In Chile, it all starts with asking for an hora. Arbol answers, books it and knows who is due back.
AI for clinics, medical centers and insurers in Chile, where an appointment is called an hora: it answers the phone and WhatsApp at any hour, books and confirms appointments on your schedule and tells you who is due back.
This is what a Santiago medical center's phone looks like.
Each ridge is a weekday; each summit, the minute when everyone calls at once: at 8:03 a.m., at 9:10 a.m., at 3:43 p.m..
The dotted line is what your front desk can answer.
Two people, between the line at the desk and the phone: about 30 calls an hour, from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Everything above the line is snow.
76 calls and WhatsApp messages left unanswered at this week's peaks, and 178 more after the desk had closed. Each one was someone asking for an appointment.
With Arbol, the mountains light up.
It answers every call on the first ring, all of them at once, at 8:03 a.m. and at 11:00 p.m. And the appointment lands on your schedule.
- Unanswered this week
- 0
- Answered by Arbol
- 254
- Fri
- Thu
- Wed
- Tue
- Mon
- 8:03 a.m.
- 9:10 a.m.
- 3:43 p.m.
- 8:00 a.m.
- 10:00 a.m.
- 12:00 p.m.
- 2:00 p.m.
- 4:00 p.m.
- 6:00 p.m.
- Fri
- Thu
- Wed
- Tue
- Mon
- 8:05 a.m.
- 9:10 a.m.
- 3:40 p.m.
- 8:00 a.m.
- 10:00 a.m.
- 12:00 p.m.
- 2:00 p.m.
- 4:00 p.m.
- 6:00 p.m.
One week of a Santiago medical center's phone, Monday (in front) to Friday. Example center.
In Chile, waiting is on the record. And whoever doesn't answer loses the patient.
2,092,315
people are waiting for a new specialist consultation in Chile's public network. The median wait is 237 days.
Ministry of Health (Minsal), Glosa 06 report, June 2026 (opens in a new tab)15–20%
of the patients on waiting lists can't be reached, according to Chile's Minister of Health. Every unanswered call leaves someone off the list.
Health Minister May Chomalí, Minsal, July 2026 (opens in a new tab)1 in 5
patients who book an appointment never shows up. With a phone reminder, no-shows fell from 20.3% to 12.5%.
Center for Mathematical Modeling, University of Chile (opens in a new tab)56.2%
of what private providers deliver goes to Fonasa patients: in 2024, 8.2 million people bought a free-choice voucher (bono) to be seen by them.
Clínicas de Chile, 2024 figures (opens in a new tab)
Three modules. One agent.
Start with one and add the others: all three share the memory of every patient, across every channel.
The trunk
Contactability
Answers and calls by phone, WhatsApp, SMS, email and web chat, around the clock, with a single agent that remembers every conversation.
See contactabilityThe branches
Agenda
Books, confirms and reschedules appointments on the schedule you already use, or on Arbol's Agenda with medical records, and offers every freed slot to the waiting list.
See the AgendaThe amber
Governance
Knows who is due back: check-ups, tests, GES guarantees and waiting lists, with every conversation recorded and auditable.
Explore governance
It speaks the way Chile speaks.
Your center's assistant asks for the RUT (the national ID number), confirms the previsión (whether the patient is covered by Fonasa, the public insurer, or an isapre, a private one) and offers the appointment in your front desk's words. In the register your center uses, and saying in its first sentence that it is a virtual assistant.
What never changes
- It uses the formal «usted», or the informal «tú» if that's how your center talks to its patients.
- Its first sentence says it is your center's virtual assistant and that the call is recorded.
- It never gives clinical advice: no doses, no diagnoses. At a warning sign it follows your center's protocol and alerts your team.
Clínica Norte, good evening. This is Mónica, a virtual assistant; this call is recorded. How can I help you?
Hi, I need an appointment with orthopedics. I have a referral.
Of course. May I have your RUT, please?
(She reads out her RUT, ending in K.)
Thank you, Mrs. Carmen. Are you still with Fonasa?
Yes, Fonasa.
I have Thursday at 10:30 at the Providencia site or Friday at 4:15 in Ñuñoa. Which works for you?
Thursday, please.
Done: your appointment is booked for Thursday at 10:30, orthopedics, in Providencia. You'll get the confirmation on WhatsApp, and on Wednesday I'll message you to confirm you're coming.
Booked · Thursday 10:30 · Providencia
How Chile says it
- Pedir hora
- To ask for an appointment. Chileans ask for an hora, take an hora and cancel the hora; «cita» is understood too, and Arbol speaks the way each patient does.
- Previsión
- Fonasa or an isapre. It is asked before offering the appointment, because it changes the price and the schedule.
- RUT
- The national ID number, with its check digit, even when that digit is a K.
- Sobrecupo
- The extra appointment squeezed in when the schedule is full. With confirmed appointments, you need fewer.
- Interconsulta
- The referral the patient is holding: often, the real reason for the call.
- Box
- The consulting room. Every empty slot is a dark room: the rent and the doctor's time run anyway.
No empty slot.
The day before, Arbol confirms every appointment by WhatsApp or by phone. If someone can't come, it reschedules in the same conversation and offers the freed slot to your waiting list, in the order your center sets.
The 12:00 appointment is cancelled.
The patient writes on WhatsApp that she won't make it.
The slot goes to the waiting list.
Arbol offers it by WhatsApp and by phone, with the exact time and the site.
