When practices research AI answering services, Numa occasionally surfaces in results. But there's a critical distinction: Numa is purpose-built for automotive dealerships — not healthcare. This page explains what Numa actually does, where it excels, and why a medical or dental practice needs a different tool entirely.
MedReceptionist is a fully automated AI phone receptionist designed exclusively for medical, dental, chiropractic, physical therapy, dermatology, med spa, and other healthcare practices. It answers calls in under 2 seconds, books appointments directly into your EHR via API or FHIR R4, sends SMS confirmations, handles after-hours calls 24/7/365, screens spam, and signs a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement with every practice at no extra cost. No human agents. Fully automated. Plans start at $79/month, built by AI Scan Solutions.
Numa (numa.com) is an AI customer operations platform built specifically for automotive dealerships. It answers inbound calls, recovers missed calls via automated SMS, books vehicle service appointments, tracks repair orders, monitors customer satisfaction, and gives service advisors a unified inbox across SMS, voice, and web chat. Numa is used by 1,200+ car dealerships and as of 2026 has deepened its focus on dealer-specific workflows — Voice AI, LiveCSI, and service operations. It does not appear to target medical or dental practices, and publicly available information does not show HIPAA compliance or healthcare EHR integrations.
Key factors that matter to medical practices — compared honestly.
| Feature | MedReceptionist | Numa |
|---|---|---|
| Industry Focus | Healthcare-only Medical, dental, chiro, PT, dermatology, med spa — healthcare practices exclusively. | Automotive dealerships Built for car dealers — service departments, BDCs, and repair-order workflows. Not healthcare. |
| Call Answering Model | Fully automated AI AI handles every patient call end-to-end — no human agents involved. | AI + human team handoff Voice AI answers inbound calls and routes to service advisors; designed for dealership team workflows. |
| HIPAA Compliance | BAA included at setup HIPAA Business Associate Agreement signed with every practice, no extra fee. | Not advertised No publicly available HIPAA BAA or compliance documentation found as of mid-2026. Consistent with dealer-only positioning. |
| EHR Appointment Booking | Direct EHR API / FHIR R4 Books in real time during the call — confirmed to patient before hang-up. No relay required. | Not applicable Numa integrates with dealer management systems (DMS), not medical EHRs. No known healthcare EHR integrations. |
| Pricing | $79–$449/mo Flat monthly plans: $79 (Voice+SMS Essentials) to $449 (Enterprise). Transparent, no per-call overage on plan minutes. No setup fee. | Quote required Numa does not publish pricing. A demo and sales process are required. Industry sources suggest $200–$400+/mo as a starting point for dealerships, though this is unverified. |
| SMS Capability | Included in plans Automated appointment confirmations and reminders sent via SMS. Included in Voice+SMS plans. | Core feature — for dealers SMS is central to Numa's dealer platform — missed-call recovery texts, RO status updates, appointment follow-ups. A genuine strength in its target vertical. |
| 24/7 Availability | Always on 24/7/365 including nights, weekends, and holidays. After-hours coverage included at no premium. | Voice AI is 24/7; team handoffs are not Numa's Voice AI answers any time, but workflows that require a live advisor are limited to dealer business hours. |
| Spam / Robocall Screening | Automated screening Spam and robocalls are screened automatically — junk calls never consume your plan minutes. | Not documented for healthcare Numa's call handling is tuned for dealer traffic patterns, not clinical spam filtering. No public documentation of healthcare-grade call screening. |
| Setup & Go-Live | Live in 24 hours Configure greetings, hours, services, call routing. Forward your existing number. No long-term contract. | Sales-led onboarding Requires demo + sales process before setup. Timeline not publicly documented. |
Information accurate as of May 2026. Numa facts sourced from numa.com, Capterra, and PR Newswire press releases. Numa pricing is not publicly published; the range cited reflects third-party analyst estimates and may not reflect current offers. HIPAA status reflects absence of public documentation — readers should verify directly with Numa before drawing conclusions.
No. As of 2026, Numa is purpose-built for automotive dealerships — answering inbound calls, booking vehicle service appointments, tracking repair orders, and managing dealer customer communications. It is not marketed toward medical, dental, or other healthcare practices, and does not appear to offer HIPAA compliance or EHR integrations. MedReceptionist is built exclusively for healthcare: medical, dental, chiropractic, physical therapy, dermatology, med spa, and similar practices.
Based on publicly available information as of mid-2026, Numa does not advertise or publish a HIPAA BAA offering — which is consistent with its positioning as an automotive-dealership AI platform. Using a non-HIPAA-compliant platform to handle patient calls would expose a practice to regulatory risk. MedReceptionist signs a HIPAA BAA with every healthcare practice as a standard part of setup, at no additional fee or plan upgrade required.
MedReceptionist publishes flat monthly plans starting at $79/month (Voice + SMS Essentials: 200 voice minutes + 300 SMS) up to $449/month for high-volume or multi-provider practices. Numa does not publish pricing publicly — a demo and sales engagement are required. Third-party analyst sources suggest Numa starts around $200–$400/month or more for automotive dealership accounts, though this is unverified and should be confirmed directly with Numa. For small and mid-size medical practices, MedReceptionist's transparent, predictable pricing is a direct advantage.
Numa is designed to book automotive service appointments and integrates with dealer management systems (DMS) — not medical EHRs. There are no known integrations with healthcare EHR platforms. MedReceptionist connects directly to your healthcare EHR via native APIs and FHIR R4 integrations, booking patient appointments in real time during the call — the confirmation reaches the patient before they hang up, with no relay or manual follow-up required.
Numa has genuine strengths in its own domain: missed-call SMS recovery that converts cold messages into booked dealer appointments, repair-order status updates, real-time customer satisfaction monitoring (LiveCSI), and a unified Smart Inbox for dealership service teams. If you run a car dealership, these are valuable capabilities. For a medical or dental practice, those features don't apply — and the absence of HIPAA compliance and healthcare EHR integration makes Numa unsuitable for clinical use.
MedReceptionist is typically live within 24 hours of setup. You configure your greetings, office hours, services offered, and call routing, then forward your existing practice phone number. A HIPAA BAA is signed during setup. There is no setup fee and no long-term contract — plans are month-to-month.
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