What this article helps with: The rules Lia operates under. How Lia identifies herself, what she will never do, when she stops and hands work to a person, contact hours and opt-outs, HIPAA and authorization, what pausing really does, and what your clients' providers are told.
Who this is for: Managing partners, firm admins, and anyone who has to be comfortable with an agent messaging clients and provider offices under the firm's name.
When not to use this article: This is about limits and compliance behavior, not setup. For configuring escalation rules, FAQs, and firm context, see the Agent Settings article.
Key Terms
Key Terms
What do you mean when you say...
Escalation = Lia stopping and handing something to a named person, with the reason and what was already attempted.
Opt-out = a client texting STOP or an equivalent, which opts them out at the carrier. Texts stop being delivered to them, and only the client can reverse it.
Pause = blocking outbound messages for one client or for the whole firm, while keeping the work in progress.
HIPAA authorization = the signed document that has to be on the client before Lia can request bills or records.
Overview
Lia texts your clients and emails their provider offices under your firm's name. That only works if the limits are clear, so this article states them plainly rather than reassuringly.
Two limits are enforced by the system rather than the agent's judgment: Lia can only email a provider that is in your directory, linked to the case, and has an email address on file, and nothing involving bills or records sends without a signed HIPAA authorization. The rest are operating rules Lia follows in every conversation.
How Lia identifies herself
Lia's default introduction to a new client says she is an AI. Not in the fine print, in the introduction itself. That copy is editable in Agent Settings, so the exact wording is your firm's, and it is worth reading before you enroll anyone if AI disclosure is part of your firm's policy.
If a client asks at any later point whether they are talking to a person, Lia answers honestly and offers to connect them with someone on your team. There is no mode in which Lia pretends to be a member of staff.
The introduction names your firm and the people on the case and explains what Lia will be doing. You can also turn on a Firm Introduction, a personal text from your firm sent before Lia's first message, so the hand-off comes from a person first.
What Lia will never do
These are hard limits, not preferences.
No medical advice. Lia does not assess symptoms, interpret them, or recommend treatment. What a client says gets noted on the case and the client is pointed back to their provider.
No legal advice. Lia does not discuss case details, settlements, or strategy. Those questions go to your team.
No changing appointments on her own. Lia does not reschedule, cancel, or modify a real appointment unilaterally. Where scheduling is in use, Lia gathers times from the office and hands them to the client to choose.
No promises she cannot keep. Lia does not commit the firm to actions it cannot perform.
No pressure. Lia does not push in a way that could read as harassment. Follow-up has a cadence and a limit.
No health information in an email subject line. Ever, on any provider email.
No conversation started between 7pm and 9am, your firm's local time.
One more limit worth naming: Lia does not make phone calls. Lia texts clients and emails provider offices. Inbound calls are handled by Hona's AI Receptionist, which is a separate product.
When Lia escalates instead of continuing
Escalation is the pressure valve. When Lia reaches the edge of what an agent should handle, she stops and hands the conversation to a person rather than improvising.
Lia escalates when:
The client asks for a human.
The client expresses frustration or distress.
The client has not responded after 5 contact attempts.
A task cannot be completed within its deadline.
The client mentions pain or symptoms that are not currently being treated.
The client misses an appointment and cannot be reached.
Every escalation carries the reason and what was already attempted, so the person picking it up is not starting from nothing. Escalations arrive with a priority, a date, a description, and an assignee, and some carry an action button such as Upload signed authorization.
On top of these, your firm writes its own rules. In Agent Settings, each rule reads "Escalate when client [condition]" and assigns to the case owner or to a role.
Expect more escalations at the start. Lia escalates rather than guessing, so a thin setup escalates often. Firm context and FAQs bring the rate down.
Contact hours and opt-outs
Lia starts conversations between 9am and 7pm, your firm's local time. Outside those hours Lia does not initiate contact. A client who writes in after hours is different: they reached out, so Lia can answer rather than leave them waiting until morning.
