Sellium for HealthcareSellium for Healthcare: patient scheduling on WhatsApp
A patient texts at 10 PM to ask what an MRI costs and when there's an opening. If nobody answers until the next day, they book somewhere else. Sellium answers, quotes and books the appointment in the same conversation, with your fee schedule and your calendar. Anything that involves protected health information, like coverage, the order or a symptom, moves to a channel covered by your BAA, because Meta is not a HIPAA business associate.
How do you handle patient scheduling on WhatsApp with AI, and where does PHI go?
You handle scheduling on WhatsApp by connecting an AI sales agent to the provider's calendar, its management system and its fee schedule: the agent answers what a visit or a self-pay test costs, offers the open slots and books the one the patient picks, with the date, time and location. Protected health information stays off WhatsApp: when the conversation needs the patient's coverage, member ID, the order or anything clinical, the agent sends a link to continue on web chat, by SMS or by phone, on a channel covered by your BAA, where it checks the plan, the copay and prior authorization. The patient doesn't wait on hold or fill out a form.
It is strictly administrative work. Sellium does not diagnose, triage or recommend treatment: at any mention of symptoms, urgency or a clinical question, it hands the conversation to a professional or the emergency department with the full context. What it does do is turn the inquiries that get lost after hours or at a swamped front desk into appointments.
Which data can travel over WhatsApp depends on the country. In the US, Meta states that it is not a HIPAA business associate, so WhatsApp carries the appointment, reminders with no clinical details and general information, and anything with protected health information moves to a channel whose provider, like Twilio for SMS, voice and chat, offers the healthcare provider a business associate agreement (BAA) on its own terms. In Latin America, HIPAA doesn't apply, but each country's personal data law does, and it treats health data as sensitive: the agent asks for the minimum it needs.
The full picture of the sector (the five agents of the Vantegrate Suite applied to hospitals, clinics, health plans, labs and pharma companies) is on the Healthcare page.
The pain points at the front desk and in scheduling
What keeps coming up at clinics, imaging centers and private practices: the inquiry comes in, but it doesn't always end in an appointment.
The front desk can't keep up
Phone, WhatsApp and walk-ins at once. The same questions about coverage, price and availability fill the day, and the patient left on hold hangs up and tries somewhere else.
Inquiries that arrive when nobody's there
Patients ask at night or on weekends, when they remember or right after getting the order. If the answer comes the next morning, they've already booked at another center.
Slow quotes for self-pay patients
What an ultrasound, an endoscopy or a scheduled surgery costs without coverage: the request goes through billing, gets built by hand and arrives in a day or two. By then, the patient has already compared.
The admin chat that turns clinical
When a patient types symptoms or an insurance ID into the same chat where they're booking, the channel becomes a risk: clinical, if nobody sees it in time, and legal, if that data shouldn't travel there. You need clear referral and channel rules, not good intentions.
How Sellium solves it for clinics and medical centers
The agent's capabilities, mapped to intake: each one works with your calendar, your payer contracts and your fee schedule, inside an administrative line it never crosses. With US patients, the steps that handle protected health information run on a channel covered by a BAA, not on WhatsApp.
Booked in chat
Appointments from the real calendar
Offers the next open slots by specialty, provider or location, books the one chosen in your system and confirms the date, time and address. Prep instructions and paperwork tied to the procedure go out on the channel covered by your BAA.
Coverage
Coverage checked before booking
On a channel covered by your BAA, not on WhatsApp, it checks whether the procedure is covered under the patient's plan, states the copay or coinsurance and flags whether prior authorization is needed, before the patient reaches the front desk.
Self-pay
Quotes for tests and scheduled surgeries
Quotes self-pay patients from your fee schedule, per procedure or per bundle, and sends it in the chat or as a PDF. Anything that needs a provider's assessment, it gathers and passes to your estimates team.
Medical order
Reads the order on a secure channel
The patient uploads the order on the web chat or patient portal covered by your BAA, not on WhatsApp, and the agent identifies the requested procedure to offer the right appointment, without interpreting the diagnosis or commenting on the test.
Clinical referral
Clinical referral by design
At any mention of symptoms, urgency or a clinical question, it stops, doesn't discuss it on WhatsApp and hands off to a professional or the ER with the full context, on a channel covered by your BAA. In an emergency, it tells the patient to call emergency services.
Deposit
Deposit or prepayment in the chat
For self-pay procedures that require it, it sends a payment link from Mercado Pago, Stripe or the gateway you already use, and the appointment is confirmed once the payment clears.
The MRI inquiry that comes in on a Sunday night
The full flow for the most common inquiry at an imaging center: price, coverage and an appointment, outside front-desk hours, with protected health information kept off WhatsApp. An illustrative example, not real customer data.
Sunday 9:50 PM
The patient asks on WhatsApp
She needs a knee MRI and asks what it costs, whether her plan covers it and when there's an opening. The front desk opens Monday at 8.
9:51 PM
General answers on WhatsApp
Sellium sends the self-pay price from your fee schedule and the next open slots at the two nearest locations: general information, the same that's on your website.
9:52 PM
Coverage moves to a secure channel
Checking her plan takes her member ID and the order, which are protected health information. Sellium sends her a link to your web chat, covered by your BAA, where she uploads the order and it confirms coverage, prior authorization and her coinsurance.
9:53 PM
Booked, with instructions
She picks a slot and it's booked in your system. WhatsApp gets only the date, time and address; the prep instructions go out on the secure chat.
