A Tipping Point in Healthcare
Healthcare is reaching a critical point. Burnout is increasing, patients are becoming more frustrated, and outdated workflows are holding us back. For years, technology has promised to improve things, but has often only added extra complexity.
The change now is not just about better technology but how it’s being used. We are on the edge of what I call the “Agent Era,” where artificial intelligence is no longer just automating tasks but acting as a teammate in delivering care.
Introducing intelligent AI agents is becoming more common to help healthcare practices handle a growing administrative burden. These agents can answer calls, schedule appointments, respond to messages, and work directly within the PMS and EHR systems that the front desk staff already use. The result is faster service, happier patients, and less stress for front desk teams.
1. The Real Bottleneck Isn’t Clinical — It’s Operational
Many challenges in healthcare begin long before a doctor enters the room. Most patients still start their journey with a phone call, and too often, that call turns into a wait.
Front-desk teams are overwhelmed: juggling ringing phones, in-person questions, prior authorizations, and voicemails. Patients wait on hold, repeat their concerns, and sometimes give up entirely.
Nearly 70% of patients are frustrated by long hold times, and almost half have delayed care due to administrative barriers. That’s not just inconvenient, it’s a clinical risk.
2. Where Intelligent Agents Fit In
AI agents are helping address this. These AI systems interact with patients naturally over voice or text, manage scheduling, confirm insurance, send reminders, and route messages. There are no phone trees or long waits. Just help—instantly.
They work well because they are integrated. Agents are built inside the same EHR and communications platforms that teams are already using. That means practices don’t need to rip and replace systems to get started.
Agents also work outside of business hours, handling after-hours messages, proactive follow-ups, and pre-visit paperwork to keep the front office running around the clock, without additional staff.
In addition to enhanced efficiency, another benefit of intelligent agents is that they maximize capacity. The integration of automatic reminders and additional features into appointment systems results in minimized missed calls and appointments, so that more patients follow through with their scheduled appointments. The result is more predictable revenue, provider time, and thousands of dollars in annual savings from recovered opportunities and reduced administrative expenses.
3. AI as a Teammate, Not a Tool
The most effective AI applications aren’t just going to be a “device.” They’re going to be a team member. When I talk to providers about the future of healthcare, they’re naturally skeptical. Will patients want this? Is it too “robotic”-sounding?
But once they have it up and running, the response is unanimous. As one oral surgeon, Dr. Paul Koshgerian, said:
“What I like about this the most is that it’s not designed to replace anybody; it’s built to help the team. It streamlines things, it helps back the staff up, and it’s all about enhancing the patient experience.”
And that’s the bottom line—AI can’t be a “plug-in” solution or a gimmick. It needs to be part of the natural workflow. And to do that, healthcare organizations are going to have to create a new role: the AI Integrator. Someone who understands the clinical processes and pain points, the operational flow, and the patient expectations. And knows how to bring AI online to help everyone win.
4. Real-World Impact
The results speak for themselves:
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More calls answered (including after hours)
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Quicker appointment setting
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Fewer voicemails and dropped messages
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Less stressed-out staff and more satisfied patients
Some clinics have accomplished a 400% rise in pre-visit paperwork completion, resulting in significantly higher patient reviews because their needs received prompt communication and fulfillment. This isn’t about automation replacing jobs. It’s about eliminating friction, improving the care experience, and reclaiming the human focus of medicine.
5. A Glimpse of What’s Coming
Administrative tasks are the low-hanging fruit. Clinical AI is much more complex. Yet it’s coming. Microsoft’s new medical AI system, MAI-DxO, recently scored 85.5% accuracy on challenging medical cases—orders of magnitude better than the human benchmark of 20%. It reasons like a team of doctors: requesting follow-ups, ordering labs, reviewing data, and revising conclusions in real time.
Humans want this help. A Pew Research study shows 65% of Americans say they would be comfortable with AI being used in their skin cancer screening, while Deloitte found that almost half of patients believe AI will enhance diagnostic accuracy by five years.
Beyond today’s AI, we are moving from narrow AI to artificial general intelligence (AGI) systems that can understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks like humans. After that, there are artificial superintelligences (ASI) that surpass human ability in every way.
AI is already transforming jobs as we know them. Last year, Microsoft announced it was laying off thousands of coders because AI can now perform their programming tasks. In healthcare, we’ll need AI integrators who can connect medical workflows with underlying AI technology. This will be an essential specialty for those wanting to shape how AI enhances healthcare.
Insurance companies, hospitals, and practices will increasingly deploy AI to reduce costs and improve outcomes by eliminating unnecessary tests, optimizing drug prescriptions, and automating administrative tasks.
AI will never replace the human touch needed in a doctor or caregiver but instead will serve as a valuable assistant that amplifies human capabilities.
Conclusion: The Agent Era Is Here
AI in healthcare has never been about replacing people—it’s about liberating them. We’ve spent a decade adding dashboards and portals to already overburdened infrastructure. But now we have the opportunity to do something different. To treat AI agents as members of the team who can coordinate, collaborate, and even care.
The organizations that approach this shift with this mindset will not only operate at speed, but they’ll also have a better relationship with their patients. Because this is the new front door to healthcare. Agents that are not just answering questions—they’re taking action. And the teams that embrace this new era? They’ll be the ones driving the future of care.
About the Author
Jock Putney is a Bay Area entrepreneur and executive leading several companies at the intersection of healthcare, biotech, and technology, including Nuvolum, WUWTA™, and Stemodontics. He is currently developing AI-driven solutions, including conversational AI agents (e.g., G.R.A.C.E.) to automate, augment, and improve patient and customer interactions. A two-time stroke survivor, Jock has used his health challenges as inspiration to make big changes in his own life so he can continue building forward thinking companies that merge human skills with emerging technologies.
