7 Must-Ask Questions Before Choosing an AI Agent for Your Practice

A Buyer’s Guide for Medical Practices Exploring AI-Driven Automation

Many medical practices face the harsh reality of soaring call volumes, long wait times, missed appointments, and growing staff burnout. Turning to AI agents that can alleviate all of these pain points is a great choice for many organizations. 

The issue is choosing the right partner for your specific situation.

Not all AI vendors will necessarily deliver the level of integration, support, and specialty focus your practice requires. And even the best product won’t succeed if the implementation is weak. How the solution is rolled out—how well it integrates with your workflows, how patients are introduced to it, how your team is supported—can make or break the experience.

The AI agent you choose needs to become a seamless part of the patient journey. With that in mind, we prepared a guide to help you evaluate potential vendors more effectively.

Before partnering with an AI vendor, make sure you ask these seven essential questions.

1. “How Deep is Your Integration with My EHR?”

Why it matters

The goal of adding an AI assistant is to reduce manual work. If your AI solution isn’t tightly integrated with your EHR, your staff may end up re-entering information, verifying patient details manually, or sorting through inconsistent records. It can also mean changes to your workflows, retraining your team, and managing yet another platform to track requests. This adds time, increases the chance of error, and slows down your operations.

An AI agent that’s deeply connected to your EHR should be able to interact with it the same way your front desk team does. It should manage appointments, verify patients, create patient cases, process prescription refills, and document everything directly in your system.

Follow-up questions to ask

1. Do you have a native integration or you are using a third party solution?
2. Which EHRs is the solution integrated with?
3. Can the AI assistant create patient cases, update charts, and manage prescriptions within our EHR?
4. Is data synced in real-time and compliant with HIPAA and SOC 2 standards?
5. Will data sourced from the AI agent be clearly marked as such in our EHR?

What you should expect

A top-tier AI vendor works within your EHR. For example, Talkie.ai has deep native integrations with systems like athenaOne, ModMed EMA, Elation Health, and eMedicalPractice. That allows the AI agent to automatically create charts for new patients, schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments, capture prescription refill requests, log all interactions directly into the EHR, and much more.

Native integration means the vendor has an official relationship with the EHR. They’re aligned with the EHR’s product roadmap, informed about updates or changes, and able to proactively extend their functionality as new features become available. This ensures long-term compatibility even when your EHR evolves.

With this level of EHR integration, there’s no toggling between platforms, no double entry, and no data slipping through the cracks. Everything is updated in real time and securely documented in the system your team already knows and trusts. It’s a smarter, cleaner way to work—one that saves time, minimizes human error, and ensures continuity of care.

Further reading:

Types of EHR Integrations Explained: What Healthcare Practices Need to Know Before Implementing AI

2. “Can You Show Me Your Demo?”

A demo is an effective way to evaluate whether a solution is truly worth your investment. It gives you a firsthand look at what the AI vendor is capable of delivering, not just what’s outlined in a sales deck. This is where you can assess whether the product lives up to its claims, and whether the value matches the price.

Pay close attention to how the assistant interacts with patients. Does the conversation feel natural and intuitive? Can it understand healthcare-specific terminology? Can it guide a patient through a full workflow without confusion?

A demo is also where the small but critical details become visible. For example:

• Can the AI account for a provider who only accepts certain insurance plans?
• Can it distinguish between appointment types and follow the correct scheduling rules?
• How does it handle refill requests for controlled substances?

This is where the fit for your practice becomes clear. Every medical office has its own quirks, preferences, and protocols. The demo should show you whether the solution can adapt to yours.

You’ll also want to evaluate whether the solution can extend your staff’s capabilities—not replace people, but make the team you already have more efficient. The true ROI will be helping your resources go further without sacrificing quality of care.

Follow-up questions to ask

1. How much does the product cost, and what’s included in that price?
2. How does the AI assistant handle complex workflows like Rx refills, insurance-specific rules, or provider availability?
3. What kind of ROI can we expect based on practices like ours?

What you should expect

A good vendor will be ready to show you a realistic, detailed demo that closely matches the day-to-day needs of your practice. It should also give you clarity around what’s included in the pricing: setup, support, EHR integration, updates, and customization.

With Talkie.ai, that includes showcasing our EHR integration and demonstrating how the AI handles specific tasks, i.e. appointment scheduling or Rx refills (including for controlled substances.)

The demo should reflect the complexity of real workflows—not a simplified script. It should give you confidence that the solution will work for you, your staff, and your patients.

