Should we use an AI receptionist in a community based family physician office
Overwhelming phone volumes, staff burnout, and patient accessibility complaints continue to challenge community-based family medicine practices. While conversational artificial intelligence (AI) voice receptionists offer a compelling approach to automating routine scheduling and call triaging, moving from concept to live deployment introduces real-world operational and technical complexities.
This session presents a practical, ground-level assessment of evaluating and deploying an EMR-integrated AI receptionist. Drawing from real-world implementation experience—highlighting a rapid 2-to-3-week deployment in a 10-physician suburban clinic alongside comparative frameworks for a 2-physician small community practice—this talk addresses whether family practices should or could adopt voice AI, and how to do so successfully. Attendees will learn how to navigate vendor selection and lead the critical physician/staff/patient alignment and human change management required to implement a solution.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate the Operational Viability & ROI of Voice AI: Assess whether an AI voice receptionist is appropriate for their clinic by comparing the implementation barriers (e.g., protocol standardization, software costs) against the realized benefits (e.g., staff time saved, reduction in dropped calls, and protection from constant interruptions).
- Formulate a Change Management Strategy: Apply strategies to align physicians on standardized EMR booking rules and support administrative staff through workflow transitions, enabling rapid deployment within weeks rather than months
- Discuss practical considerations regarding deployment
Speaker:
- Sohal Goyal, MD
- Beth Perrier, MD
- Seth Goyal, Honours Health Science
Presenter Bios:
Sohal Goyal, MD
Dr Sohal Goyal is a family physician in Mississauga. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 2000 and completed his residency in Ottawa.
He is currently assistant clinic professor at the department of family medicine McMaster University and TMU and has been teaching for over 15 years.
He is the Current Chair of the Mississauga Health Primary Care Network and Chair of District 5 of the Ontario Medical Association and past member of the executive of the Section of General and Family Practice at the OMA.
Currently, he is one of the Co-Chairs of the Mississauga Ontario Health team and one of primary care leads for the OHT. He is also one of the Regional Primary Care co-leads at Ontario Health.
He is passionate about system transformation and engaging health care providers to ensure that they are involved. He completed the OMA Rotman Physician Leadership Program in 2023.
He is the proud father of 3 boys and lives with his wife in Mississauga. He is a sports fanatic loves cheering the Raptors, Jays and even the Leafs.
Beth Perrier, MD
Dr. Beth Perrier is a family physician in Belleville. She graduated from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in 2013 followed by residency at Queen’s University. She practices comprehensive community medicine and medical psychotherapy as well as teaching medical learners. She is the Chief Physician Officer of Policy for the Section on General & Family Practice, District 6 Chair and Hastings Prince Edward Medical Society President.
She is an active physician member with the Hastings Prince Edward Primary Care Network, working toward local improvements and supporting primary care clinicians.
Dr. Perrier is passionate about primary care and health system transformation, working to engage and include the diverse population and geography throughout the province of physicians and all health care workers in this important process of change and growth.
She is also a proud swim mom to two swimmers and enjoys walking the slightly unhinged family rescue dog, Millie, while living in Belleville with her movie-fanatic husband.
Seth Goyal
Seth Goyal is an Honours Health Sciences student at McMaster University with interests in digital health, health research, and patient-centred care. His experiences in healthcare volunteering, patient and family engagement, and community health advocacy have shaped his interest in improving how people access, navigate, and experience healthcare. He is currently a member of the Ontario Health Central Patient and Family Advisory Council, a volunteer at Trillium Health Partners’ Credit Valley Hospital, and is co-authoring papers exploring the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. He is particularly interested in how emerging technologies can improve healthcare delivery and accessibility while ensuring that the perspectives and experiences of patients and families remain central to innovation.
Date
- Oct 02 2026
Time
- 2:20 pm - 3:05 pm
