Clearwave vs Phreesia (2026)
Clearwave and Phreesia both automate the front of the visit, from calls and scheduling to eligibility, intake, check in and payments, and the difference that decides between them is how the work is packaged and what else rides along with intake. Clearwave relaunched in 2026 as eight agents covering voice, scheduling, eligibility, clinical intake, pre registration, check in, payments and outreach. A workflow agent included in every plan coordinates them, and a practice picks which agents it deploys. The voice agent answers in 33 languages, and the scheduling agent takes bookings from Google Search and Maps through Reserve with Google. Eligibility runs against more than 900 payer networks, and check in still runs on kiosks and tablets. It is built for specialty practices and multi site groups. Phreesia serves more than 4,700 organizations and one in six US patient visits, spanning check in, questionnaires, consent, eligibility, payments and patient financing through AccessOne. VoiceAI, launched in 2025, verifies callers, schedules and handles refills and billing, and it triages clinical calls, routing urgent ones to the on call provider. After check in, patients may opt in to health content funded by life sciences companies and other sponsors. Its intake platform is free through 31 December 2026. A specialty group that wants to assemble its front desk agent by agent fits Clearwave. An organization that wants a widely used intake platform with a voice agent at no intake cost this year fits Phreesia.
- The practice wants to choose which front office tasks an agent takes on.
- Patients should book from Google Search and Maps.
- Waiting room kiosks and tablets are still part of check in.
- Callers speak many languages, and the voice agent handles 33.
- The organization wants intake free through the end of 2026.
- Urgent clinical calls should reach the on call provider in real time.
- Patients need financing options at the point of service.
- Security review needs HITRUST, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI DSS Level 1.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Clearwave and Phreesia are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Clearwave | Phreesia |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Healthcare Administrative Automation | Healthcare Administrative Automation |
| Founded | 2004 | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | Wilmington, Delaware |
| Website | clearwaveinc.com | phreesia.com |
Side by Side
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Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph opens the AI Health Index profile of the vendor: what the product is, who buys it and what it does.
Clearwave sells front office automation to specialty practices, multi site groups and health systems: scheduling, call handling, insurance eligibility, pre registration, clinical intake, check in, payments and patient reminders. The company is based in Atlanta and says it was founded in 2004.
Source: AI Health Index, October 2026
Questions buyers ask
Is Clearwave or Phreesia better for patient intake?
Clearwave suits a specialty group that wants to assemble its front desk agent by agent, from voice and scheduling to eligibility and check in. Phreesia suits an organization that wants a widely used intake platform, with VoiceAI on the phones and intake free through 31 December 2026. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How do the Clearwave and Phreesia voice agents compare?
Clearwave's voice agent answers in 33 languages, books and changes appointments under the practice's own scheduling rules, and writes refill, records and billing requests into the practice management system for staff. Phreesia VoiceAI verifies callers, schedules, and handles refills, billing and records requests. It also triages clinical calls, routes urgent ones to the on call provider and writes a time stamped record of each call to the chart. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Is Phreesia free?
Phreesia's intake platform is free through 31 December 2026. After check in, patients may opt in to health content funded by life sciences companies and other sponsors, which Phreesia runs as a separate business called Network Solutions. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Can patients book through Google with Clearwave?
Yes. Since September 2026 Clearwave's scheduling agent connects to Reserve with Google, so patients can book from Google Search and Maps. Clearwave reports more than 5,000 locations and 11,000 providers on the platform. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
What security certifications do Clearwave and Phreesia hold?
Phreesia holds HITRUST CSF r2 certification, a SOC 2 Type 2 examination and PCI DSS Level 1 service provider status. Clearwave maintains SOC 2 compliance, with no report type or payment card attestation given, although its payments agent takes card payments. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the RCM & Prior Auth AI page.
Clearwave is based in Atlanta and says it was founded in 2004. Phreesia, founded in 2005 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is based in Wilmington, Delaware. Both voice agents run on unnamed speech and language models, and neither gives the region where it hosts patient data. Phreesia's optional authorization at check in lets it show patients health content funded by sponsors, with only the details a patient separately agrees to share passed on.