We've reviewed the phones at a lot of Australian practices this year. The pattern is always the same: a good team, answering most calls, and a queue that fills at 9am and again after lunch. The calls they miss aren't a sign of a bad team. They're a sign of a busy one.
A demonstration line: book as Olivia Smith, born 21 March 1978, or Peter Smith, born 1 May 2001 — nothing you book is real.
49% of practice owners say they can't find or keep practice staff. 82% say rising costs are their biggest problem (RACGP Health of the Nation 2026). So the fifth call isn't going to be answered by a new receptionist, because you can't hire her and you can't afford her. It's going to be answered by nobody — or by Aria.
The RACGP is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, Pear; figures are cited for reference.
Here's the number that matters: 497 people rang two or more times, because that's how most patients get through — by calling back, into the busiest hour, onto the same desk that couldn't take them the first time. "81% answered" hides a reception team being rung in circles.
Aria doesn't replace your reception. She takes the call your team can't reach in time — after a set wait, after hours, when the queue's full — and does what a receptionist would: books the appointment, moves it, cancels it, creates the patient record in Best Practice, takes a structured message, and passes anything urgent or clinical to a person with a written summary. The caller stops waiting. Your team gets back the time they were spending on the repeat calls.
When a call needs a person — reception, accounts, the nurse — Aria doesn't just transfer it. She puts the caller on hold, rings the person, and briefs them first:
"I have Mrs Smith, born 14 June 1961. She called last week about her referral; she now needs to move Thursday's appointment. She's on line two."
Then she connects them. The receptionist picks up already knowing who it is and why they rang. The patient never says it twice. That's the difference between an AI that answers the phone and one that works with your team — and it's the thing practice managers notice first when they hear it.
A patient who rings in another language is answered in that language — not put through a menu, not asked to hold for someone who speaks it. For practices in multicultural areas it's the call that used to be the hardest one on the desk, handled the same as any other. She speaks the languages her voice platform supports — dozens of them, not a fixed list. If you have a particular language in mind, ask us and we'll confirm it.
She doesn't give clinical advice. She doesn't decide a patient isn't urgent. She doesn't replace the person at the front desk — she's what happens to the call that person can't take.
Your weekly Call Review shows it: calls answered, hold time, hang-ups, repeat callers — before Aria and after. Most practices start with a four-week pilot on the reception queue: Aria answers anyone still waiting after 60 seconds, plus calls after closing. Same numbers, same team. We rerun the review at four weeks. If it hasn't cut waiting and repeat calls by more than it costs, turn it off.
Engineered by Pear in Sydney — not licensed from overseas. All Aria processing stays in Australian data centres — AWS Sydney for Aria's voice, Microsoft Azure Australia for the rest. Nothing leaves the country. CyberCert SMB1001 Gold (Level 3). If a practice needs something Aria doesn't do yet, that's a conversation with the people who build her, not a ticket.
| Aria Receptionist — rolling out now, early access | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | $499 | Once |
| Pay-as-you-go | $1.95 | Per handled call |
| Overflow plan | $249 a month | 150 calls included |
| Practice plan | $499 a month | 350 calls included |
| Over your plan | $1.60 | Per call |
| Groups | On application |
A handled call is one Aria actually dealt with — someone who hangs up in the first twenty seconds isn't billed. Calls over six minutes add 35c a minute; the average is two to four. Worked example: 233 callers hung up in your queue last week. On the Overflow plan, every one of them answered costs less than a day of a casual receptionist.
Available today on the same numbers, usually live within the week: Aria Queue Manager from 65c a call and Aria AI Voicemail from 55c a call — monthly plans from $119 and $99. Many practices start there. Prices AUD incl. GST, month-to-month.
Plain statements, each one a procurement officer can check.
Call (02) 5839 5020. When she asks, say you're the patient Olivia Smith, born 21 March 1978 — or Peter Smith, born 1 May 2001. Book something, move it, ask what a patient would ask. It's a demo with limited information loaded, and nothing you book is real. You'll know in two minutes whether she belongs on your queue. Then send us a week of your calls and we'll show you exactly how many she'd have answered.
The rest of Aria: the hub · Aria Queue Manager · Aria AI Voicemail · Aria Scribe · Aria X-Fax Intelligence · Call Review
