National Development: An Argentine AI That Organizes Medical Appointments via WhatsApp Is Now Being Tested in Clinics

An Argentine development aims to simplify one of the most time-consuming tasks in clinics: patient care via WhatsApp. Three young entrepreneurs from La Plata developed Órbita, a platform based on Artificial Intelligence that answers frequently asked questions, manages appointments, and directs conversations to a person when it detects that the case requires human intervention.

The creators of the project are Conrado Lanfrit, Felipe Ricciardi, and Diego Arrechea, three entrepreneurs who began working together while sharing a coworking space in La Plata. After developing Artificial Intelligence solutions for various sectors, they decided to focus on the healthcare field, having noticed that many available tools came from abroad and did not consider the particularities of the Argentine health system.

Órbita operates directly on WhatsApp, the communication channel that most clinics use to interact with their patients.

When a person sends a message, the AI interprets the content and automatically responds if it concerns common inquiries, such as availability of appointments, hours of operation, medical specialties, addresses, cancellations, or rescheduling. It can also manage bookings and send automatic reminders before the assigned date to reduce absenteeism.

According to its developers, one of the biggest challenges was to ensure that conversations felt natural and adapted to the way each institution usually communicates with its patients.

To achieve this, they trained the system with the language used in different medical specialties and configured responses according to the style of each clinic. The intention was for the interaction to be smooth and for the patient to receive a quick solution without realizing they were conversing with an automated assistant.

In addition to answering inquiries 24 hours a day, the platform tracks patients, manages schedule changes, and keeps users informed about changes in their appointments without the need for constant intervention from administrative staff.

One of the most important developments incorporated by Órbita is a feature called "AI Judge," created by the team itself to supervise each conversation in real-time. This system analyzes the content of messages and determines whether the Artificial Intelligence can safely resolve the inquiry or if it should be immediately referred to a human team member.

In this way, administrative questions remain automated, while sensitive cases, complex situations, or those requiring professional judgment are transferred to the clinic staff before the conversation continues.

The developers assert that this mechanism aims to avoid one of the main risks associated with the use of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare: that an automated assistant attempts to respond to situations for which it was not designed. Instead of completely replacing human care, the system acts as a filter capable of identifying when an inquiry exceeds administrative functions.

The creators of Órbita explain that many available platforms were designed for other markets and do not always consider the operational dynamics of Argentine clinics and practices. This observation was the starting point for developing a tool adapted to the local reality.

Among other aspects, the platform considers how medical schedules are organized, the usual communication via WhatsApp, and the need to respond to inquiries even outside administrative hours.

The growth of such solutions reflects a broader change within the healthcare sector. The digitization of administrative processes has ceased to be limited to electronic medical record systems and has begun to extend to initial patient care, where AI can reduce response times without altering the work of professionals.

For the three entrepreneurs from La Plata, the challenge now is to continue incorporating health institutions and refine the system's operation as the volume of processed conversations increases.