We had three phones and now we're going to just have one, only to realize that, no, we actually have ten agents at least working for us, all at the same time.
01Overview
A busy practice that found out how busy
Beyond Women's Care is a four-provider OB/GYN practice in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It takes anywhere from 70 to 160 calls a day, with Mondays and Tuesdays the heaviest.
For years that load ran through three phone lines and a front desk that also checks patients in and out. When the practice moved its scheduling to Echo this summer, the first thing it learned was how much demand those three lines had been holding back.
“We always knew that we are a busy practice, but this whole transition has been very revealing to us in many different ways.”
One of Dr. Murthy's partners worried about breaking up the phone tree and going from three phones to one. It turned out the other way round: that one number now reaches at least ten Echo agents at once, and every call is answered.
02The concern
Can AI handle OB/GYN scheduling?
That was the practice's biggest worry going in. OB/GYN scheduling isn't one calendar of identical slots.
“We have the nuances of obstetrics as well as gynecology. We have routine patients and then we have problem-based visits. And then pregnancy-based visits have certain requirements and time frames.”
On top of the visit types sit the call days: the days a provider is on call, when an appointment may be cancelled at the last minute.
The practice entered those nuances into Echo's scheduling rules, and Echo applied them on every call.
“To our pleasant surprise, the AI-based scheduler was able to learn very quickly our needs and demands, and able to adjust to our schedules, including call schedules and the difficulties with scheduling on the call days.”
The part she didn't expect was consistency. A front desk says different things at different times, in different ways. Echo tells every patient the same thing, including that a visit on a call day could be moved, so nobody is caught off guard when it is.
03The patients
“They love the interactions with Taylor”
The practice named its AI receptionist Taylor, and some patients now ask for her by name.
Dr. Murthy's favorite example is an OB patient who needed several letters for her pregnancy. She called, gave Taylor exact directions, and Taylor passed them to the office staff. When she arrived for her appointment, the documents were ready.
“She actually had the documents ready at the time of her appointment, and she was extremely impressed with that level of efficiency.”
Other patients value speed. When a visit is cancelled, Echo offers the slot to the next patient who calls, even within the hour. That kind of last-minute opening wasn't easy to get before.
Dr. Murthy is candid that it isn't for everyone. Some patients get stuck in a loop with the AI and walk up to the front desk to ask what they could do differently. For them, a person is always one request away: Echo transfers to the front desk, the nurse line, or the on-call doctor after hours. If nobody picks up, Echo takes a message and puts it in front of staff right away.
04The front desk
A quieter office, and fewer angry callers
Before Echo, the front desk went from one phone call to the next, in between checking patients in and out. Now they look after the people in front of them, then review what Echo has booked, and call patients back only where something needs fixing.
“We are not as loud in our office anymore, because the phone is not ringing all the time. There's barely any time that the phone rings, because Echo answers everybody.”
Those callbacks are short. Every call arrives with a concise summary of what the patient needs, so staff don't spend the call re-gathering information Echo already has. The nurse line changed too: instead of a constant stream of messages, most questions are resolved, and only the ones that need a nurse reach her.
Adoption wasn't instant. Staff were overwhelmed at first, especially on Mondays, when they could clear ten tasks and find ten more waiting. What won them over was the way Echo talks to patients.
“They do realize that it has changed their workflow significantly, but they also get less angry people on the phone. So in the end, that balances it out.”
05The voice
“A lot kinder to the patient”
When Dr. Murthy first spoke with Echo, she asked for a receptionist that would be empathetic with a patient population that is primarily women.
So when a new patient calls after a positive pregnancy test, Echo doesn't open with the next available date. It opens with congratulations, then finds her first appointment.
“I actually shared it with our staff: how many times do you do this? Echo actually says, well, let's first start off with congratulations for your pregnancy. And then let's help you find the first available appointment at our office.”
It's the same greeting on a quiet Tuesday and on the busiest Monday of the year, whoever is having a bad day.
“I don't know whether I should say it's a great thing or not. The AI can have more empathy than humans, but it does end up being a lot kinder to the patient.”
06Her advice
What to look for in an AI receptionist
Asked what she'd tell another practice weighing an AI receptionist, Dr. Murthy listed what mattered to hers:
1. It handles your specialty. The OB/GYN rules had to be right, every time, not most of the time.
2. It integrates with your EHR. Echo enters the patient's demographics and insurance into eClinicalWorks, so staff barely have to clean up a booking.
3. It covers after hours. After-hours calls have to be handled properly, and transfers made to the right person.
4. It's easy to run yourself. She can block time on the Echo side or in eClinicalWorks, and it just works, without worrying about anyone making a mistake.
“There is a limitation to human capacity and how many calls you can handle. So in busier practices, this is a great fit.”
And her summary of the first months: “It has been a game changer for our front desk, and also for patients.”
