A WhatsApp bot for clinics and therapists

What patients write about — and what the bot does with it

Most messages to a clinic are the same few questions, and they arrive exactly when you are mid-treatment and cannot answer. These are the kinds a bot handles well, and the kind it should pass on.

"Do you have anything this week?"

The bot checks your calendar and offers only times you are actually free, within your hours and the length of the treatment. The patient picks one, and it is written to the calendar with their name and the treatment.

"How long is a first session? What should I bring?"

Length of each treatment, what to wear, whether a referral is needed, the cancellation policy — if it is in the clinic's information, the bot answers. If not, it says someone from the team can answer, and offers to pass the question on.

"Will my supplementary insurance cover it?"

This is where a guessing bot promises something the clinic cannot honour. Ariko answers only if you wrote the answer yourself; otherwise the question goes to your team.

"I need to cancel" / "Can we move it to another day?"

The bot finds that patient's appointment, cancels or moves it, and the freed time can be offered to the next patient.

"It's been hurting for a week, is that normal?"

That is a medical question, and not one for a bot. You write in Ariko's rules that every medical question goes to a member of the team, and check in the test chat that this is what happens — before a real patient writes.

What it looks like in a chat

An illustration: a made-up physiotherapy clinic, not a real customer. Its rules say "no medical advice — pass it to the team", and its information has nothing on insurance refunds.

Worth knowing first

• It is not a medical tool. Ariko isn't built to diagnose or recommend treatment, and doesn't replace a professional. Its job is the clinic's admin — and the rule that sends medical questions to the team is one you write yourself.
• WhatsApp is not an emergency line. Write in the clinic's information what to do in an emergency, so the bot points there instead of trying to handle it.
• Don't ask for medical details in the chat. Conversations are stored in the product, and you can set how long until they are deleted. Security and privacy.
• One calendar per business. The bot books into the one Google Calendar you connect. If each therapist keeps a separate calendar, talk to us first.