3. “Is the AI Assistant Voice-Only, Text-Only, or Multichannel?”

Why it matters

Patients don’t all communicate the same way. Many prefer the convenience of calling your practice, but some may be in environments where speaking out loud isn’t possible—like at work or on public transportation. Offering both voice and texting communication helps you meet patients where they are, on their terms.

It’s also worth asking whether the vendor was originally built to handle voice or text interactions. Voice automation is significantly more complex than text. It requires advanced real-time speech recognition, conversational intelligence, and error handling in unpredictable environments. Solutions that started with chat and later added voice often struggle to deliver a seamless phone experience—something your patients will notice immediately.

Additionally, a thoughtful vendor will take time to understand how your practice uses each channel and ensure patients don’t receive duplicated messages or feel overwhelmed by multiple touchpoints. Managing communication across channels should feel coordinated and intentional, not fragmented or excessive.

Follow-up questions to ask

1. Is your solution capable of coordinating conversations across multiple channels?
2. If your AI agents support multiple channels, what specific tasks can they handle through each one? Are the capabilities consistent across all channels, or are some functions limited to certain formats?
3. What is the quality of the voices you offer? Can we hear a sample?

What you should expect

A well-designed AI assistant should adapt to how your patients prefer to communicate. With Talkie.ai, patients can interact with the practice through both voice and text, ensuring a smooth experience whether they’re calling in or replying to a message on the go. This not only improves accessibility for patients who may be in noisy environments or unable to speak, but also reduces barriers for those who simply feel more comfortable texting.

Because Talkie was designed from the ground up as a voice-first platform, you get an excellent conversational performance where it matters most: the phone. Any communication nuances we solved in a voice environment will also be handled by default in a text environment.

Talkie also coordinates communications across all channels to prevent message duplication and information overload. Patients receive timely, relevant outreach, without being pinged multiple times for the same task.

On the back end, Talkie’s AI agents also support email notifications to staff when a conversation with a patient requires follow-up or human intervention. Whether it’s a flagged symptom, a sensitive request, or an unclear response, the assistant can route a detailed summary to your team—keeping patient needs from falling through the cracks.

4. “Do You Understand My Medical Specialty?”

Why it matters

Specialty practices each have distinct workflows, terminology, and patient needs. A generic AI solution might understand scheduling or basic FAQs—but fall short when asked to handle dermatology follow-up protocols, OB-GYN appointment prep, or urology Rx refills.

If your vendor hasn’t worked with specialty practices before, you’ll likely face more configuration headaches.

Follow-up questions to ask

1. Have you worked with specialty practices before?
2. Can the system handle specialty-specific workflows or FAQs?
3. Are there testimonials from similar clinics?

What you should expect

An experienced AI partner brings real-world knowledge from working with similar practices. Talkie.ai, for example, has been deployed in dermatology, pediatrics, pain management, urology, and more specialty practices—allowing us to draw our expertise from practical examples.

Our AI agents are trained to handle specialty-specific terminology and logic, like routing prenatal appointment requests to the right provider group, collecting key intake data for post-op follow-ups, or recognizing medication names used in chronic pain management.

When a vendor truly understands your specialty, the implementation is faster, the patient experience is smoother, and your staff spends less time correcting or re-routing mismanaged calls.

Further reading:

5 Reasons Why Specialty-Focused Voice AI Is the Right Choice for Your Medical Practice

5. “What Kind of Support Will I Get—During and After Implementation?”

Why it matters

Even the best technology won’t succeed without the right onboarding and support. The implementation period is the time to align the AI to your practice’s unique workflows. 

Afterwards, you also need to be able to get quick and efficient support whenever you need it. After all, your practice’s reputation hinges on patients being able to communicate with your practice easily.

If the implementation of your new AI agent is haphazard, you risk frustrating both your staff and your patients. Unclear call flows or lack of training can lead to missed calls, scheduling errors, and a poor first impression.

A smooth, well-supported rollout ensures your team feels confident using the technology—and your patients experience seamless, reliable service from day one.

Follow-up questions to ask

1. Will we have a dedicated implementation specialist?
2. How long does setup typically take, and what does the process involve?
3. Is there ongoing customer support, training, or a success manager assigned to our account?

What you should expect

A reliable vendor doesn’t disappear after the contract is signed. With Talkie.ai, implementation is a guided process with a dedicated team that gets to know your workflows, priorities, and internal systems. They help you customize your AI assistant’s behavior, language, and routing rules to match your clinic’s unique needs.

