The first call matters
Families usually contact hospice at a hard moment. It may be late in the evening, after a difficult day with a loved one. The question can be simple: what is hospice, who can request it, where does care happen. The person asking is tired, worried and unlikely to leave a long voicemail.
Your admissions team spends most of the day with patients and families. When a call arrives while they are in a home or a facility, it goes to voicemail. Getting that message to a person quickly is what matters.
An AI chatbot and an AI phone receptionist can help with one narrow task: answering general questions from your own website and recording a message for your team. They cannot do anything clinical, and they should not be used for anything urgent.
What the chatbot does on your website
Anchor Co AI trains a chatbot on your own website. It answers from what you have already published, so it only says what your agency has said. For a hospice or palliative care provider, that usually means:
- General information. What hospice and palliative care are, in the words of your own pages.
- Where care happens. The homes, facilities and counties you list.
- How to start. How to request an evaluation or speak with admissions.
- Reaching your team. Office hours and the number or form your site provides.
When a visitor asks something your site does not answer, the chatbot says it is unsure and offers to take a name and number.
What the AI receptionist does on the phone
With the Front Office plan, an AI phone receptionist answers calls your office cannot take. It says it is an AI, asks for the caller's name, number and reason for calling, and emails a summary to your team. It does not discuss anyone's health.
It does not book visits, send text messages or give guidance of any kind about symptoms, medications or care.
Use cases an agency will recognize
The evening question. A daughter reads your site at 10pm and asks who can request hospice. The chat shares what your website says and offers to take her number.
The call during a home visit. Your admissions coordinator is with a family when the office line rings. The AI takes a message so the coordinator can return it that day.
The weekend inquiry. A hospital social worker calls on Saturday to ask how to make a referral. The AI records the request and your team follows up on Monday morning.
The "where do you serve?" question. The chat answers from your service-area page.
What it will not do
No patient health information. The chat and receptionist must not be used to collect it. Front Office is not HIPAA-compliant and we do not sign Business Associate Agreements. Please do not use it for protected health information.
No medical or end-of-life guidance. It does not discuss symptoms, medications, prognosis or what to expect. It sends those questions to your team.
No emergency response. Anyone with an emergency should call 911. Families of current patients should use your agency's own on-call number, which you can publish on your website.
No judgments about eligibility. Clinicians decide that. The AI shares what your site says and takes a message.
Objections you should expect
"This is too sensitive for a bot." Many agencies feel that way. The AI always says it is an AI, uses plain wording and tells the caller that a person will follow up. Its job is to make sure the message is not lost.
"What if it says something wrong?" It answers from your website and says so when it is unsure. Review your pages, and test the questions families ask.
What a good first reply looks like
A family contacting hospice may be tired and uncertain, so the first reply should be gentle and short. The AI says it is an AI, answers the general question from your website if it can, and says that someone from your team will follow up. It does not ask about the patient's condition and it does not describe what to expect.
On your side, the email that arrives is brief: a name, a number and a general reason. The admissions coordinator can call back with time and care, and the family's first contact was not a ringing phone.
The wording matters, and so does the page behind it. Review how your website describes your services, who you serve and how to begin, because that is the language the chatbot will use.
What it costs
The Free plan is $0 with 1 bot and 20 messages a month. Starter is $29 a month for 2 bots and 1,000 messages a month. Growth is $49 a month for 5 bots and 5,000 messages a month.
Front Office adds a website and the AI phone receptionist. It is $297 one-time setup, then $249 a month with the receptionist, including 300 answered phone minutes a month and no overage fees. It is month to month with no contract and no partial-month refunds.
Setup
- Point the chatbot at your website. It trains on your own pages.
- Ask it the questions families ask and tighten your pages where it comes back unsure.
- Add the chat to your site. For phone coverage, forward your overflow calls to the AI receptionist and give it the email address where summaries should go.