For an Ontario family practice, an AI receptionist has to do three things well: book real appointments in your EMR, get every clinical question to a person, and protect patient information as your agent under PHIPA. ZeroMiss books directly in Juno EMR and OSCAR after the patient confirms, runs in requests mode for other EMRs, never reads charts, and signs a PHIPA Compliance Package with every Ontario clinic.
What family practice phone lines actually get
Most calls to a family practice are one of a handful of things: an appointment, a change or cancellation, "are my results back?", a prescription renewal, a referral question, a form or sick note, hours and walk-in questions, and the occasional worried patient. An AI receptionist earns its place by finishing the first group itself and passing the rest to the right person, fast, without collecting medical details it doesn't need.
| Call | ZeroMiss |
|---|---|
| New appointment | Offers real openings from the EMR, then a secure link: the patient is matched by name and date of birth and taps Confirm; booked in Juno or OSCAR |
| Move or cancel | Secure link; the patient is matched before any appointment is shown; the change is written in the EMR |
| Results, refills, referrals, forms | Callback request for staff in a neutral line; no medical details collected; never reads charts |
| Worrying problem after a treatment | Put through to staff, or an immediate alert and a text to the caller that the team will call back |
| Emergency | "Hang up and call 911 now" |
| Hours, location, services, policies | Answers from your clinic's approved information only |
| Spam and robocalls | Screened before the greeting or ended politely; never billed |
Your EMR
Juno EMR and OSCAR: direct booking, moves and cancellations through the web services your host enables, with one least-privilege EMR account for ZeroMiss that you can revoke at any time. Accuro, TELUS PS Suite and others: requests mode, where bookings and changes land in your dashboard for staff. You can also start in requests mode on Juno or OSCAR while your host enables access. See the full integration matrix.
Privacy built for a custodian's review
- ZeroMiss acts as your agent under PHIPA, in a services agreement with a PHIPA Compliance Package as its schedule.
- Stored in Canada (Montréal); live speech and AI processing outside Canada disclosed provider by provider.
- No call recording. Transcripts and messages deleted after 30 days. No AI training.
- Every view of patient information in an access log you can export; ZeroMiss staff can't see your data without a logged, time-limited grant.
- Breach notice to your privacy contact no later than 72 hours after we become aware. Insured, with a certificate before go-live.
Going live
Every clinic starts in a test environment with made-up patients. Your team calls it, tries the results, refill and urgent scenarios, completes a booking, and reviews the PHIPA package. Real patients reach the service only after your written approval. You choose which calls it answers: all of them, only unanswered ones, or after hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the AI ask for a health card number?
No. On the phone it never asks for a health card number, date of birth or symptoms. Identity is confirmed in a secure chat, only when a booking or change needs it.
Can it handle walk-in questions?
It answers hours and walk-in policies from your clinic's approved information. It doesn't manage a walk-in queue.
Does it speak French?
Does it do recall or outreach calls?
Not for Ontario PHIPA clinics: outreach features are off in PHIPA mode. ZeroMiss answers inbound calls, texts and chats.
Bottom Line
An AI receptionist for a family practice should book what it can, hand off what it shouldn't touch, and make your privacy review easy. Ask every vendor to show all three on your own EMR and your own phone before you sign.