Best AI receptionist for medical practice: who signs a BAA and what it costs

Best AI receptionist for medical practice: the short answer

Ruby is the pick for a medical practice that wants live receptionists and a BAA. Ruby's pricing page lists HIPAA-compliant services, its FAQ says there are no additional charges for them, and its first plan is $250 a month for 50 receptionist minutes, as read on October 23, 2026. Upfirst's pricing page lists BAAs on its Custom plan, but another Upfirst page says it is not HIPAA compliant.

My AI Front Desk is $99 a month, billed monthly, and says it signs BAAs but names no plan. BAA stands for business associate agreement. Smith.ai says on its law-firm page that it is not HIPAA-compliant and cannot handle calls that involve protected health information. NextPhone's terms say it does not execute BAAs. This is not legal advice.

Who signs a BAA, in each vendor's words

Upfirst's two pages disagree, so ask Upfirst in writing. Allo is a phone system priced per seat, shown here for its BAA line only. Goodcall and Dialzara each say elsewhere on their sites that they are HIPAA compliant, while neither pricing page mentions HIPAA, so ask for a BAA in writing. Ruby receptionist alternatives covers other live-receptionist services.

What HHS says about cloud services and BAAs

HHS's cloud computing guidance says a covered entity or business associate can use a cloud service provider, provided they enter into a HIPAA-compliant BAA with it (archived copy, content last reviewed December 23, 2022). Under 45 CFR 160.103, a business associate creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information for a regulated function. Whether a given receptionist is a business associate of your practice is a question for counsel, and nothing here is legal advice.

Recording, retention and subprocessors

My AI Front Desk's Trust Center lets an admin choose a retention window of 30, 60, 90, 180 days or 1 year. It names Twilio, Deepgram, OpenAI/Anthropic and AWS as subprocessors. No page says whether a BAA covers those providers, so ask the vendor in writing.

Recording can be set globally, per number or per location, and the Trust Center says a declined consent means no recording. Is My AI Front Desk legit covers the company and its terms.

After-hours calls and the provider on call

My AI Front Desk's marketing says a practice can forward all calls, or only unanswered, after-hours or weekend calls. The help center documents transfer rules limited to business hours, weekends or a custom schedule, and a blast option that rings several numbers at once and connects the first person who answers. The vendor's medical-practice page says sensitive requests route to the clinical team, which is its marketing claim.

A dental practice should also read best AI receptionist for dental office.

• Ruby for live receptionists with a BAA at no additional charge.
• Upfirst for BAAs on its Custom plan, once you have asked in writing.
• Allo for a $50 a month BAA add-on on a phone system.
• My AI Front Desk for after-hours answering at $99 a month, billed monthly, once the BAA is in writing.

The pricing page offers a 7-day free trial of Business-in-a-Box. Use it on test calls only, before any BAA is signed. Usage fees still apply during the trial, and if you continue, the subscription starts automatically and your provided payment method is charged under section 12 of the terms.