GDPR and an AI phone in the physiotherapy practice: where the line is
Patients call with names and appointment wishes — not a medical record. What an AI receptionist may and may not hear, and which questions to ask a vendor.
Physiotherapists are rightly cautious of software that 'talks to patients'. GDPR is about purpose limitation and data minimisation — not about banning the phone. The point is: what does the AI hear, where is it processed, and does clinical information reach a model?
Scheduling is not a medical record
An inbound call is almost always about availability: can I come Thursday, which location, do I need a referral. That is scheduling data. Diagnoses, treatment notes, and EHR contents do not belong there — and must not become input to a language model.
- Ask where calls are processed (EU) and how long recordings or transcripts are kept.
- Ask whether the model has a direct connection to the EHR. The answer must be no.
- Ask which fields come back to the practice: name, phone, requested slot — not treatment notes.
Questions to ask in a demo
- 1Where does the data live, and which processing agreement do I get?
- 2What must the AI never hear — and how is that enforced?
- 3What happens on a complaint or a clinical question?
- 4Can I read Healthcare Trust / architecture documentation before going live?
SuperbCall is designed around scheduling conversations, with a Privacy Vault approach and no direct LLM access to clinical systems. The details live on the Healthcare Trust page — not in a certification slogan.
Frequently asked questions
- May an AI receptionist hear patient names?
- A name and an appointment wish are needed to schedule. That is different from record contents. Processing must be purpose-bound, minimal, and covered by a contract.
- Does the AI need to look in the EHR?
- No. Availability and booking rules can travel over a limited scheduling integration. Clinical data does not belong in a conversation with a model.
- Is 'GDPR-proof' a useful claim?
- Rarely. Ask for a processing agreement, location, retention, and architecture — not a badge on the homepage.