Outsourced support teams
Answering services
Unified CCaaS platform Voice, chat, QA, and workforce management — unified. optometry
An answering service for optometrists must handle eye exams, contact-lens orders, appointment changes and insurance questions without turning routine coordination into clinical advice. Callnovo captures appointment intent, provider preference, patient follow-up details and callback urgency—then routes symptoms and clinical decisions to the practice team.
Optometry support should organize the patient’s request without diagnosing it. Agents can schedule approved eye exams, collect contact-lens order and insurance details, and explain practice-published information. They should not assess vision loss, recommend treatment, interpret symptoms or promise coverage. Review published pricing, quality workflows, or map your practice escalation flow.
how it plays out
Routine scheduling is simple when location, provider and appointment type are separated.
A reorder request needs the record, product and approval path—not an invented prescription decision.
A symptom report needs prompt routing, not a remote clinical answer.
the team behind it
real members of the global team Human Escalation for Optometry Care
65+ Languages
Follow-the-Sun Coverage
the part nobody prices in
“I need an eye appointment” can mean a routine exam, a contact-lens follow-up, a glasses pickup, a prescription question or an urgent symptom. Those requests should not enter the same queue.
A useful intake records the patient type, requested service, timing, provider preference, insurance question and urgency category. The practice keeps the clinical decision.
what it costs
Most vendors in this category quote by form. These are our published packages — not a quote, since language mix, hours and volume all move the number. The per-minute figures are simply the monthly price divided by the included minutes.
| Option | Published price | Per minute | What it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live shared team | from US$300 / month | includes 500 min → ≈ US$0.60/min | Insurance-information collection before staff verification |
| AI voice | US$0.15 | per minute | Routine exams, provider information and appointment changes |
| Web chat | US$0.15 | per session | Contact-lens, eyewear pickup and records requests |
| Live shared team | from US$650 / month | includes 1,500 min → ≈ US$0.43/min | After-hours message capture and approved clinical routing |
| Dedicated agent | from US$5.80 | per hour, per agent | A dedicated team working under the practice’s privacy and escalation rules |
Anything involving a person is a starting price. Two things move it: which languages you need, and how senior an agent the work actually requires — a bilingual agent handling refund authority is not the same hire as one taking bookings. AI voice and web chat are flat, because there is no hiring in them. And every model above is open to every business on this page: which one fits is a question about the shape of your volume, not about your industry.
Minimum engagement is half a seat — not a five-seat block. We also bill per resolved issue, from US$1, where you pay nothing if it is not resolved; that model fits businesses where a customer problem actually gets solved on the call, not businesses where the call is intake.
who takes which call
Most vendors sell you either an AI receptionist or a live answering service and leave the allocation to you. Since we run both, here is the split we would actually recommend — including the calls we think should never touch automation.
| The call | Route to | Cost of getting it wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Hours, location, provider and routine scheduling | AI | Low when practice content is current. |
| Exam, lens or eyewear intake | Live agent | Medium: missing context creates rework. |
| Insurance or prescription-status question | Practice staff | High: a wrong promise creates billing or safety risk. |
| Sudden vision change, pain or injury | Qualified clinical channel | High: the team must not assess or treat it. |
| Records, privacy or patient-identity request | Authorized practice team | High: access follows the practice workflow. |
setup
Five days is our normal window to staff a live account — that is five days to find and place an agent who fits your business, not five days of software setup. AI voice can go live sooner because there is no hiring step.
your existing software
We work inside the CRM, practice system or case tool you already run, rather than handing you a second inbox to check. Every contact leaves a timestamped record — who called, what was asked, what was said back, what was promised — because in your line of work the question six months later is not "did someone call" but "what exactly did we tell them". Tell us what you run and we will say straight whether we connect to it today.
what comes off the call
Use the practice’s approved intake and privacy rules to route coordination separately from clinical judgment.
Do not diagnose, interpret a symptom, recommend treatment or promise insurance coverage. Urgent or vision-threatening concerns follow the practice’s approved clinical or emergency path.
where AI should not be
Diagnosis or treatment recommendation
Capture the patient’s request and route it to qualified practice staff.
Prescription or refill decision
Follow the practice’s authorization and prescription-status workflow.
Sudden vision change, injury or severe symptom
Use the approved clinical or emergency path; do not assess or reassure beyond the script.
questions
AI voice is US$0.15 per minute and web chat is US$0.15 per session. Live agents start at US$300 per month including 500 minutes — about US$0.60 per minute — or from US$5.80 per hour for a dedicated agent working only your account. The minimum engagement is half a seat, not a five-seat block.
Five days is our normal window to staff a live account — that is five days to find and place an agent who fits your business, not five days of software setup. AI voice can go live sooner because there is no hiring step.
Yes, on the same number, with agents in our Bolivia and Nicaragua operation centres — native Spanish, not machine translation. English and Spanish share one queue, and we cover 60+ more languages if you need them.
That is the normal setup. You decide which call types go to AI and which reach a person, and you can change the split as your volume changes. Nothing about that decision is locked in at signup.
Yes. Agents can identify the patient type, requested exam, location and provider preference, then schedule within the practice’s approved availability and intake rules.
No. They can record the patient’s own description and use the practice’s approved clinical or emergency escalation path. They should not diagnose, interpret symptoms or provide treatment advice.
compliance
start
Map appointments, refills, patient follow-up and the clinical escalation boundaries your practice approves.