The short answer
An AI receptionist for senior living communities built on HighLevel Voice AI costs about $0.40 per answered call, or $60 a month for 150 calls averaging 5 minutes, phone line included. Roughly 45 of those calls (30%) would come outside office hours, which is where an AI answering service earns its keep. Emergencies, complaints and anything needing judgment should go to a person.
What the AI should handle
Book tours
Collect the caller's name and relationship, the prospective resident's first name, the care level they are exploring and their timing, then book a tour and text directions.
Answer pricing and availability basics
Share starting prices by care level and current availability from the knowledge base, and explain that final pricing follows an assessment by the care team.
Take respite stay inquiries
Record the requested dates, care needs in general terms and contact details, and create a task for the counselor to confirm availability.
Route calls about residents
Callers asking about a current resident get their message taken and routed to the right department, without the agent confirming who lives at the community.
What to send to a person
- Care assessments and whether the community can meet someone's needs
- Questions about a current resident
- Contracts, deposits and pricing exceptions
- Complaints and safety concerns
HighLevel's voice agents can transfer a live call, create a task, or trigger a workflow that texts the owner. Set the handoff rules before the agent goes live.
Cost per call and per month
Assumptions for a typical senior living community: 150 calls a month answered by the AI, averaging 5 minutes. Phone minutes are billed per call and rounded up, so each call bills 5 phone minutes at $0.01165.
| Setup | AI cost | Phone line | Per month | Per call |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay per use, Standard voice, GPT-4.1 Mini | $51.00 | $8.74 | $60 | $0.40 |
| Pay per use, ElevenLabs voice, GPT-4.1 Mini | $66.00 | $8.74 | $75 | $0.50 |
| Pay per use, speech-to-speech (OpenAI) | $150.00 | $8.74 | $159 | $1.06 |
| AI Employee Unlimited, $97 flat | $97.00 | $8.74 | $106 | $0.70 |
The breakdown of every Voice AI charge is in our Voice AI pricing guide. Agencies can price this as a monthly service with the calculator's Price a client tab, preloaded for a senior living community.
Compared with staff time
Those 150 calls take about 13 hours of talk time a month. At the US median receptionist wage of $18.27 an hour (May 2025, Bureau of Labor Statistics), that talk time alone is worth about $228, before hold time, breaks, benefits and the calls that come in after hours. An AI receptionist does not replace a good front desk; it catches the overflow and the evenings, and frees staff for the people in front of them.
Sample call
AI AGENTThank you for calling Maple Grove Senior Living. I'm the community's AI assistant. How can I help this evening?
CALLERI'm looking at assisted living for my mother. Do you have openings?
AI AGENTWe have a few assisted living apartments available right now. Would you like to schedule a tour to see them and meet our team?
CALLERYes. What does it cost?
AI AGENTAssisted living has a monthly rate that depends on the apartment and the care your mother needs, which our team works out in an assessment. I'll text you our starting prices. Would Saturday at 11:00 a.m. work for a tour?
CALLERSaturday works.
AI AGENTMay I have your name and your mother's first name?
CALLERI'm Janet, and she's Ruth.
AI AGENTThank you, Janet. You're booked for Saturday at 11:00. I'm texting the address and parking details, and our counselor, Mark, will call you tomorrow.
Prompt tips
- Tip 1Give the agent starting prices by care level and one fixed sentence saying final pricing follows an assessment.
- Tip 2Tell the agent to ask only for the caller's relationship and the prospective resident's first name, never medical history.
- Tip 3Add a strict rule that the agent never confirms whether a person lives at the community, and routes those calls to staff.
Rules to watch
HIPAA depends on the community. HIPAA covers health care providers that transmit health information electronically for standard transactions. A community billing Medicaid or insurers electronically for care services is a covered entity; an independent living community that does not may fall outside it. Check with counsel before deciding on HighLevel's $297 a month HIPAA package.
Families and personal representatives. HHS treats a person with legal authority to make health care decisions for someone, such as a legal guardian or a holder of a health care power of attorney, as that person under the Privacy Rule. Other family members are not automatically. The AI should never confirm residents or discuss their care.
Outbound AI calls. The FCC ruled in 2024 that AI-generated voices count as artificial under the TCPA. Before using outbound Voice AI to follow up with families, collect consent that covers AI calls, and stay within HighLevel's calling window of 8am to 8pm in the contact's time zone.
General information, not legal advice.
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Questions
Can an AI receptionist give senior living pricing?
What does an AI receptionist cost a senior living community?
Will families be put off by an AI answering?
Can the AI follow up with families by phone?
Sources
- Covered Entities and Business Associates (HHS)
- Personal representatives under HIPAA (HHS)
- FCC makes AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal (Declaratory Ruling, Feb 8, 2024)
- HIPAA compliance with HighLevel (help center)
- HighLevel pricing page
- HighLevel AI product pricing (help center)
- Voice AI outbound calling (HighLevel help center)
- HighLevel AI product pricing (help center)
- AI Voice Agents overview
- HighLevel Phone System pricing and billing guide
- BLS Occupational Outlook: Receptionists (May 2025 pay)