New Patient Intake: Register and Book via One Call

Emma’s New Patient Intake workflow handles the full registration and booking process for new callers over the phone. When an unrecognized caller rings the practice, Emma registers them conversationally, captures insurance or self-pay details, and books their first appointment directly in the EMR — all before the call ends.

Integration method: REST / FHIR R4 against the EMR. Emma uses MCP tools during the call to perform scheduling and registration actions in real time.

Prerequisites

An Emma account connected to a FHIR R4-compliant EMR
The practice’s phone number mapped to Emma (configured per engagement)
FHIR R4 operations enabled: Patient/$match, Patient create, Schedule/Slot, Appointment/$book

Flow

Connect the EMR

Where: Emma → Integrations → EMR / EHREmma connects to the EMR through a FHIR R4 adapter. For this workflow, four operations must be enabled before the flow can run end-to-end:

Operation	FHIR R4 resource	Used for
Find patient	`Patient/$match`	Check whether the caller is an existing patient
Create patient	`Patient` create	Open a new chart from the completed registration
Retrieve availability	`Schedule` · `Slot`	Get real open slots to offer the patient
Book appointment	`Appointment/$book`	Confirm the first visit before the call ends

A reference EMR sandbox is available for testing the full flow before connecting to production. Contact your Emma implementation team to get access.

A new patient calls

Where: the practice’s mapped phone numberWhen a call arrives, Emma immediately checks whether the caller’s number matches an existing patient record. If no match is found, Emma starts the New Patient Intake flow and opens with an intake greeting before collecting consent.

Ring → Emma lookup → No match found → Start intake greeting → Collect consent

Registration

Emma collects each required field conversationally, confirming details as it goes. If the call drops at any point, nothing already collected is lost — Emma resumes from where the conversation left off.Required fields collected during registration:

Full name
Phone number
Email address
Preferred location
Medicare status
Health plan
Referral source
Communication consent

Coverage

Once registration is complete, Emma captures the patient’s coverage. Billing questions that fall outside Emma’s scope are escalated to a team member rather than left unanswered.

Path	What happens	Tool called
Insurance	Carrier and member ID captured	`submit_insurance_info`
Self-pay	Patient chooses to pay directly	`record_self_pay_decision`
Billing question	Handed off to the billing team	`escalate_billing`

Emma: Do you have health insurance you’d like us to use for your visit? Caller: Yes, Blue Plan PPO. My member ID is on my card — want me to read it? → submit_insurance_info called — coverage saved Emma: Got it, thank you. Now let’s find a time for your first visit.

Booking the first visit

Where: the EMR, as the system of recordEmma checks real availability, offers specific slots to the patient, and books the one they pick — all before the call ends. If a slot is taken at the exact moment of booking, Emma automatically re-checks availability and offers the next open time without interrupting the conversation.

{
  "resourceType": "Parameters",
  "parameter": [{
    "name": "appointment",
    "resource": {
      "resourceType": "Appointment",
      "serviceType": [{ "text": "New patient visit" }],
      "start": "2026-10-06T15:00:00Z",
      "participant": [
        { "actor": { "reference": "Patient/jordan-lee" } },
        { "actor": { "reference": "Practitioner/dr-rivera" } }
      ]
    }
  }]
}

{
  "resourceType": "OperationOutcome",
  "issue": [{
    "severity": "error",
    "code": "conflict",
    "diagnostics": "slot_taken"
  }]
}

When a 409 Conflict is returned, Emma automatically re-checks availability and offers the next open slot without interrupting the conversation.By the time the call ends, three records are created or updated in the EMR:

Patient Record

Created in the EMR and marked active.

Appointment

Booked with the chosen provider and time.

Call Record

Transcript, summary, and coverage status stored.

All names, phone numbers, and IDs on this page are sample data.

Overview

Integration Methods

Workflow Guides

New Patient Intake: Register and Book via One Call

Prerequisites

Flow

Patient Record

Appointment

Call Record

​Prerequisites

​Flow

Patient Record

Appointment

Call Record

Prerequisites

Flow