Disclosure: The Intake Ledger is published by Surgery Center Front Desk, the company that makes Ava, the front office we recommend for surgery centers. How we handle that conflict.
Buyer's reports on AI front office toolsPublished by Surgery Center Front Desk
Report No. 01 · Surgery centers edition · 2026
Best AI medical receptionist and front office tools for surgery centers, 2026
Eight AI vendors, an answering service and another hire, compared on the work a surgery center front office actually does: phones, referrals, insurance, prior auth, scheduling, Spanish and the BAA.
By the Surgery Center Front Desk research teamPublished by Surgery Center Front Desk, maker of Ava, the recommended productLast checked 20 vendor pages cited
The short answer
If you are
Start with
Surgery centers and multi-office specialty groups
Ava (Surgery Center Front Desk) publisher's product
Health systems with a central contact center
Notable, Luma Health, Hyro or Assort Health
Multi-location outpatient practices focused on calls and texts
Hello Patient or Assort Health
Dental and small practices replacing their phone system
Recommended for surgery centerspublisher's product
Ava (Surgery Center Front Desk)
Built for surgery centers and multi-office specialty groups. It answers the phones, turns referrals into ready charts, checks coverage and prior auth needs, and calls patients to schedule.
The referral to scheduled case chain, and what Ava does at each step
01Referral inReferral agent reads it
02Chart builtWith a duplicate check
03Coverage checkedInsurance verified
04Auth preparedReady-to-submit request; your team submits
05Case scheduledAva calls the patient
06Pre-op reminderAva makes the call
Around all six steps: Ava answers inbound calls 24/7 in English and Spanish. Clinical questions go to your staff.
Why we rank it first for surgery centers
A surgery center's front office is a chain. Most tools in this report are strongest at one link, usually the phone call. Ava is designed around all six links, so fewer handoffs fall between two systems or two people.
HIPAA compliant with a signed BAA. A five-office cardiology and vascular group in Texas is scheduled to go live on December 1, 2026.
Honest limits
Surgery Center Front Desk is a smaller, newer company than several vendors here, with fewer live sites to show you.
Your auth team still submits the prior auth request to the payer.
Billing recovery (denials, underpaid claims, patient balances) is planned for later, not part of the offer today.
Ava's prices are not published on this site; ask for a quote.
§ 02
Capability matrix
What each option says it does, from its own website, checked November 11, 2026.
Capability matrix: what each option states on its own website, checked November 11, 2026
Option
Phones
Scheduling
Referrals
Insurance
Prior auth
Spanish
BAA
Ava (Surgery Center Front Desk)publisher's product
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Stated on vendor site
Insurance: Stated on vendor site
Prior auth: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Spanish: Stated on vendor site
BAA: Stated on vendor site
Assort Health
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Stated on vendor site
Insurance: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Prior auth: Not stated or not offered
Spanish: Not stated or not offered
BAA: Not stated or not offered
Hello Patient
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Insurance: Stated on vendor site
Prior auth: Not stated or not offered
Spanish: Stated on vendor site
BAA: Stated on vendor site
Notable
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Stated on vendor site
Insurance: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Prior auth: Stated on vendor site
Spanish: Partial, limited or listed without detail
BAA: Not stated or not offered
Luma Health
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Stated on vendor site
Insurance: Stated on vendor site
Prior auth: Not stated or not offered
Spanish: Stated on vendor site
BAA: Not stated or not offered
Infinitus
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Referrals: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Insurance: Stated on vendor site
Prior auth: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Spanish: Not stated or not offered
BAA: Stated on vendor site
Hyro
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Not stated or not offered
Insurance: Not stated or not offered
Prior auth: Not stated or not offered
Spanish: Stated on vendor site
BAA: Not stated or not offered
Simbie AI
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Not stated or not offered
Insurance: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Prior auth: Not stated or not offered
Spanish: Stated on vendor site
BAA: Not stated or not offered
Weave
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Referrals: Not stated or not offered
Insurance: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Prior auth: Not stated or not offered
Spanish: Not stated or not offered
BAA: Not stated or not offered
Medical answering service
Phones: Stated on vendor site
Scheduling: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Referrals: Not stated or not offered
Insurance: Not stated or not offered
Prior auth: Not stated or not offered
Spanish: Partial, limited or listed without detail
BAA: Partial, limited or listed without detail
In-house hire
Phones: Partial, limited or listed without detail
Scheduling: Stated on vendor site
Referrals: Stated on vendor site
Insurance: Stated on vendor site
Prior auth: Stated on vendor site
Spanish: Partial, limited or listed without detail
BAA: Not applicable
Stated
Partial or no detail
Not stated
Not applicable
Read across a row to see how much of the referral to scheduled case chain one product covers. Read down a column to see who handles that step at all. "Not stated" means we did not find it on the vendor's public site, not that the product cannot do it. The Ava row describes the publisher's own product.
§ 03
Line by line
The wording behind every mark in the matrix.
