> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.voxhealth.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How it works

> What happens between the phone ringing and an appointment landing in your schedule.

## The call

<Steps>
  <Step title="The call reaches an agent">
    Each of your [phone numbers](/channels/phone-numbers) is attached to an [assistant](/agents/assistants): a configured voice agent with its own greeting, voice, and set of capabilities. Whoever answers, answers instantly.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The agent works out who is calling">
    It matches the caller's number against your PMS. If the number is not enough, say a shared household line or a mobile the practice has never seen, it asks for a name and date of birth, and can send a one-time code by text to confirm identity before it reads back anything private.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It does the thing they called for">
    Appointments, balances, directions, office hours, prescription status, a question your [knowledge base](/agents/knowledge-base) answers. Reads and writes go to your PMS live. The agent is not working from a nightly copy of your schedule.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It hands off when it should">
    If the caller asks for a person, or the reason is one you have routed to staff, the agent transfers the call using your [call routing](/channels/call-routing) rules. If nobody picks up, it takes a message.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The call is written down">
    Recording, transcript, summary, and outcome land in [Calls](/front-desk/calls) within a minute or two. Anything needing a human shows up in [Follow-ups](/front-desk/follow-ups).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What is connected to what

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  A[Patient calls] --> B[VoxHealth agent]
  W[Website widget] --> C
  B --> C[VoxHealth]
  C <--> D[(Your PMS)]
  C --> E[SMS & email]
  C --> F[Calls, Reports, Follow-ups]
  E --> A
```

Your PMS stays the source of truth. VoxHealth reads availability and patient records from it and writes appointments back to it. Nothing asks your staff to keep a second schedule in sync.

## The channels

| Channel | What it is                                                                            | Where to set it up                                                       |
| ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Voice   | Your practice phone number, answered by an agent                                      | [Phone numbers](/channels/phone-numbers)                                 |
| SMS     | Reminders, confirmations, links, and two-way replies your staff can answer            | [Notifications](/channels/notifications), [Messages](/channels/messages) |
| Email   | Reminders and confirmations; optionally an agent that reads and replies to your inbox | [Email assistant](/agents/email-assistant)                               |
| Web     | A booking widget on your site, and a hosted booking page                              | [Scheduling widget](/developers/widget/overview)                         |
| Fax     | Inbound documents and referrals, read automatically                                   | [Fax & email](/front-desk/fax-and-email)                                 |

## What it does not do

* It does not give clinical advice. Clinical questions are routed to a person.
* It does not replace your PMS. If a capability is not supported by your PMS integration, the agent will not fake it. It takes a message instead.
* It does not read a patient's records back to an unverified caller.