9:54 PM
A question that isn't administrative
In the secure chat she mentions her knee has been swelling over the last few days. Sellium doesn't weigh in: it tells her to check with her doctor and, if it's urgent, to call emergency services, and routes the conversation to the center's medical team.
An inquiry that used to wait until Monday and compete with the morning calls ended in a booked appointment in four minutes, with coverage checked on a channel covered by your BAA and the clinical part in the right hands. Multiply that by every inquiry that comes in after hours.
Why WhatsApp for scheduling, by the numbers
Public benchmarks on how patients want to book and how much a fast reply matters.
89%
Of patients say being able to book appointments anytime through online or mobile tools is important to them
7x
More likely to qualify a lead when contacting it within the first hour than one hour later
24 h
From the patient's last message to reply without a template; after that, only with an approved template
Public benchmarks, not our own results. The Experian Health survey covered patients in the United States; the Harvard Business Review figure measures web leads contacted by phone or email and is used as a reference for response speed; Meta updates its messaging rules several times a year. Every Sellium implementation is measured against a baseline agreed with the provider (after-hours inquiries handled, inquiries converted to appointments, response time).
Secure AI agents that work with your data
Sellium works with patient data: identity, coverage and appointments. That's why it asks only for the administrative data it needs, runs 100% on Salesforce and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure with those platforms' SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, keeps the information in your systems under the permissions you set and runs on the official WhatsApp API. With US patients, protected health information doesn't go through WhatsApp: it goes on a channel covered by a BAA. We don't claim anyone else's certifications: Vantegrate enables, the customer operates and certifies.
Frequently asked questions about Sellium for Healthcare
Does Sellium give medical advice or triage patients?
Does Sellium give medical advice or triage patients?
No. Sellium is purely administrative: it books appointments, checks coverage, quotes procedures and answers questions about hours, locations and prep. Any message with symptoms, urgency or a clinical question triggers a handoff to a professional, the medical team or the ER with the full conversation, and in an emergency it tells the patient to call emergency services. The referral rule is defined with each provider during implementation.
Can it quote a test or a scheduled surgery for a self-pay patient?
Can it quote a test or a scheduled surgery for a self-pay patient?
Yes, from your fee schedule. Procedures with a set price (a test, a consultation, a fixed surgical bundle) it quotes in the chat or as a PDF, with the expiration date clearly shown. Those that depend on a provider's assessment, like most surgeries, it gathers and passes to your estimates team with the details already filled in. How those quotes get followed up is covered in WhatsApp quote follow-up.
How does it check health plan or insurer coverage?
How does it check health plan or insurer coverage?
Against the contracts and plans you have loaded, on a channel covered by your BAA rather than WhatsApp: it identifies the patient by ID or member number, checks whether the procedure is covered under their plan, states the copay or coinsurance and flags whether prior authorization is needed. If the plan or the procedure isn't on file, it doesn't promise coverage: it routes the question to intake to confirm.
How is patients' health data protected?
How is patients' health data protected?
As sensitive data. The agent asks only for what administrative handling requires, the information stays in your systems under the permissions you set, and every conversation is logged. Which data the agent asks for, and on which channel it travels, is set with your compliance team under the rules of each country where you operate. The full model is on our security page.
Can you handle patient health data over WhatsApp?
Can you handle patient health data over WhatsApp?
It depends on the country and the data. In the US, protected health information (PHI) doesn't go over WhatsApp: Meta states in its WhatsApp Business terms that it is not a HIPAA business associate and that the platform is not HIPAA compliant, and WhatsApp is not on Twilio's list of HIPAA-eligible services, which does include SMS, voice and chat. WhatsApp carries the appointment (date, time and location), reminders with no clinical details and general information. When the conversation needs coverage, the order, a result or a symptom, the agent stops asking there and sends the patient a link to continue on web chat, by SMS or by phone, on a channel whose provider (for example, Twilio for SMS, voice and chat) offers the healthcare provider a BAA on its own terms. In Latin America, HIPAA doesn't apply, but each country's law treats health data as sensitive: Law 25,326 in Argentina, the Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties in Mexico and Law 1581 of 2012 in Colombia. Which data goes on which channel is set with your compliance team during implementation: compliance depends on that setup and on your organization's agreements with each vendor, not on a badge from us.
Does Sellium replace the front desk or the call center?
Does Sellium replace the front desk or the call center?
No: it takes the repetitive questions about price, coverage and availability off their plate and handles the ones that come in after hours. The team stays focused on in-person intake, complex cases and care that needs a person, and when a patient asks to talk to someone, it transfers them with the history. Reminders and attendance confirmations can be added with Revio.
How much does Sellium cost for a clinic or medical center?
How much does Sellium cost for a clinic or medical center?
Sellium is priced in two parts: an initial implementation quoted for each provider (discovery, training the agent on your fee schedule, payer contracts and referral rules, integrations and adjustments) and a monthly subscription with expandable AI credits, with no lock-in. You pay Meta directly for WhatsApp messages, on your own account and with no markup from us. To get a price for your case, request a quote.
Tonight's inquiry can end in an appointment
Tell us how inquiries reach your front desk, which payers you work with and how you quote self-pay patients, and we'll put together a Sellium quote for your clinic or medical center. If you prefer, let's talk on WhatsApp.
Francisco Morales, co-founder, takes your call. We reply on WhatsApp within 4 business hours, no strings attached.
The industry
Other products for this sector