Open Description
The Open Description provides a plain-language explanation of the visit type.
The AI uses this description to better understand when the appointment is appropriate.
Example: Adult cleaning with your hygienist. Best suited for routine preventive care and maintenance.
A clear description helps the AI distinguish between similar appointment types.
Review the description for accuracy and update it if necessary.
Step 5: Associate Treatments
The Use this visit type to plan these treatments section connects treatments with the appropriate appointment type.
For example, an Invisalign consultation might be associated with:
Clear Aligners
Orthodontic Evaluation
Smile Consultation
These associations help the AI recommend the correct appointment when patients inquire about specific treatments.
If no treatments are selected, choose:
Edit to manually assign treatments.
Fill With AI to generate recommendations automatically.
Step 6: Repeat for Each AI-Enabled Visit Type
Continue configuring each visit type that has AIR Access enabled.
As each section is completed, the setup progress indicator updates, making it easy to identify visit types that still need additional information.
How the AI Uses Your Visit Types
Once your visit types are configured, the AI Receptionist uses this information to understand patient requests and schedule appointments automatically.
When a patient contacts your practice, the AI:
Understands why the patient is reaching out.
Compares the patient's request against the Symptoms, Services, Treatments, and Description you've configured.
Identifies the best matching visit type.
Offers available appointment times.
Books the appointment directly into your schedule.
Example
A patient says:
"I chipped my tooth and it's hurting."
Because your Emergency Visit includes symptoms such as:
Tooth pain
Chipped tooth
Broken tooth
The AI identifies the request as an emergency appointment and schedules the appropriate visit.
If a patient asks about a treatment—such as Invisalign or dental implants—the AI uses both the Visit Type configuration and your Knowledge Base to explain that the appointment is a consultation before offering available appointment times.
The more complete your visit type information is, the more accurately the AI can match patient requests and schedule the correct appointment.
Default Visit Types
At the bottom of the page, configure your Default Visit Types.
These defaults are used when the AI cannot confidently determine the correct appointment after asking clarifying questions. Configure both required fields.
New Patient Default
Used when the AI cannot determine which appointment a new patient needs.
Many practices choose:
New Patient Exam
Emergency Appointment
Depending on their scheduling workflow.
Returning Patient Default
Used when the AI cannot confidently determine the appropriate appointment for an existing patient. Choose a visit type that allows your team to further evaluate the patient's needs if additional clarification is required.
Best Practice: Setting default visit types helps prevent missed booking opportunities by giving the AI a reliable fallback option.
Creating a New Visit Type
If the visit type you need isn't listed, select Create New Visit Type.
This redirects you to your Online Appointment Booking (OAB) settings, where you can create and manage new visit types.
After creating and enabling the visit type in OAB, return to:
New Settings → AI → AI Receptionist → Visit Types
Your new visit type will appear in the list, where you can configure:
AIR Access
Symptoms / Medical Issues
Services Provided
Open Description
Associated Treatments
Note: A visit type must be created and enabled in Online Appointment Booking before it can be configured for the AI Receptionist.
Save Your Changes
After configuring your visit types, select Save Changes to apply your updates.
Best Practices
For the most accurate appointment scheduling:
Configure every visit type you want the AI Receptionist to schedule.
Enable AIR Access only after a visit type has been fully configured.
Use patient-friendly language when adding symptoms and descriptions.
Review AI-generated suggestions before saving.
Associate treatments whenever possible.
Keep the Services section of your AI Receptionist Knowledge Base up to date.
Configure both Default Visit Types.
Review and update visit types as your services and scheduling workflows evolve.
Key Takeaways
Visit Types teach the AI Receptionist how to recognize patient needs and recommend the correct appointment.
Complete configurations—including symptoms, services, descriptions, and treatments—lead to more accurate scheduling.
AIR Access determines which appointment types the AI can book.
Default Visit Types provide a fallback when the AI can't confidently identify the appropriate appointment.
Keeping your Visit Types and Knowledge Base current helps ensure patients are consistently matched with the right appointments while reducing manual work for your team.