Opt-outs sit with the client. If a client texts STOP or any equivalent, they are opted out at the carrier and texts stop being delivered to them. There is no re-engagement sequence and no cooling-off period after which Hona tries again. Reversing it is the client's to do, by texting back in, and re-enrolling them in Hona does not undo it.
A softer request is handled with the same seriousness. A casual "please stop texting me" gets one acknowledgement and an escalation to your team, then nothing further from Lia.
Lia also stops after 5 failed contact attempts and escalates instead of continuing to try.
Worth separating two things that sound alike. Enrollment controls whether Lia is assigned to a client and case. Texting consent controls whether Lia can actually reach them. A client can be enrolled and not textable, in which case Lia simply does not send.
HIPAA and authorization
Lia operates under HIPAA and TCPA rules, and the specifics are concrete.
No health information in subject lines.
Minimum necessary collection. Lia asks provider offices for what the case needs, not for everything they hold.
Everything is logged. Client threads and provider email threads sit on the case, readable by anyone working it.
TCPA hours, opt-outs, and the 5-attempt limit are enforced as described above.
A signed HIPAA authorization is always required before Lia requests bills or records, and it cannot be removed as a requirement. Nothing involving bills or records sends without it, and when it is in place it is attached to the request automatically. On the Provider Liaison page, the Billing and Medical records rows carry a Needs HIPAA authorization chip for exactly this reason.
Firms can add their own required documents alongside it, for example a Lien Release, under Authorization documents. There is also a "Require authorization before scheduling" option, off by default.
When authorization is missing, Lia does not proceed quietly. The client's Treatment tab shows the Liaison as blocked with an authorization state, and an escalation arrives with an Upload signed authorization action.
One more boundary on the provider side: Lia never finds a clinic on her own and never emails an address she was not given. A provider has to be in your Provider directory, linked to the case, and have an email address on file. The system enforces both conditions.
What pausing actually does
Pausing is real. It blocks outbound messages at the execution layer, not by asking the agent nicely. A paused agent that is explicitly told to text a client cannot do it, and says so.
Work in progress is kept, not thrown away, and resumes when you unpause. Open provider requests are left in place rather than cancelled.
There are two per-client controls in the case header:
In Treatment pauses treatment-related messages for that one person.
Provider Liaison holds provider outreach for that one client while the Liaison keeps running for everyone else.
Firm-wide toggles live in Agent Settings. The Provider Liaison page has a master toggle that reads Off for the whole firm, and when it is off the page states plainly that the Liaison is paused and your settings are kept.
What providers are told
Provider offices need to know who is writing and why, and that the firm is not directing care. Every outbound provider email carries that plainly. This line is verbatim from a real outbound email:
"our office is not involved in directing treatment, and all clinical decisions remain with your practice."
The same principle runs through the rest of the provider-facing behavior. Lia asks for attendance, bills, and records. Lia does not question a treatment plan, negotiate care, or ask an office to do anything clinical.
Provider recommendations follow the same logic on the client side. Only providers your firm has marked Preferred, of the type asked for, and near the client are ever surfaced. If there are not enough nearby, Lia offers none rather than a thin list. By default suggestions go to the assigned case manager for approval before the client sees them. The client chooses.
Where to go next
What is Lia?: the hub article, and how the base agent and the skills fit together.
Escalations and drafts: how Lia hands work back to your team: what arrives for review and how to clear it.
Provider Liaison: collecting attendance, bills, and records: including authorization documents.
Troubleshooting and FAQs: Lia: blocked provider emails, escalation volume, and other common questions.
Agent Settings: teaching Lia about your firm: firm context, FAQs, escalation rules, and enrollment.
Conclusion
Lia is built to stop early rather than push through. She says what she is, keeps to lawful hours, respects a carrier opt-out, will not touch bills or records without a signed authorization, and hands anything sensitive to a named person. If you want to walk through any of this before enabling a skill, chat with our support team or email [email protected].