# Patient continuity

> Patient continuity lets Intavia pick up each call with what your practice already knows about the patient. Callers don't have to explain their history, and they can stay with the clinician they know.

Type: Capability (Callers & records)
Last reviewed: 3 October 2026
Web page: https://www.intavia.ai/docs/patient-continuity

## At a glance

- What it does: Uses a confirmed patient's appointments and treatment plans to guide the call
- Channels: Inbound and outbound calls, with additional channels available
- Integrations: Your practice management system, such as Dentally
- What you can customise: Which context is used, clinician continuity for each appointment type and how treatment plan visits are booked
- What your team sees: Bookings with the right clinician in your system, and tasks for anything that needs a person
- Setup: Done for you by our team, around how your practice keeps patients with their clinicians

## How it works

Our team agrees with you which patient context matters and how clinician continuity works for each appointment type. Intavia applies it on every call, once the patient has confirmed who they are.

1. Plan: we agree with you which context is used and when patients should stay with the same clinician.
2. Confirm: the caller confirms who they are before any of their context is shared.
3. Context: Intavia reads the patient's upcoming and recent appointments from your practice system, along with treatment plans where these are set up for your practice.
4. Answer: questions such as when the next appointment is are answered from the record, so the patient isn't asked for details your practice already holds.
5. Book: a patient who asks for the same as last time is offered the same kind of appointment, location and clinician where your rules allow, and agrees before times are searched.
6. Clinician: for each appointment type, the clinician the patient has seen before is required, offered first or offered as a choice, as agreed with you. Treatment plan visits can stay with the clinician who planned them.
7. Next step: when the usual clinician can't be booked for that appointment, the patient is offered another clinician or time, or passed to your team.

## Options

These are the options we agree with you, not fixed settings. Each one can be shaped around how your practice works, and anything not listed here can be built into the plan.

| Option | What we agree with you |
| --- | --- |
| Context | Which patient context is used on calls, such as upcoming and past appointments and treatment plans |
| Clinician continuity | For each appointment type, whether patients stay with the clinician they've seen before, are offered them first, or choose |
| Usual clinician | How the usual clinician is worked out, such as the clinician assigned in your system or the one seen most recently |
| Treatment plans | Whether planned treatment visits are booked with the clinician who planned them, where your practice system supports it |
| Rescheduling | Whether a moved appointment stays with the same clinician |
| Hand-over | What happens when the usual clinician can't be booked, such as offering someone else or passing the request to your team |

## Works together with

- [Identity verification](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/identity-verification): Identity confirmed before personal details are shared, including for people calling on someone's behalf.
- [Appointment booking, changes & cancellations](https://www.intavia.ai/capabilities/appointment-booking): Appointments booked, moved and cancelled during the call, directly in your system.
- [Caller recognition](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/caller-recognition): A familiar welcome for returning callers.
- [Appointment rebooking](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/appointment-rebooking): Patients who cancelled are contacted and helped to book again.
- [Practice rules & policies](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/practice-rules): Your booking rules, cancellation policy and hand-off rules, followed on every call.
- [PMS & booking system integration](https://www.intavia.ai/integrations): Live information from your practice system and appointments handled directly in it.

## FAQs

### What if a patient's usual clinician has left the practice?

Clinicians who have left aren't offered. If the patient asks for them, they're told and offered another clinician or time, or passed to your team, as agreed with you.

### Can a patient ask to see someone different?

Yes. The patient's own choice of clinician comes first, unless an appointment type needs a set clinician, such as a treatment plan visit. In that case the request goes to your team.

### How does it work for new patients?

New patients have no history yet, so they're booked under your usual rules. They aren't looked up just to check for a previous clinician.

### Does it work with every practice system?

Upcoming and past appointments come from your connected practice system. Clinician history and treatment plans depend on what your system makes available, and our team confirms this for your practice when it's set up.