There are not enough primary care providers in the United States. About 100 million Americans cannot see a primary care doctor. This causes a gap of billions of care hours every year. This problem is growing because of more older people, more chronic illnesses, and more paperwork for doctors.
Lumeris created an AI system called Tom™, which works all day and night inside clinical workflows. Tom handles tasks like scheduling appointments and screenings, checking if patients take their medicine, calling patients after hospital visits, and sending educational information. Unlike older systems that just give information to care teams, Tom takes actions on its own without bothering doctors or changing their usual work.
This AI helps doctors see more patients, reducing the huge shortage in primary care hours. John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins said Tom’s system helps 100 million people without primary care and also cuts health costs by over half by working more efficiently and preventing illnesses.
Doctor schedules in primary care can be messy. Patient no-shows, rescheduling, urgent follow-ups, and paperwork often interrupt the day. This lowers the time doctors spend with patients and can cause burnout.
AI inside clinical workflows helps manage schedules better by:
American doctors work about 58 hours a week, including paperwork. Reducing time spent on indirect care and admin tasks helps them work better and less stressed. In 2024, many doctors said they spend over eight hours a week on electronic health records at home. AI can lower this burden and improve workflow.
Doctors spend lots of time on paperwork, insurance approval, patient messages, and handling referrals. This adds to stress and burnout. In 2024, 43.2% of doctors reported having at least one burnout symptom.
AI tools help by automating these tasks:
Joshua Frederick, CEO of NOMS Healthcare, says AI helps fill staff gaps by making administrative work easier. This lets doctors spend more time with patients, which leads to better care and keeps doctors working longer.
AI is very useful in handling calls at the front desk. These tasks take a lot of staff time but do not get enough attention for automation.
Simbo AI is a company that makes AI phone systems to answer patient calls. The AI can book appointments, answer common questions, send reminders, and pass urgent calls to staff without tiring receptionists.
Benefits of AI in phone systems include:
AI goes beyond phone calls. NextGen Healthcare uses AI to cover everything from booking to billing and care coordination. Hosting on cloud services like Amazon Web Services helps reduce IT problems and supports growth.
AI can make primary care better, but using it responsibly is important. There are concerns about bias in AI, privacy of patient data, and how AI fits into medical decisions.
Dr. Yair Lewis from Navina AI says diverse data should be used to avoid making healthcare unfair. Rules must be strong for AI that learns on its own or takes independent actions affecting care.
To use AI well, it should:
The American Association for Physician Leadership offers advice and training to help health groups manage AI while keeping doctors and patients in mind.
AI helps doctors and health groups run operations better. It also supports care models that focus on patient outcomes and managing many patients at once.
AI tools help identify which patients are at risk and track quality measures. Lumeris’ AI mixes social factors and clinical data to guide personal care plans. This is important for managing chronic illness and avoiding hospital readmissions.
NextGen Healthcare uses AI to spot gaps in care and support patient follow-up. This helps doctors care for many patients and can reduce unnecessary emergency visits and lower costs.
Primary care in the U.S. is dealing with fewer providers, more paperwork, and growing patient needs. AI within clinical workflows can help manage doctor schedules, cut clerical work, and improve patient access.
From automated scheduling and phone systems to AI-assisted notes and patient outreach, these technologies work well in many primary care settings.
Practice leaders and IT staff should look for AI tools that fit easily with current systems. Focus on options that lower manual work, support care goals, and follow regulations.
Working with vendors like Simbo AI for phone tasks or platforms like Lumeris’ Primary Care as a Service™ or NextGen’s AI tools can help primary care clinics run better, keep providers satisfied, and improve patient care in today’s health system.
Tom is an AI-powered Primary Care as a Service™ solution developed by Lumeris to support overburdened physicians and expand primary care access by integrating into clinical workflows and executing autonomous patient management actions.
Tom tackles primary care provider shortages, administrative burdens, limited patient access, and the growing mismatch between demand and supply by expanding care capacity and proactively managing patient care tasks.
Unlike traditional systems that only provide information, Tom autonomously acts on data in real-time, scheduling appointments, monitoring medication, conducting outreach, and personalizing care within shared care plans.
Tom autonomously schedules screenings and appointments, manages care coordination, monitors ongoing patient needs, and escalates complex cases, effectively optimizing provider schedules and reducing administrative workload.
Tom incorporates social determinants of health data alongside clinical guidelines to personalize patient interventions, improving engagement and outcomes while addressing non-clinical factors impacting health.
Tom aims to bridge the 2-billion-hour annual shortage in primary care by expanding provider capacity and enabling access for an estimated 100 million Americans without primary care providers.
Collaborators include BJC Health System’s Center for Health AI, Endeavor Health, MIT Computer Science and AI Lab, Oliver Wyman, ŌURA, and Wolters Kluwer, bringing expertise in AI, healthcare delivery, decision support, and wearable tech.
Lumeris reports improved quality metrics, better patient experiences, enhanced physician satisfaction, and high CMS star ratings (4.5 to 5.0) across multiple Medicare populations using Tom.
By increasing primary care capacity, reducing administrative burdens, and enabling proactive patient management, Tom lowers care costs by over 50% through improved efficiency and prevention.
Being embedded allows Tom to operate 24/7 alongside care teams, providing real-time insights and taking immediate, appropriate actions without disrupting provider workflows, thus enhancing schedule management and care delivery.
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