How does a WhatsApp assistant work for clinics in Recife?
In Recife, patients write to clinics on WhatsApp, often after 6 pm. An assistant on the clinic's own number answers hours, prices and accepted insurance plans from information the clinic approved, offers appointment times and hands reception anything that needs a person, with a summary. It gives no health advice; that stays with the team.
The number, the Meta account and the conversations stay the clinic's. Reception keeps answering as it does today; the assistant covers what arrives after hours and the questions that repeat all day.
How it works here
Collect the clinic's answers
Hours, address, specialties, private consultation prices, accepted insurance plans and booking rules. The assistant only answers from that list.
Connect the clinic's WhatsApp
Through Meta's official Cloud API, on the clinic's number and the clinic's business account. Nothing sits in the builder's account.
Book or request the appointment
The assistant offers free slots, confirms the day and time and sends a reminder on the day. If the clinic prefers, it only records the request and reception confirms.
Hand over to reception
Pain, symptoms, test results, complaints or anything outside the list goes to reception with a one-line summary, and the patient gets a polite holding reply.
Check with the team
Before going live, the team tests it with real questions from the clinic. Afterwards any answer can be changed without touching the rest.
What we measured here
Our own test in Recife, Thursday 24 September 2026, 5 to 6 pm: one patient question over WhatsApp to eight clinics (four dental, four aesthetic). A small sample; no clinic is named.
- Four of eight answered, each in about five minutes
- At closing time, the clinics that used WhatsApp answered fast. The hours that matter most are after reception leaves.
- Four Google Maps numbers were not on WhatsApp
- Half of the numbers published on Google could not receive a WhatsApp message. A patient who tries there gets nowhere; the right number has to be on the website and the Google profile.
What it costs to run here
Meta charges per delivered message, and since July 2026 businesses in Brazil can be billed in reais. Messages patients send are free. The model that writes the replies is billed separately by its provider.
| Item | List price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Reply inside the 24-hour window (service message), patient in Brazil | US$0.0068 per delivered message from 1 Oct 2026 (free before that) | Meta for Developers, WhatsApp rate card in USD effective 1 Oct 2026 (Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform)Read on Sep 28, 2026 |
| Appointment reminder (utility message), patient in Brazil | US$0.0068 per delivered message | Meta for Developers, WhatsApp rate card in USD effective 1 Oct 2026 (Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform)Read on Sep 28, 2026 |
| Marketing message, patient in Brazil | US$0.0625 per delivered message | Meta for Developers, WhatsApp rate card in USD effective 1 Oct 2026 (Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform)Read on Sep 28, 2026 |
| Messages within 72 hours of a click-to-WhatsApp ad | Free (the free entry point window) | Meta for Developers, Upcoming pricing updates for Meta Business Agent, service and utility messagesRead on Sep 28, 2026 |
Third-party list prices, read on the date shown. They are not Betterlane prices.
When it is not worth it
- If reception already answers everything within minutes, including nights and weekends, the gain is small.
- If prices, insurance plans and booking rules change every week and nobody updates them, the assistant will repeat old information. Put the list in order first.
Questions
Does the assistant give health advice?
No. Any question about symptoms, pain, tests or treatment goes to the team with a summary. It answers only administrative questions the clinic approved.
What about Brazil's data protection law (LGPD)?
The LGPD treats health data as sensitive personal data. So the assistant does not ask for health information, and conversations stay in the clinic's own account.
Can it use the number the clinic already publishes?
In most cases yes, through Meta's Cloud API. We first check that the number can move without interrupting today's service.
How long until it works?
The first flow is built free in ten days; if it does not do what was scoped, the clinic pays nothing. Running it after that is agreed before we start.
Want to see how it would work on your Recife clinic's WhatsApp?
Try the fictional demoSee the service: WhatsApp assistantsLet’s talk