Line by line comparison, vendor sites checked November 11, 2026
Option
Best fit for
Phones
Scheduling
Referral intake
Insurance verification
Prior auth
Languages
BAA
Ava (Surgery Center Front Desk)publisher's productsurgerycenterfrontdesk.com (publisher's product)
Surgery centers and multi-office specialty groups
Yes. Ava, a voice agent, answers 24/7
Books into your schedule; outbound scheduling calls and pre-op reminder calls
Yes. Reads referrals, builds the chart with a duplicate check
Yes
Checks whether auth is needed and hands your auth team a ready-to-submit request (your team submits)
English and Spanish
Yes
Assort Healthassorthealth.com
Specialty practices, multi-specialty groups, FQHCs and health systems
Yes. Inbound and outbound voice agent
Yes. 24/7 scheduling, online booking, waitlist
Yes. Reads incoming referral documents; fax and referral automation
"Insurance and Eligibility" listed as a feature; no detail
Not stated
Not stated on pages checked
Not stated on pages checked (HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II stated)
Hello Patienthellopatient.com
Multi-location outpatient practices across many specialties (primary care, urgent care, dermatology, ENT, dental and more)
Yes. Calls, texts and chat
Yes. 24/7 booking, no-show and recall outreach
"Converting referrals" named as a workflow; no detail on document intake
Verifies insurance and collects patient info upfront
Not stated
English and Spanish; more on request
Yes. Signs a BAA with every client
Notablenotablehealth.com
Health systems and large provider organizations
Yes. Voice and SMS agents; warm transfers
Yes. Inbound and outbound scheduling
Yes. Referral automation; faxed order transcription
"Verification" flow and real-time eligibility for copay estimates listed
"Streamline prior authorizations" listed under revenue cycle
Says it can reach patients "in any language"
Not stated (trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2, HITRUST, ISO 27001)
Luma Healthlumahealth.io
Health systems and larger healthcare organizations
Yes. Navigator voice, chat and SMS assistant
Yes. Web, SMS and AI conversation scheduling; waitlist
Yes. Referral coordination; Fax Transform extracts referral data
Eligibility checks before scheduling
Not stated as a current product
English and Spanish, plus translation for chats and transcripts
Not stated (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, HITRUST stated)
Infinitusinfinitus.ai
Pharma, payers and PBMs, and provider organizations doing benefit verification and patient outreach at scale
Yes. AI voice agents for patient and payer-side calls
Outbound appointment scheduling and confirmation listed for providers
Specialist referral coordination listed
Yes. Benefit verification and eligibility
Prior authorization status checks
Not stated
Yes, when it processes PHI
Hyrohyro.ai
Enterprise health systems, FQHCs and payers
Yes. Voice, web chat and SMS agents
Yes. Scheduling, rescheduling and cancellations
Not stated
Not stated
Not stated
English and Spanish
Not confirmed by us (HIPAA stated)
Simbie AIsimbie.ai
Independent and specialty practices that want calls plus post-visit follow-up work automated
Yes. Inbound and outbound calls
Yes. Schedules, reschedules and cancels
Not stated
Collects insurance details on the call; says it does not call payers to verify benefits
Says it does not do prior authorization
English and Spanish only
Not stated (HIPAA and SOC 2 Type 2 stated)
Weavegetweave.com
Small and mid-size practices, especially dental, that want phones, texting and payments in one system
Yes. Full VoIP phone system plus AI Receptionist
Captures requests for staff to book; direct booking for qualified dental systems only
Not stated
"Insurance verification" listed as a product; no detail
Not stated
Language switching listed as "coming soon"
Not stated (says it is built to support HIPAA compliance)
Medical answering serviceCategory, human operators
Practices that mostly need after-hours message taking and on-call paging
Yes. Live operators
Varies; many take messages rather than book
Usually not
Usually not
Usually not
Varies by service
Required if they handle PHI; ask for it
In-house hireCategory, your own staff
Practices with steady volume during business hours and room to train
Business hours, one call at a time per person
Yes
Yes, if trained
Yes, if trained
Yes, if trained
Depends on who you hire
Not needed (your workforce)
§ 04
The entries
Where each option is strong, what we could not confirm, and the buyer it fits better than Ava.
Entry 02
Assort Health
Better fit forSpecialty practices and health systems that want a mature, phone-first agent with deep EHR integration across many specialties.
What it is
An AI voice agent platform for healthcare with modules for inbound calls, self-service booking, outbound outreach, intake, referrals and payments. Its site names more than 15 specialties, including orthopedics, cardiology, gastroenterology, pain management and urology, plus FQHCs and health systems.
Where it is strong
Broad specialty coverage, a referrals module that reads incoming referral documents and runs outreach until the visit is booked, and integrations it lists with Epic, Oracle Health, athenahealth, NextGen, ModMed, eClinicalWorks and others. States HIPAA compliance and SOC 2 Type II.
Not confirmed
We did not find language support, BAA terms or prior authorization on the pages we checked. Ask directly.
Better fit forMulti-location outpatient and consumer health practices with high call and text volume across many locations.
