Updated 2026-08-17 · 2 min read
At a physiotherapy clinic, WhatsApp has been working as the de facto reception for years. That isn't bad in itself, but you need to know what's going through it and what shouldn't be.
What can go through messaging
Administration: asking for a slot, changing it, cancelling, asking about prices and opening hours, confirming a session, finding out how many are left on a pack. That's contact and scheduling data, and processing it is covered by the relationship with the patient.
What shouldn't go through it
Clinical history. Reports, tests, assessments and progress notes live in your clinical software, with its access control, and not in a conversation. If a patient sends something like that of their own accord, it stays in the conversation as what it is —a message— and your team decides what to do with it.
What ClaudIA doesn't do is ask for it: it doesn't request medical history or record it in any record.
The two documents
The service contract and the data processing agreement. The second is the one the GDPR requires when someone processes data on your clinic's behalf, and it's the one almost nobody asks for. Both are signed before you start, and in ClaudIA they're signed online.
Two questions worth asking any provider
Which country the data is hosted in, and what happens if you leave: whether you can export it and whether it's deleted when you ask. If either answer is slow in coming, that's your answer.
Getting these few things straight at the start is what lets the clinic keep using WhatsApp as it always has, without the doubts showing up later.
Questions clinics ask
Can I keep using the clinic's usual WhatsApp? Yes, and that's the normal thing: the number you already have is connected with a QR code, without changing line.
Does the assistant read the whole conversation? It reads that person's conversation with your clinic so it can reply sensibly. It doesn't cross conversations between patients or between clinics.
And if a patient asks for their data to be deleted? It's deleted. It's their right and it's built into the dashboard.