Patients Are Stuck Waiting: Can Voice AI Pick Up the Phone?

By David Edwards

Multiple factors are compounding call center challenges in today’s provider organizations, and the situation will likely get worse before it gets better. Increased demand for services, combined with staffing shortages and staff burnout, lead to call experiences defined by long wait times, bottlenecks, and dissatisfied patients. In 5% of cases, callers hang up before ever reaching an agent, highlighting how broken access can drive lost opportunities.

Consider the following, all-too-common scenario: A patient calls their doctor’s office to reschedule an upcoming appointment. Directed to a call center struggling with high call volume, the patient is sent to voicemail or placed on a long hold. Without connecting to a scheduler or knowing what to do next, they give up and miss the appointment entirely. For some patients, this may mean a missed opportunity for critical care. For others, it may mean that they find another provider’s office with an easier scheduling experience.

Amid staffing shortages, rising service demand, and growing consumer expectations around access, healthcare executives should look for ways to deflect routine calls like appointment confirmations and reschedule requests to AI and automation. This frees staff to focus on calls where the human touch matters most.

Advances in AI and automation, such as virtual agents and self-scheduling capabilities, are already improving call center operations while giving patients more control over their healthcare—which is exactly where they want to be. These solutions not only improve patient satisfaction, but they also uncover real ROI. Voice AI can reduce call center costs from $700,000 to $270,000 annually, according to a recent report. Here are three ways provider organizations can leverage technology to reduce call volume, improve patient experience, and identify new ways to cut costs.

Rules-based systems

Putting patients in the driver’s seat to manage their own scheduling not only improves the overall experience but also enhances operational efficiency. Rules-based systems are essential. Without them, call center staff often need to call patients back to fix scheduling errors.

For example, a patient seeking an orthopedic appointment might accidentally self-schedule with a surgeon, even though the chief complaint typically does not require surgical intervention and can be addressed by a mid-level advanced practice provider. A rules-based system matches the patient with the right provider accurately the first time.

But the new frontier of self-scheduling isn’t just about codifying provider rules correctly. Instead, it’s the orchestrated intelligence that expands those rules across multiple channels without loss of provider preferences or patient satisfaction. This approach to self-scheduling focuses less on the capability and more on the patient experience, reducing friction whether they are scheduling via phone, automated chat, or online portal.

Orchestrated intelligence ensures patients have the same options and experience at every point while maintaining the integrity of provider rules across channels to accommodate multi-location practices and keep interactions consistent as organizations scale.

AI that understands healthcare

New voice AI solutions provide a natural, conversational experience. They tie seamlessly into a provider organization’s existing phone system, making interactions feel personal and high touch. These solutions can handle repetitive, high-volume inquiries—such as appointment rescheduling and cancellations—so staff can focus on addressing more complex needs.

While voice AI solutions are already common in many industries, helping reduce operational strain while meeting patient expectations for fast, convenient service, generic technology won’t fit the bill for most healthcare organizations. Healthcare-specific voice AI solutions are uniquely trained to understand the complexities of clinical operations. For example, knowing which requests can be handled through automation and which should be routed to staff based on the organization’s specific rules is important. These solutions are built with practices in mind, so they are already HIPAA-compliant and designed to integrate easily with common EHRs. This specialized understanding of a practice’s workflows, combined with real-time integration into systems of record, makes implementation easier and delivers more reliable, accurate outcomes once deployed.

Proactive, integrated communication

Providers can also guide patients toward self-service options that deflect unnecessary inbound calls to the call center. When scheduling functionality is embedded into key communication points across the patient journey, digital engagement can drive real action. For example, appointment reminders ensure fewer calls related to missed appointments or confirmations about existing appointments. Referral activation and rescheduling workflows do the same by making it easier for patients to take clear next steps, without needing to call.

With these three elements in place, the earlier example could have gone much differently. The patient is immediately connected to a healthcare voice AI solution and can reschedule their appointment with the correct provider within minutes, without being placed on hold. An automated reminder confirms the new appointment time. The patient sees their provider without confusion, frustration, or missing the appointment altogether. The result? A better patient experience, stronger outcomes, improved revenue and a lighter load on the call center.

As voice AI gains traction in healthcare, it’s important for organizations to understand that these solutions must do more than just answer calls. Future-proof solutions must be built with healthcare in mind. They need to connect with real-time practice data and apply consistent rules across patient access channels. As patients become increasingly fed up with long hold times and stifled access to their providers, these solutions, when properly designed, can successfully deflect the right calls, saving time and reducing frustration for both patients and call center staff.

David Edwards is Chief Technology Officer at Relatient, where he drives innovation in patient access. Previously, he served as CTO at Vendavo and spent 25 years at Cerner guiding key shifts in technology, architecture, and process.