In many medical offices across the United States, patients often wait on hold for more than 35 minutes when they try to make an appointment or get information. Studies by companies like Assort Health show that patients can wait up to 35 minutes on average to schedule appointments by phone.
These long waits are not just annoying; they mess up the whole process of patient access. When phone calls pile up, front desk staff feel more pressure. This leads to more patients hanging up before they get to talk to someone. These lost calls mean missed chances to book appointments and talk to patients. This affects how much money the practice makes and if patients keep coming back.
Another problem is that many appointments get booked with the wrong doctor. Every year, 20 million patients in the U.S. are scheduled with the wrong provider. This wastes time for patients and doctors and makes office staff work harder to fix the schedules.
Because most appointments—88%—are still booked by phone, health care offices need good phone systems. Old-style phone centers have trouble keeping up. This causes problems and makes patient experiences worse.
Long hold times make it harder for patients to get care. First, delays can cause patients to wait longer before getting treatment, which can make their health worse. When patients face long waits on the phone, they might wait even more before asking for help or go to the emergency room when it is not needed. This adds extra costs to healthcare and puts more pressure on emergency departments.
For healthcare providers, slow phone service causes other problems. Clinics and hospitals may have uneven appointment schedules. Patients might miss appointments because they are confused. Some patients give up trying to book, which means the practice loses money.
A better phone system can help patients get appointments faster. This means they see the right doctor at the right time without mistakes or delays.
Long hold times do more than upset patients. They cause problems for healthcare workers too. Call centers and front desk staff take many calls but often have few people working. This stressful work makes staff leave their jobs often—about 45% leave every year in healthcare call centers. This causes other problems because hiring and training new staff takes time and money.
Without good phone management, scheduling becomes harder. Practices have trouble keeping appointments correct and organized, especially when there are many doctors, clinics, or specialties. For example, scheduling appointments for siblings, referrals to specialists, or visits at different locations can be hard to handle by hand.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are changing how healthcare offices manage phone calls. Companies like Assort Health show how these tools make phone systems work better and improve patient satisfaction.
AI works well because it can adjust to the specific needs of medical specialties. Unlike regular call centers, AI voice agents made for healthcare learn the special rules for different fields like orthopedics, cardiology, pediatrics, dermatology, and behavioral health.
These AI agents break patient calls into simple steps to avoid mistakes. They connect with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and other databases. This lets AI check patient data and insurance quickly during the call. It also helps follow clinical rules and update records on the spot. This lowers human errors, and scheduling accuracy can reach up to 99%.
Using AI voice agents has shown big improvements. For example, Peninsula Orthopaedic Associates cut their phone hold times from 11 minutes to just 1 minute in 30 days after starting AI call management. This shows AI can help patients connect faster with less waiting.
AI systems can also handle millions of calls every year without help from humans for simple tasks. By automating routine questions and appointments, staff have more time for face-to-face care and other important work.
People are happy with AI phone services. Assort Health’s system gets an average score of 4.6 out of 5 from patients. It also solves over 90% of patient questions and appointment needs during the call.
Fast and accurate scheduling helps patients trust the healthcare system more. This support helps patients follow their treatment and go to follow-up visits.
AI reduces the stress and work for front desk staff by handling routine calls. This lowers staff leaving their jobs. With AI doing simple scheduling, office workers can handle more complicated tasks and help patients better.
AI systems can also adjust to different scheduling rules and insurance checks. This reduces errors and lowers the need for manual work. Practices with many locations or many doctors gain from AI’s ability to manage complex schedules correctly and quickly.
AI call management is part of health informatics. Health informatics uses technology to collect, store, retrieve, and use medical and health data. It allows patients, doctors, administrators, and insurance companies to access electronic medical records.
Experts say health informatics helps improve how practices work by sharing information fast and analyzing data. When AI connects with systems like Electronic Health Records (EHR), it helps doctors make better and quicker decisions and smooths patient workflows.
Health data specialists use data analysis to find patterns, use resources well, and create better ways to handle clinical and office tasks. By making health data easy to get and understand, practice managers can improve how well they operate and how well patients do.
In the U.S., many healthcare calls are still made by phone for appointments—about 88% of all bookings. Offices face special challenges like complicated insurance rules, many specialties, and a wide range of patients. These need smart scheduling tools.
The healthcare market in the U.S. is competitive. If a practice has bad phone service, patients may go to other doctors with better service. Practices that lower phone wait times and reduce booking mistakes can get more satisfied patients.
AI automation also helps meet rules from insurance and government by making patient checks faster and more accurate. This reduces claim denials and helps practices get paid on time.
As patients want easier digital options, health systems using AI tools can improve how they work and keep patients coming back.
AI call systems in healthcare have grown quickly. Since late 2024, some AI companies reported making eight times more money, showing that many healthcare groups are using these tools. Investors and healthcare leaders see AI voice agents as a good answer to rising demand for better patient access.
By combining specialty-specific AI with links to EHRs and management tools, these systems handle complicated scheduling well. They can coordinate providers, clinics, and insurance companies in real time.
AI can cut problems at work, lower staff stress, and let offices focus more on patient care instead of paperwork.
Medical practice managers, owners, and IT leaders in the U.S. should see the real benefits of cutting long phone hold times. This helps not only patient experiences but also healthcare delivery and how practices run. AI tools made for healthcare front desks are no longer ideas for the future. They are tools available now that can change access and patient satisfaction.
By using these technologies and health informatics, healthcare organizations can work better and be ready to meet the changing needs of patients across the country.
Assort Health targets the issue of long patient hold times and scheduling inefficiencies in healthcare call centers, which lead to frustration, abandoned calls, and barriers to care. Their AI platform eliminates lengthy holds and scheduling errors, improving patient access to care.
The AI breaks down patient interactions into clear steps and uses specialty-specific agents, achieving 99% scheduling accuracy. It integrates with EHR systems to update patient data and insurance information in real-time, reducing errors and improving appointment booking.
At Peninsula Orthopaedic Associates, hold times were reduced from 11 minutes to 1 minute within 30 days of implementation, demonstrating the AI’s efficiency in reducing patient wait time significantly.
The AI platform customizes its interactions based on specialty-specific needs, integrating with clinical EHR and practice management systems to navigate varying scheduling rules and provider preferences, ensuring smooth operations across specialties.
The platform maintains over a 90% call resolution rate and has received patient satisfaction ratings averaging 4.6 out of 5, reflecting reliable service and positive patient experiences.
Long hold times discourage patients, leading to abandoned calls and delayed care. Reducing holds makes healthcare more accessible and timely, improving patient outcomes and system efficiency.
Assort Health serves a wide range of specialties including orthopedics, cardiology, pediatrics, primary care, dermatology, gastroenterology, behavioral health, and urgent care, among others.
The platform employs specialty-specific generative AI and AI-powered voice agents integrated with EHR and practice management systems, supported by customized scheduling algorithms and rigorous AI safety measures.
Since Q4 2024, Assort Health experienced an eightfold increase in revenue, driven by AI accuracy, positive patient feedback, and rapid adoption by hundreds of healthcare organizations.
By automating call management and scheduling, the AI reduces operational friction, decreases staff turnover, and allows clinicians and staff to focus more on delivering exceptional care rather than administrative tasks.
Simbo is using AI agents to automate all phone related workflows. Connect now to know more.
Schedule AI Agents Demo Now© Since 2019, Simbo AI.
