Nebraska Medicine was facing a critical operational challenge to both patient care and staff well-being. It works with 1,200 affiliated providers across more than 70 care locations, and its call center agents were drowning in 2.5 million annual calls. Routine patient questions were requiring the same level of staff attention as more complex inquiries and impeding life-critical medical operations.
THE CHALLENGE
Most important, routine calls were disrupting time-sensitive nurse triage, provider-to-provider coordination and organ transplant coordination. In the organization's multi-organ transplant center, there is just one hour from organ availability in which to complete the entire acceptance process.
Given those tight parameters, the contact center only has 15 minutes to contact the transplant recipient and connect all parties. When agents were tied up handling routine appointment scheduling or basic information requests, Nebraska Medicine risked missing these critical 15-minute windows that could potentially mean loss of the organ – life or death for patients awaiting transplants.
"In addition, our contact center agents were experiencing burnout from handling repetitive, low-complexity requests that prevented them from focusing on complex patient needs that leveraged their human expertise," said Pat Michael, director of patient contact services at Nebraska Medicine.
"This created a vicious cycle: overwhelmed agents led to longer wait times, increased patient frustration and call abandonment rates, which put more pressure on remaining staff," he continued. "We needed a solution to the problem that could intelligently differentiate between routine requests and critical medical communications and allow our skilled professionals to focus their expertise where it was needed most."
PROPOSAL
Nebraska Medicine turned to vendor ActiumHealth, which offers a system that addressed the provider organization's core operational challenges through intelligent automation and sophisticated call routing.
"It centered on deploying conversational AI agents that could handle most routine patient inquiries such as basic information requests, department transfers and appointment scheduling, while seamlessly escalating complex or urgent matters to human agents," Michael explained.
"The system was designed to integrate directly with our existing telephony infrastructure and Epic EHR system, creating a unified patient communication experience," he continued. "The AI agents would provide 24/7 availability, multi-language support and emergency triage capabilities, ensuring patients could access services around the clock while critical calls received immediate priority routing."
This was not just about deflecting calls – it was about creating an intelligent communication ecosystem that could understand patient intent and route interactions to the most appropriate resource, he added.
"The expected workflow would transform our patient access operations by having AI agents serve as the first point of contact, handling routine inquiries completely autonomously while maintaining the conversational, empathetic tone our patients expect," he said.
"For complex cases or emergency situations, the AI would immediately escalate to human agents with full context, ensuring continuity of care," he continued. "The platform promised to reduce our agents' workload by handling routine calls, freeing our staff to focus on the patient interactions that truly required human expertise, clinical judgment or emotional support."
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
Nebraska Medicine implemented the patient communication platform through a phased approach and designated it as one of its highest-priority strategic initiatives. The implementation began with Phase 1 focusing on intelligent call routing across the three main public-facing phone numbers.
"The AI agents were integrated directly into our existing telephony infrastructure, allowing them to handle incoming calls to our main hospital lines, process automated department transfers, and manage basic information requests without requiring any changes to how patients contacted us," Michael explained. "A full Epic integration is being rolled out in Phase 2."
Currently, the AI agents handle four primary use cases:
● Automated department transfers based on natural language requests.
● Basic hospital information provision (hours, locations, services).
● Intelligent call routing to appropriate specialists.
● Emergency triage with immediate escalation capabilities for urgent medical concerns.
"The AI agents handle incoming calls to our main hospital lines across three public-facing phone numbers, using natural language processing to understand patient intent and either resolve routine inquiries autonomously or route complex matters to appropriate human agents," Michael said.
"Our medical communication center staff now work alongside this technology, focusing their expertise on complex patient consultations, provider-to-provider communications and critical time-sensitive operations like organ transplant coordination," he continued.
Integrating the technology maintains existing service level standards while dramatically improving efficiency, he added.
"The AI agents operate 24/7, providing patients with immediate assistance for routine needs while ensuring urgent medical concerns receive immediate human attention through intelligent priority queuing," he said.
RESULTS
Among the results achieved to date is a 70% call automation rate. The AI agents now handle 70% of incoming calls completely autonomously, exceeding initial expectations.
Another result is a 40% reduction in calls to human operators.
"We experienced a 40% reduction in calls requiring human intervention, dropping from 13,000 to 8,000 weekly calls to our medical communication center," Michael reported. "This reduction directly addressed our core operational challenge by ensuring our staff could focus on high-value interactions, including the critical organ transplant coordination.
"The AI agents accomplished this by intelligently filtering and resolving routine inquiries before they reached human agents, while maintaining seamless escalation pathways for complex cases," he added.
And yet another result has been a zero-second answer time for automated calls.
"All calls handled by AI agents now have zero-second answer times, eliminating patient wait times for routine inquiries," Michael said. "This metric represents a fundamental improvement in patient experience, as patients receive immediate assistance for common requests like finding departments, checking hours or getting basic information.
"The technology achieved this by providing instant, conversational responses that feel natural and helpful, rather than forcing patients through traditional phone tree systems or wait queues," he added.
ADVICE FOR OTHERS
When considering AI-powered patient communication platforms, healthcare organizations should first conduct a thorough analysis of their call patterns and operational pain points, Michael advised.
"The key is understanding that successful implementation isn't just about call deflection – it's about creating an intelligent communication ecosystem that enhances both patient experience and staff efficiency," he said.
"Organizations should look for platforms that offer true conversational AI capabilities rather than simple chatbots, since patients expect natural, empathetic interactions even from automated systems," he continued. "The technology should integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructure, particularly EHR systems, to provide continuity of care and maintain data integrity."
A phased implementation approach appealed to Nebraska Medicine since it allowed staff to initially focus on use cases that provide immediate operational relief and then build toward more complex integrations. Organizations should ensure they have strong change management processes in place, as staff may initially be skeptical of AI technology, Michael said.
"However, when implemented correctly, staff quickly recognize the value of being freed from repetitive tasks to focus on work that requires human expertise and compassion," he said.
"It's crucial to maintain service quality standards throughout implementation and to choose a platform that provides detailed analytics and continuous improvement capabilities," he concluded. "Most important, organizations should view AI-powered patient communication as a strategic investment in operational excellence rather than just a cost-cutting measure. It enables healthcare providers to deliver better patient care while improving staff satisfaction and organizational efficiency."
Follow Bill's HIT coverage on LinkedIn: Bill Siwicki
Email him: bsiwicki@himss.org
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