Post-launch, the support doesn’t stop. You’ll have access to performance analytics, regular optimization check-ins, and proactive recommendations as your practice evolves. Whether it’s refining call flows or adding new capabilities like outbound reminders or multilingual support, Talkie.ai acts as a true long-term partner.

As part of our support model, we also monitor call performance regularly—reviewing past interactions to ensure quality and suggest improvements. This allows us to fine-tune your assistant’s behavior over time and offer strategic advice based on real usage patterns. It’s a collaborative process designed to help your team get more out of the technology, all while maintaining full HIPAA compliance.

6. “How Will You Support Patients in Learning to Interact With the AI?”

Why it matters

For some patients, especially older adults, speaking to an AI assistant may feel unfamiliar or intimidating at first. Others may not realize they can speak naturally, ask follow-up questions, or manage tasks without waiting for a human.

That’s why it’s essential to ask how the solution fits into the broader patient journey:

• Does the assistant communicate in a clear, human-like way? 
• Does it guide patients confidently through their options? 
• Does it support patients who might be unfamiliar with AI, struggle with technology, or speak a language other than English?

When you introduce an AI assistant into your front desk operations, it’s critical to help patients feel informed, comfortable, and confident interacting with it. This will help preserve trust in your practice and minimize any negative reactions to hearing an AI on the other side of the phone.

Even the best product doesn’t guarantee success without experience in building adoption among patients. A strong vendor should know how to design for patient comfort, educate clearly, and support behavior change.

Follow-up questions to ask

1. How do you help patients understand what the AI assistant can do?
2. What kind of patient education or onboarding materials are provided?
3. Are training materials multilingual?
4. Does the vendor provide best practices for staff to promote patient adoption?

What you should expect

A thoughtful AI vendor will provide ready-to-use patient education resources—from brief instructional videos to printable leaflets and posters that explain how to use the system. These should be easy for staff to share and simple for patients to understand.

With Talkie.ai, practices receive tailored education kits that walk patients through how to speak with the AI assistant and what types of requests it can handle. Materials are available in multiple languages and can be co-branded with your practice name and logo. We also provide materials for your team on how to talk about the AI with patients and how to approach any potential questions or doubts they may have.

Importantly, Talkie.ai knows when to step back and bring your team in. If a patient needs more help, seems confused, or shares a concern that requires a human touch, the assistant can escalate the interaction and notify staff with all relevant context—ensuring nothing gets lost and every patient feels heard.

7. “Can I Speak with One of Your Clients?”

Why it matters

When evaluating an AI vendor, references matter as much as they do in recruitment. You’re selecting a long‑term partner who will interact with your patients and become embedded in your workflows. Seeing case studies and testimonials on a website is helpful—but speaking directly with another client gives you insights you simply can’t get anywhere else.

Conversations with existing customers allow you to evaluate the return on investment from a peer’s perspective: How smooth was implementation? How responsive is the support team? How reliable is the AI day‑to‑day? Did the vendor deliver on the promises made during sales? Strong vendors will have clients who are not only willing to speak with you, but eager to share their experience.

Follow-up questions to ask

1. What specific problems was the client trying to solve before they started working with you?
2. What outcomes have your clients seen since implementing your solution?
3. Are they using the same workflows or automations we’re considering?

What you should expect

A reliable vendor will be prepared—and confident—to introduce you to a client. With Talkie.ai, references are available from a wide range of specialties.

A good reference conversation will cover implementation, day‑to‑day performance, support responsiveness, and measurable outcomes. These conversations help you validate whether the solution delivers meaningful impact and whether the vendor is a partner you can trust long term.

Choosing the Right Partner for the Long Haul

Choosing an AI assistant is a decision that affects your workflows, your staff, and your patients. With so many vendors on the market, it’s important to look beyond surface-level features and dig into how each solution will fit into the day-to-day reality of your practice.

The best solution will integrate deeply with your EHR, offer reliable support at every stage, communicate effectively across channels, support patients through clear and accessible experiences, and understand the unique needs of your specialty.

By asking thoughtful, specific questions upfront, you’ll be better equipped to choose a vendor who can become a real partner, not just a technology provider.

As you can see, we’ve thought deeply about all the nuances of what makes or breaks an AI agent implementation. If you’d like to consult with us directly, don’t hesitate to book a time with our team—we’d be happy to help.