Someone takes it.
It is booked with their coverage noted and the confirmation sent. Everyone else on the list hears it's been filled.
The room is working.
In walks the person who had been waiting three weeks for that appointment.
With the schedule you already use or with Arbol's Agenda, which adds medical records. And with confirmed appointments, overbooking stops being the rule.
See the Agenda| Room 1General medicine | Room 2Orthopedics | Room 3Pediatrics | Room 4Gynecology | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:30 | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| 10:00 | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed | Open |
| 10:30 | Confirmed | Confirmed | Awaiting confirmation | Confirmed |
| 11:00 | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| 11:30 | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| 12:00 | Confirmed | Cancelled and taken by the waiting list | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| 12:30 | Awaiting confirmation | Confirmed | Open | Confirmed |
| 1:00 | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed | Awaiting confirmation |
- Confirmed
- Awaiting confirmation
- Cancelled and taken by the waiting list
No deadline expires in silence.
Arbol cross-checks your medical records, your schedule and the rosters of your agreements, and every morning shows you who is due back. Your center's assistant calls or messages them, and your team sees how each case ended.
Chile's public network has 68,878 delayed GES guarantees, with a median delay of 69 days. Ministry of Health (Minsal), Glosa 06 report, June 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Minsal's technical guidance for reaching people on waiting lists asks for at least three call attempts, on different days and at different times, one of them outside business hours, and includes scripts for AI-automated phone calls. Minsal, technical guidance on contactability (opens in a new tab)
Example
GES guarantee
Rosa, 58
GES deadlines: Six days left on the legal deadline for her diagnostic confirmation.
Booked · Monday 9:00 · her doctor alerted
Cardiovascular
Jorge, 64
Medical record: Hypertensive; his last check-up was seven months ago.
Check-up booked · Thursday 10:30
Waiting list
Camila, 34
Waiting list: ENT referral since March; two calls unanswered.
Reached on WhatsApp · appointment on Saturday
Preventive
Patricia, 51
Agreement: Her employer's agreement covers a yearly check-up and she hasn't had this year's.
Check-up booked · Wednesday 8:00, fasting
Can't wait
Luis, 71
WhatsApp: He wrote that he has had chest pain since the morning.
Sent to the emergency room per your protocol · on-call team alerted
Governance flags. The doctor decides.
Law 21,719
Chile's new personal data protection law treats health data as sensitive and creates an agency that oversees how they are used. With Arbol, every conversation is recorded, transcribed and traceable: who said what, on which channel and how it ended.
Explore governanceIt knows each patient's coverage. And works for every payer.
Fonasa
The public insurer. Arbol offers the appointment under free choice when your center has the agreement, and explains how to buy the voucher (bono).
Isapre
A private insurer. Arbol asks for the plan, recognizes whether your center is in its network and routes every GES case the way it should go.
Supplementary insurance
Reminds the patient which documents to ask for at the visit so they can claim their reimbursement.
Self-pay
Gives the price of the visit and sends the payment link.
Mutual
The occupational-safety insurers. Arbol books each company's pre-employment and occupational exams, by shift and by site.
Agreements with the public network
If you treat patients referred from the public waiting list, Arbol calls them, books them and logs every attempt.
Your number answered in seven days. The rest, in stages.
Day 1
We listen to your center
Your call volume, your cancellations, your waiting list and your agreements, in half an hour.
Days 2 to 6
We set it up with you
Sites, specialties, professionals, coverage and the emergency protocol. Your team approves every script.
Day 7
Live
Calls and WhatsApp on your usual number. Then the Agenda and governance, one module at a time.
Questions from Chile.
What does Arbol do in Chile?
Three things that work together: it answers and calls your patients by phone, WhatsApp and web chat (contactability), books and confirms their appointments and offers the ones that open up (the Agenda), and tells you who is due back, with every conversation traceable (governance). Most centers start with contactability.
Do we have to change our schedule or our medical records?
No. Arbol works on your number, your WhatsApp, your schedule and your medical records, with more than 99 integrations, and your data can be exported in full whenever you ask. Arbol's Agenda, with medical records, is an option, not a requirement.
Does it understand Fonasa, isapres and GES?
Yes. It asks for the patient's coverage before offering an appointment, knows which agreements your center works with and tracks the deadline of every GES guarantee (Chile's explicit health guarantees, which set legal maximum waiting times). We set it up with your team before the first call.
Does it say it isn't a person?
Yes: its first sentence says it is your center's virtual assistant and that the call is recorded. That cannot be switched off.
Does it give medical advice?
Never: no doses, no diagnoses. At a warning sign it follows your center's protocol and alerts your team. Arbol flags and prioritizes; the diagnosis and the treatment belong to your team.
What happens to my patients' data?
They are sensitive data, and Arbol handles them under Law 19,628 and the new personal data protection law, Law 21,719: with a declared purpose, encryption and isolation per institution. The medical record stays in your system.
Does it work for telemedicine?
Yes. It books the teleconsultation just like an in-person visit, sends the patient how to connect and keeps the same record of the conversation.
How much does it cost and how long does it take?
Contactability is billed per minute and, depending on volume, may include a fixed monthly charge; governance is quoted case by case. Your number is answered in about seven days, and the conditions are put in writing.
Let's see your center on Arbol.
A 30-minute demo: your phone, your schedule, your lists and the best place to start. You leave with the proposal in writing.
Chile · For clinics, medical centers, networks and insurers