You had a patient on the table at 2pm. The phone rang twice while your hands were busy, and both callers wanted to book. One left a voicemail you have not had time to return. The other has already booked somewhere else. Between patients you are the receptionist, the booking system, the reminder service and the intake desk, and the admin only really gets done after the last appointment, at the kitchen table.
This is for the solo physio, chiro, podiatrist, myotherapist or dietitian, and the two or three person practice where the owner still runs the front desk.
What it costs you now
- The new patient you never met. Someone new to the area needs a physio for the first time. They ring, you are mid-treatment, they cannot book online, so they try the next clinic, get in, and stay. That was not one missed appointment. It was years of visits, referrals of their family and friends, all of it now building somebody else's practice. A new arrival has no loyalty yet, so the clinic they can book into easily is the one they keep.
- Cancellations and no-shows. One physio clinic owner told the Australian Physiotherapy Association that his cancellation rate was sitting at about 1 in 7 appointments, and he set a goal of keeping it under 15% (Australian Physiotherapy Association, 2024). One Australian clinic-software company says that across more than 350 clinics the average physiotherapy clinic loses $3,000 to $8,000 a month to cancellations, no-shows and weak rebooking (Allie clinic benchmarks, the company's own estimate, but even the bottom of the range is real money).
- The rebooking that never gets asked for. Bigger clinics rebook you at the desk while you pay. When you are the desk, that ask gets skipped, and the patient who meant to book a follow-up quietly never does. You notice at the end of the quarter, when the diary is thinner than it should be.
| The missed new patient | Rings while you are mid-treatment, cannot book online, joins the next clinic and stays: years of visits and referrals, gone in one unanswered call. |
| Cancellations and no-shows | About 1 in 7 appointments at one physio clinic, with a goal of holding it under 15%. |
| Weak rebooking | $3,000 to $8,000 a month across cancellations, no-shows and follow-ups never booked (one company's estimate for the average physiotherapy clinic). |
Sources for both figures are linked in the section above.
What we set up, element by element
We build systems from element packs: fixed sets of automations for one part of your business, customised to your practice. Three of them do the heavy lifting for a practice like yours. If the phone is where new patients slip away, a phone line that texts callers your booking page can sit in front of all three. Before any tool touches patient details, read what clinics need to do about consent and privacy when using AI.
Operations: the front desk you do not have.
Your real appointment times live on your own website, so a patient can book while your hands are busy or after you have closed, without ringing. Intake forms, referral details and fund information are collected before they arrive, so the first appointment starts on time instead of on paperwork. Reminders go out the day before and the morning of, every time, with no mark-up from us on the texts, which you pay the texting service for directly. Booking apps such as Fresha and Timely include only a set number of texts a month. Between patients, you can dictate a short note to your phone. It goes on the patient's file and the rebooking message is drafted and waiting for your approval. Still choosing the software underneath? We compared Cliniko and Halaxy on price, currency and Medicare claiming.
Service: the rebooking asks itself.
When a patient pays, their receipt can arrive with the booking link for their next visit already in it, without you remembering to ask. The patient who is due back and has not booked gets a friendly nudge, written for you, sent when you approve it. And the caller you missed has somewhere to land: your website takes the booking or the question any hour, every enquiry logged with a reply drafted for your approval. Each morning, one short report: what is booked, what is empty, who needs a nudge, what came in overnight.
| Booked today | 7 appointments, first at 8:30am |
| Gaps | 2:30pm and 4pm are open |
| Due back | 3 patients past their follow-up window, nudges drafted for your approval |
| Overnight | One new booking and one question from the website, reply waiting for your approval |
A worked example of the short report described above, using a fictional day. Yours reads from your own diary and enquiries.
Marketing: the agency work, without the agency.
We are based on the Sunshine Coast, where new families and retirees keep arriving, and every one of them eventually needs a physio, a podiatrist or a dietitian they have never heard of. They will find whoever shows up when they search. So: your website built to be found, your Google Business Profile and service pages set up around the searches new arrivals actually type, and an email list you own for recall reminders and practice updates, written in your voice, approved by you before anything sends.
What it costs
All prices are published. The Engine is $3,500, one price, one build, then it is yours: every account and password in your name, running on your own small piece of hardware in the cloud for a small monthly fee. The element packs above are $950 each, or included in full when we build your website and email. And the point of our support is to hand the controls to you.
If you want the front desk and the being-found problem handled while you treat patients, answer a few short questions and we will provide a free custom audit of your business, with a real person replying within 4 business hours.