Changelog

What’s new in Heron

New features, improvements and fixes in Heron, as we ship them.

v1.558.1

A refreshed Heron, and smarter booking on calls

Heron has a new look to match the brand, finds appointment times more reliably on calls, and can send repeat prescription requests straight into Medtech.

New
  • Repeat prescription requests can go straight into Medtech, as a task, an inbox message or a note in the patient’s daily record, for the clinician you choose. Switch each one on in your prescription settings.
Improved
  • A refreshed look across Heron, in the same style as heyheron.ai: new fonts and colours, cleaner inquiry cards, timeline, notes and history, plus a restyled messenger, notification panel, plans page and sign-in page.
  • Emails from Heron, including verification, invites, password resets, notifications and digests, have a new design.
  • Improved appointment template search.
  • For clinics with several sites, Heron only offers practitioners who take that appointment type.
  • More accurate performance metrics.
  • Calls Heron transfers to your team now carry a Transferred tag on the inquiry.
Fixed
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes and security updates.

Smoother conversations and a phone menu before Heron

Heron is better at knowing when a patient has finished speaking, hears callers more accurately and replies faster. Clinics can also put a phone menu in front of Heron.

New
  • An optional phone menu that greets callers and routes them before Heron answers.
Improved
  • Heron waits for patients to finish speaking before it replies, with fewer interruptions on short answers like “yes” or “mm-hmm”.
  • Better turn-taking for callers speaking Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Portuguese.
  • More accurate speech recognition, tuned to each clinic and region, including your clinic’s own names and terms.
  • Faster replies, with shorter pauses between Heron’s sentences.
  • Call recordings now capture the whole call, from the moment it’s answered.
  • Custom pronunciations now also work for hyphenated names.
Fixed
  • Heron no longer pauses for more digits after a caller says a year, for example in a date of birth.
  • Rare cases where the end of Heron’s reply could stall or cut off.
  • The prompt Heron gives when a caller goes quiet now plays at the right moment.
  • Signing in no longer depends on how your email address is capitalised.
v1.519.0

Booking 2.0, patient-portal forms and a new prescription flow

Clinics can now set their own appointment types and rules, Heron can text patients a secure form, and prescriptions get a dedicated flow on every channel.

New
  • Appointment types with their own durations, staff and scheduling rules, booked straight into your PMS.
  • A Booking Settings tester to preview how Heron will handle a request before you roll it out.
  • A dedicated prescription card on voice, SMS and web chat, assigned to the clinician you choose.
  • Secure patient-portal forms, sent during or after a call and tracked on the inquiry timeline.
  • Bilingual English and Spanish voices.
  • A callback-only voice mode for clinics that want Heron to capture requests and hand them to staff.
Improved
  • Call transcripts open in their own side panel, and appointment requests show as a clear card.
  • Patient notes show who added them and when.
  • More accurate speech recognition.
Fixed
  • A round of reliability fixes and security updates.
v1.474.0a–g

Fixes and security updates

Smaller releases through June, July and August.

Improved
  • Repeat prescription requests are auto-assigned to your clinic’s designated assignee.
  • More accurate real-time transcription, with per-clinic options for specialist audio setups.
Fixed
  • Security updates, including a critical patch.
  • Reliability fixes for patient sync and billing details.
v1.474.0

More natural voices and multilingual support

A new generation of voices, bilingual personas and smarter handling of sensitive calls.

New
  • More natural, more stable voices, with Olivia as the default English voice.
  • Bilingual voices in Portuguese, Mandarin and Korean.
  • Emergencies and mental-health calls are recognised and flagged so your team sees them straight away.
Improved
  • Better handling of people calling on behalf of a patient, like a parent or carer.
  • Quicker calls, with fewer unnecessary questions.
  • Clearer voice-speed presets.
Fixed
  • Some inquiry details weren’t showing.
  • Patient records now only update when complete, valid information is present.
v1.420.1

Booking confirmations on voice calls

Heron can confirm bookings with callers during the call.

New
  • Booking confirmations for voice calls.
Fixed
  • Stability and security fixes.
  • Pricing display fix.
v1.420.0

A redesigned dashboard and inquiry feedback

A clearer dashboard with new performance metrics, and quick feedback on every voice inquiry.

New
  • A dashboard in four tabs: Activity, Performance, Patient Requests and Inquiry Resolution.
  • New Average Call Duration and Heron Resolution Rate metrics.
  • A Performance tab with an abandonment chart and quality overview.
  • Thumbs up or down feedback on every voice inquiry.
  • The reason each call ended, shown on the inquiry.
Improved
  • Smoother bookings and enrollments on voice calls.
  • Patient lookup checks both primary and secondary phone numbers.
  • A better audio player, and a confirmation whenever settings save.
Fixed
  • Clinics without a PMS integration no longer get offered scheduling changes.
v1.406.0

Self-serve billing

Manage your subscription and billing yourself.

New
  • Self-serve billing and subscription management.
Improved
  • Better handling of pharmacy names.
  • More analytics.
v1.393.1

Cliniko and Elixir integrations, and two-factor sign-in

Two new PMS integrations and stronger account security.

New
  • Cliniko integration.
  • Elixir integration.
  • Opt-in two-factor authentication for clinics.
Fixed
  • Bug fixes.