What it is
AI agents (the assistant is called Mia) that answer calls, texts and web chat for practices. Its site lists primary care, urgent care, dermatology, ENT, dentistry, optometry, mental health and veterinary among its specialties and highlights multi-location groups.
Where it is strong
24/7 booking, no-show and recall outreach, insurance verification at intake, English and Spanish with more languages on request, and a published FAQ stating it is HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type 2 certified and signs a BAA with every client. Usage-based pricing that scales with conversation volume.
Not confirmed
Prior authorization is not mentioned. Referral work is named but not described in detail.
Better fit forHealth systems and large groups that want one platform to automate many workflows and have the IT staff to configure it.
What it is
An AI agent and workflow automation platform for healthcare operators. Named customers on its site include CommonSpirit, MUSC Health and UC San Diego Health.
Where it is strong
Wide scope: voice and SMS agents, referral automation, faxed order transcription, registration and intake, prior authorization and other revenue cycle work, with integrations it lists including Epic, Oracle and athena. Its trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2, HITRUST and ISO/IEC 27001:2022.
Not confirmed
We did not find a BAA statement or a specific language count on the pages we checked.
Better fit forHealth systems and large groups that want a full patient access platform with deep EHR ties.
What it is
An operational AI platform for healthcare organizations. Its Navigator assistant handles voice, chat and SMS, and the wider platform covers scheduling, referrals, eligibility, fax processing and payments. The site says more than 1,000 healthcare organizations use it.
Where it is strong
Referral coordination and fax extraction, eligibility checks before booking, English and Spanish, bi-directional EHR integration with systems it names including Epic, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Oracle Health, MEDITECH and NextGen. Lists HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II and HITRUST.
Not confirmed
Prior authorization is not presented as a current product on the pages we checked, and we did not find BAA terms.
Better fit forSpecialty pharmacies, manufacturers' patient support programs and large provider organizations with heavy benefit verification volume.
What it is
An agentic AI platform for patient support used by pharma and life sciences, payers and PBMs, and provider organizations. It is less a front desk receptionist and more a system for benefit verification, prior authorization status checks and outreach calls.
Where it is strong
Benefit verification and eligibility at scale, payer-side calling, and a security page stating SOC 2 Type II and that it signs a BAA with each customer whose PHI it processes.
Not confirmed
Inbound front desk call handling for a single practice and language support are not described on the pages we checked.
Better fit forLarge health systems and FQHC networks running a central contact center.
What it is
AI agents for patient access across voice, web chat and SMS, aimed at enterprise health systems, FQHCs and payers.
Where it is strong
Scheduling, rescheduling and cancellation, English and Spanish, Epic integration, and HIPAA compliance, per its own pages.
Not confirmed
Hyro's site blocked our automated page check, so we confirmed these points only through its own pages as indexed by search. We left referral intake, insurance verification, prior authorization and BAA terms as not confirmed.
Better fit forIndependent and specialty practices that want phone coverage plus post-visit follow-up work, and handle insurance and auth in house.
What it is
AI voice agents for practices that handle patient registration, scheduling, refills, education and pre-visit intake, and place calls to patients, pharmacies and other providers.
Where it is strong
Inbound and outbound calls, scheduling into the EHR, English and Spanish, and stated HIPAA compliance and SOC 2 Type 2. It is unusually clear about limits: its eClinicalWorks page says it does not do prior authorization and does not call payers to verify benefits. Pricing is based on usage.
Not confirmed
Referral intake and BAA terms were not stated on the pages we checked.
Better fit forDental and smaller outpatient practices that want to replace their phone system and texting in one move.
What it is
An all-in-one communication platform: a phone system, texting, scheduling, reminders, payments and an AI Receptionist that answers calls and texts at any hour.
Where it is strong
One vendor for phones, texting and payments. The AI Receptionist answers common questions, captures appointment requests and passes anything it cannot answer to your team with a summary.
Not confirmed
Automatic booking is listed for qualified dental systems only; other practices review and book requests themselves. Language switching is listed as coming soon. The security page says Weave is designed to support HIPAA compliance but does not mention a BAA.
Better fit forPractices whose main gap is after-hours coverage and on-call paging, not daytime front office workload.
What it is
Live operators who answer when your office cannot, take messages, and page the on-call provider.
Where it is strong
A human voice for every caller, and an established way to route urgent after-hours calls to the on-call physician.
Watch for
Many services take messages rather than book into your schedule, and few touch referrals, insurance or prior auth, so the work still lands on your staff the next morning. A service that handles patient information is a business associate and needs a BAA under HIPAA.
Better fit forPractices with steady daytime volume, little after-hours demand, and time to train. Many centers do both: AI for volume and nights, staff for exceptions.
What it is
Adding a scheduler, receptionist or referral coordinator to your own team.
Where it is strong
Judgment, local knowledge of your surgeons and payers, and no new vendor to manage. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a median receptionist wage of $38,010 a year as of May 2025, before benefits, training and turnover.
Watch for
One person handles one call at a time, during business hours, and coverage drops with sick days and turnover.