The Call Revolution I Wish I'd Had: Real Solutions for Real Healthcare Operations Pain, Finally

Read the full story below

The Challenge 

Healthcare call centers continue to struggle with persistent issues:

• Overwhelming call volumes and long wait times

• Staffing shortages, burnout, and high turnover

• Delayed performance data and disconnected systems

• Reactive approaches that limit sustainable improvement

Traditional solutions require intensive manual effort and remain vulnerable to disruptions like staffing gaps or new regulatory demands.

Why Today's AI Falls Short 

Most healthcare AI tools only handle basic tasks using rigid protocols. They can't support complex healthcare conversations that are dynamic and context-driven, nor can they manage workflows like appointment scheduling or follow-up care without substantial human intervention.

The Attuned Advantage: Different Approach, Better Results 

Attuned Intelligence is building the AI platform healthcare leaders have always needed:

• AI voice agents with real-time monitoring, capable of navigating complex, conversational workflows with the flexibility today’s patients and systems demand

• Built for dynamic workflows that depend on real-time context and evolve in the moment, not static scripts

• Clear insight into call quality, follow-up needs, and outcomes, so leaders know exactly where to focus and what to act on

• Operational agility that enables leaders to update workflows in minutes, without waiting on cross-functional approvals or undergoing months of content changes and retraining

• Workforce development, where frontline staff shift into AI supervisor roles, helping retain institutional knowledge and reduce disruption from frequent turnover and onboarding

The Bottom Line 

This isn't just another technology product—it's the platform healthcare leaders have needed: ensuring calls are answered promptly and resolved accurately through intelligent automation. Attuned provides real-time visibility into performance and the ability to implement improvements rapidly, combining automation, oversight, and workforce transformation in one solution.

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Full story:

After nearly two decades leading healthcare access and operational transformation across health systems like Stanford Health Care, M Health Fairview, and Keck Medicine of USC, I’ve witnessed firsthand the persistent challenges plaguing healthcare call centers. From overseeing large cross-functional teams to leading system-wide transformation efforts, the challenges remained consistent: overwhelming call volumes, rising staff and leader burnout, chronic staffing instability, and limited access to the real-time data needed to understand operations, make rapid adjustments, and drive sustained improvements. These issues were fueled by recruitment challenges, long training cycles, and poor retention, where losing even one seasoned agent could throw off an entire day’s staffing plan. The COVID-19 pandemic only intensified the strain, magnifying workforce gaps and exposing the fragility of traditional call center models. Meanwhile, patients grew increasingly frustrated with long hold times, inconsistent service, and barriers to getting timely access to care.

Why Traditional Approaches Are No Longer Enough

Across multiple health systems, I’ve led efforts that significantly improved operational performance, including reducing call abandonment by 40 percent and increasing patient satisfaction scores by 25 points. But these wins weren’t the result of advanced technology or AI automation tactics. They were powered by intensive manual work: process redesign, rigorous team management, and complex cross-functional coordination. Yes, we leveraged technology, but the heavy lifting came from the people and the systems we built to hold it all together. And even with strong results, the environment remained fragile-one unexpected disruption, such as a sudden staffing gap, illness outbreak, or call volume spike, could throw us off track. 

Each day started with a detailed review of operational metrics, including but not limited to yesterday’s performance, anticipated call volumes based on historical trends, staffing levels by team and skill, and a holistic view of the work across all functions, including unresolved or tasks awaiting action. That visibility allowed us to improve operations significantly in a short period of time, but it also took a tremendous amount of manual effort to maintain. And even with that effort, it was still hard to get ahead of issues. Our ability to respond was still reactive. We knew what was happening, just not soon enough to prevent or get ahead of a core set of limitations:

• Long training cycles and ongoing staffing gaps led to inconsistent service and higher error rates

• Burnout and turnover created a cycle of constant recruiting and retraining

• Limited quality oversight meant most issues went undetected until patients or providers escalated

• Performance data arrived weeks late, too late to prevent repeat problems

• Manual workflows required coordination across departments for even minor changes

• Disconnected systems forced agents to juggle multiple platforms to complete basic tasks

  
  

These challenges diverted attention from systematic and sustainable improvements to constant operational firefighting.

