Patient Reactivation Calls: What Clinics Get Back

Patient reactivation calls: what bringing lapsed patients back returns

Aeva AI research. Source: results reported by Aeva customers running Aeva Outbound between January and April 2026, and Aeva’s own outbound calling history. Figures are customer-reported and dated. By Chris Baxter, Co-founder & CEO, Aeva AI.

A personalised check-in call brings around 10% of lapsed patients back through the door, in Aeva’s experience across clinics. One UK physiotherapy clinic running AI outbound calls reports £5 back for every £1 spent, £5,000 of additional revenue in a month, and a “last try” campaign that converts 10 to 15% of new patients who had already said no. Most clinics spend heavily chasing cold leads through advertising; the patients who already trust them and simply stopped coming back are the larger and cheaper opportunity.

The figures

Customer-reported results from a single clinic are not a benchmark. They are included because they are dated, attributed and, so far, the only published figures of their kind for AI outbound calls in allied health.

Why lapsed patients answer

Ben told us outbound had performed better than any Meta or online advertising his clinic had run. His explanation for why patients who said no then say yes: “There’s no embarrassment changing your mind when you’re speaking to a robot.” The underlying reason patients lapse is rarely dissatisfaction. The pain that brought them in eased, life got busy, and the follow-up their practitioner recommended never got booked. A check-in call removes the friction of ringing back.

One of Ben’s outbound calls reached a patient on holiday in New York. Aeva asked how the trip was going and wished him a good rest of it. He spoke for nearly two minutes before realising he was not talking to a person, laughed, thanked the receptionist and asked to book when he got home.

What Aeva Outbound can do

Aeva Outbound launched in January 2026 and is included in Aeva’s inbound plans at no extra cost; customers request access from inside their account. Campaign types confirmed as available:

• Past patient check-ins: calls to patients who visited recently to ask how they are and offer a follow-up.

• Patient reactivation: calls to patients who have not visited in a set number of weeks or months.

• Practitioner sick-day rescheduling: one click to call every affected patient and rebook them. One clinic also uses it when a practitioner forgets to block holiday or is away at a conference.

• Custom campaigns: Ben’s “last try” campaign is one example. Scripts are editable so the wording matches the clinic.

A tutorial takes a first campaign from setup to live in under ten minutes. Inbound and outbound work as a pair: inbound catches the calls that would otherwise hit voicemail; outbound goes back for the patients who lapsed.

Consent rules differ by country

Aeva handles the in-call requirements (identification, caller ID, opt-out and logging). The clinic is responsible for consent, and the rules are not the same everywhere. Aeva’s guidance, which is not legal advice and should be checked with your own adviser:

• New Zealand: the most flexible. No specific prior consent is required, but the clinic’s privacy notice must state that it may contact patients about appointments, recalls and follow-ups using automated tools, including AI calling systems.

• Australia: stricter. Follow-up calls count as direct marketing under Australian privacy law, so explicit consent is needed. Update the privacy notice and add a consent checkbox to the new-patient intake form.

• United Kingdom and European Union: the strictest. Explicit, prior opt-in consent is required before an AI system calls a patient, even for routine follow-ups. The consent must be unbundled, not pre-ticked and easy to withdraw, and the clinic should keep a record of how it was obtained.

Running a first campaign well

Start with the list most likely to say yes: patients who were recommended a follow-up and never booked it. Keep the script to a check-in with an offer to book, not a sales pitch, and personalise it. Measure one number, the rebooking rate, against the size of the list. Then widen to patients who have not visited in longer, and to a “last try” list of enquiries that never converted.

Common questions

Is this cold calling?

No. The calls go to the clinic’s own patients about their own care: a recommended follow-up, a check-in after treatment, or a reschedule when a practitioner is unavailable. Where consent is required, it must be in place first.

Next step

Count the patients in your practice management system who were recommended a follow-up in the last six months and never booked it. That is the first list. To see an outbound campaign set up on your own data, book a demo.

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