Tarantino Medical Group Swaps Voicemail for Booked Visits with Keragon

Overview

A HIPAA-Compliant AI Receptionist for a Small Practice

Tarantino Medical Group is run by one physician and one medical assistant, caring for roughly 145 member patients. With both of them usually in visits, the phone kept pulling them away from patients, so the practice needed a HIPAA-compliant way to handle calls without interrupting care.

Tom Tarantino, Founder and Principal at Tarantino Strategy Group, partnered with Keragon to build an AI phone receptionist that books visits in Elation and logs every call in Spruce automatically.

• Industry: Healthcare
• Specialty: Direct Primary Care
• Size: One physician, one medical assistant
• Pain points: Calls pulling staff away from patients, notes missing from patient records
• Vendors integrated: Elation, Spruce, Retell

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The Challenge

Calls That Pulled the Team Away from Patients

Before Keragon, every call to the practice rang through Spruce to the physician or medical assistant, but they were usually with patients. That meant many missed calls went to voicemail, and every booking was handled by hand afterwards. So the team had to listen to the message, find the patient in Elation manually, then call back and write up what happened. This wasn’t sustainable for such a small team serving so many people.

Callers waited for callbacks, and after hours coverage depended on a call group. Notes about calls lived in people’s heads or scattered messages instead of the patient’s record. The team was looking for a solution that had to be HIPAA-compliant, so tools that wouldn't sign a BAA were not an option.

Key Challenges:

• Calls pulling the physician and medical assistant away from patients
• Voicemails and callbacks handled by hand
• Call notes missing from the patient’s record

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The Solution

Appointment Confirmed While the Caller Is Still on the Line

Tom built an AI phone receptionist on Retell, with Keragon as the HIPAA-compliant layer connecting it to Elation and Spruce. During a live call, the agent uses Keragon’s MCP server to recognize the caller, find their Elation chart, check upcoming appointments, and book, reschedule or cancel visits directly in Elation. After every call, a Keragon automation files a summary in the patient’s Spruce conversation and alerts the team if a call needs a person right away.

The MCP server makes the difference. Because it works in real time, the agent books an appointment and gets Elation’s confirmation back while the caller is still on the line, so it only confirms the booking when it actually exists.

With Keragon’s native Elation and Spruce connectors, no custom code was needed, so the setup was straightforward for the team. More specifically, the first test booking in Elation worked on day one, the first booking over a real call came about two weeks later, and the practice was taking live patient calls five weeks after starting the trial. Tom also noted that results come back larger than a voice agent needs, so trimming them would cut some delay on each call.

Key Automations:

• Elation chart and upcoming appointments found during the call
• Visits booked, rescheduled or canceled directly in Elation
• Office team alerted in Spruce when a call is urgent
• Call summaries filed as internal notes in Spruce

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Results

More Time for Patients, Immediate Answers

Since going live on September 30, the agent has answered the practice line during clinic hours and booked visits straight into Elation, without staff stepping in. The physician and medical assistant are no longer pulled out of visits for routine calls, and they can focus on patients.

Also, patients now get an answer, and a booked appointment when they need one, on the first call instead of a voicemail. According to Tom, the voice agent and Keragon together cost well under a part time receptionist, and since every Keragon plan includes a BAA, choosing a HIPAA-compliant setup was simple.

Key Outcomes:

• Care Team: No longer leaving visits for routine calls
• Patients: Answered and booked on the first call
• Urgent Calls: Sent to the team as a page instead of waiting in an inbox

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Testimonial

Staff with Patients, Visits on the Calendar

Tom Tarantino, Founder and Principal at Tarantino Strategy Group, shared that the real time MCP server and native Elation and Spruce connectors stood out most. The plain English builder also drafted automations quickly, and Keragon’s AI assistant was genuinely useful when restructuring the automation that runs after each call. He rates Keragon 9 out of 10.

"The agent books an appointment and gets Elation’s confirmation back while the caller is still on the line, so it only says ‘you’re booked’ when the booking actually exists."

Tom Tarantino
Founder and Principal, Tarantino Strategy Group

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Conclusion

Need an AI Receptionist That Books in Real Time?

For a small Direct Primary Care practice, every call means stepping away from a patient.

Now Tarantino Medical Group’s AI receptionist books visits in Elation, keeps call notes in Spruce and flags urgent calls, all HIPAA-compliant through Keragon. The care team stays where it matters most: with patients.

Find more here.