The Revelation: What AI Could Have Done

Looking back, I realize that simply introducing AI wouldn’t have solved these problems. Most healthcare AI tools handle only basic questions, “What are your hours?”, and still rely heavily on human agents for a majority of inquiries. They’re built on rigid, decision-tree logic that breaks down quickly in the real world of healthcare, where conversations are complex, dynamic, and don’t follow a predictable script or single path to resolution.

To deliver real value, AI must go beyond automation. It must be dynamic enough to support complex workflows like appointment scheduling, post-visit follow-up, and preventive care outreach. And do so in a way that allows for real-time oversight and intervention, especially in agentic systems that move beyond static logic trees. 

The AI Voice Agent I Wish I’d Had

Now at Attuned Intelligence, I’m helping design the platform that solves the problems I could never fully fix from the inside. It goes beyond what I once imagined was even possible.

Our supervised AI voice agents don’t just reduce call center burden, they transform how healthcare organizations manage access.

Imagine if every call was answered instantly. Not routed through a clunky IVR or placed on hold, but met by a responsive, intelligent voice that could resolve routine requests and escalate complex needs to the right person immediately. And imagine being able to update a call script or complex scheduling protocol in seconds, without hours of manual revision, multiple rounds of review by key stakeholders, or weeks spent retraining staff.

Here’s what that unlocks:

• Calls answered and routed faster, reducing backlogs and bottlenecks

• Staff no longer buried in repetitive tasks and reactive queues

• Providers benefit from more accurate scheduling and faster access to patients

• Patients connect with the right person, faster, no hold loops or handoffs

• Consistent, high-quality service, regardless of call volume or staffing gaps

From Data Blind Spots to Real-Time Intelligence

In my previous roles, visibility into call center performance was fragmented, delayed, and reactive. When something went wrong, usually flagged by a patient complaint, we had to search across systems to find a single call, listen to the full recording, analyze what went wrong, adjust policy, retrain staff, and monitor for changes. And even then, we were only seeing a fraction of what was happening. The performance data we did have was retroactive, often available in monthly reports that limited our ability to understand what was needed to make faster changes or prevent altogether. You can’t optimize operations or drive rapid improvement when you’re reacting to data from a month ago. It made it nearly impossible to coach leaders and staff, or build momentum toward continuous improvement.

Attuned changes that. Every call is visible and reviewable in real time. You can listen to the recording, review the transcript, check quality indicators, and see whether it needs follow-up, all with just a few clicks. You can analyze this across all calls to track patterns, monitor performance, and act early. With Attuned, leaders don’t just see problems, they can intervene before they impact patients, and access the kind of comprehensive, real-time insights that drive faster decisions, and meaningful and sustained improvements.

Not Just Technology, A New Path for Healthcare Teams

What excites me most isn’t just the tech, it’s what it makes possible for people. At Attuned, we’re not replacing call center agents, we’re equipping them to step into AI supervisor roles. This creates meaningful growth opportunities while easing the burnout that comes from managing fast-paced, constantly evolving, and often underappreciated work. And because we’re building on their expertise, we’re able to preserve the kind of institutional knowledge that is often lost to turnover.

Giving Leaders the Tools They Deserve

As an operations leader, I needed solutions that were fast, safe, flexible, and let’s not forget actionable. That’s exactly what we’ve built.

With Attuned’s platform, leaders can:

• Monitor AI Agent activity in real-time with full transparency

• Update call flows and protocols instantly, and independently

• Eliminate months-long change cycles

• Quickly adapt to the ever changing nature of healthcare operations

And it’s all housed in one integrated platform, not bolted on as yet another disconnected tool.

Reimagining the Front Door of Healthcare

Now, I’m channeling my industry experience into building real solutions for transforming healthcare operations.

We’re not just improving call centers, we’re creating a better way to connect with patients. A system that’s more responsive, more resilient, and more human.

We’re not just building technology, we’re giving healthcare teams access to the kind of advanced AI technology necessary to finally solve the complex operational problems behind patient access-challenges we’ve long been expected to manage without the infrastructure to do it right. And by investing in the teams who manage these critical interactions, we’re growing the next generation of healthcare leaders.

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Marlena Sigler is a healthcare access executive who drove transformational change across major health systems and is now helping shape Attuned Intelligence’s platform to solve what matters most in healthcare communication.