With thousands of daily calls filled with vital patient details—scheduling needs and insurance questions, and more—tracking conversations is a massive challenge, but with AI-driven solutions, the process has never been easier. For healthcare marketers and operational leaders, turning vast amounts of data into actionable insights is the key to improving care access and the patient experience.
Source: AI Adoption in Healthcare Report 2024, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
AI-driven conversational intelligence is transforming how healthcare providers engage with patients, detecting emerging issues in real time and enabling proactive responses. From appointment scheduling to symptom discussions, AI agents can manage thousands of patient calls every day.
As AI takes on a bigger role in helping health systems understand and process data gained from patient communications, critical questions arise: Are AI agents always truthful? Do patients trust them? And most importantly, how does this technology impact patient satisfaction and revenue-generating efforts, like healthcare marketing?
These were the central themes of a recent Marchex-hosted event, where the conversation turned to discussing the growing influence of AI in patient interactions. During the event, Steven Metzinger, former Healthgrades executive, and Cynthia Dalrymple, enterprise account executive in healthcare at Marchex, discussed how AI is changing the patient experience.
AI’s Truthfulness and Patient Trust
“You need to analyze all calls, whether they’re handled by an AI service or a human agent,” Metzinger said during the webinar.” The technology is there to monitor every interaction, so there’s no reason to treat AI conversations differently. That’s your double-check—making sure the AI agent is doing what you expect it to do.”
AI can encourage greater patient transparency, leading to more accurate records than traditional human conversations. How? Simple, Metzinger said. Patients tend to be more truthful when interacting with a machine that won’t judge them. Research shows that patients usually underreport symptoms when speaking with a human but are more forthcoming when speaking with AI, he said.
“If you give someone a tablet or they know they’re talking to an AI agent, they’ll be more honest about their symptoms, pain levels—everything,” Metzinger explained. “We’ve seen this in acute care settings, where patients don’t always admit how bad they’re feeling. But when they know they’re talking to AI, they’re more likely to be upfront.”
Metzinger illustrated this with a striking example from the restaurant industry. “Years ago, Chili’s experimented with letting customers order dessert through an iPad instead of a waiter. Dessert sales skyrocketed. Why? Because people didn’t feel judged when placing their order through a device. We see a similar pattern in healthcare. Patients feel less self-conscious talking to AI about their pain levels or symptoms. They’re not worried about being perceived as weak.”
Using this example, healthcare can benefit immensely. Patients feel more comfortable discussing symptoms and concerns with AI, leading to better data and improved care. The extra level of patient honesty could have profound implications. If patients downplay their symptoms in conversations with human providers but are more forthcoming with AI, healthcare organizations can capture better data and improve patient outcomes.
This level of insight is critical for multi-location health systems managing high call volumes, he added. AI-driven conversational intelligence provides a much-needed layer of consistency, helping to surface patient concerns that might otherwise get lost. AI can reveal friction points in the patient’s experience, providing insights to both healthcare providers and marketers.
AI-driven insights can also optimize marketing spend and help organizations focus on attracting high-value patients. One of the most valuable aspects of AI-powered conversational intelligence is its ability to extract insights from appointment booking calls. For example, Marchex’s AI signals can detect when a patient is scheduling, confirming, or canceling an appointment. This gives healthcare organizations a clearer picture of demand trends and patient behavior
“The real power is in the data,” Dalrymple said. “Scheduling issues, sentiment analysis, topic trends, friction points—AI surfaces this information: That’s a game-changer for both operations and marketing.
“The data helps healthcare organizations understand what’s driving call volume, where scheduling friction exists, and even how many appointment requests never get completed.”
These insights are crucial, especially for large health systems. AI-powered analysis can reveal patterns in appointment booking failures, such as long hold times or limited availability, allowing organizations to adjust workflows and improve access to care.
Metzinger added, “Health systems need to know when and why patients are struggling to book appointments. That’s actionable intelligence that can directly improve operations and patient access.”
New vs. Existing Patients
For marketers, one long-standing challenge has been distinguishing between new and existing patients. In traditional call tracking, figuring out whether a caller was truly a new patient or simply returning was a constant struggle. Additionally, health systems may be serving a household of new patient appointments from a single phone number. Marchex’s AI-powered analytics are changing that.
“Marketers have always been chasing that new vs. existing patient dilemma,” Dalrymple explained. “AI eliminates the mystery. It can track multiple patients within the same household, and it can surface that data instantly. That means marketers can finally get a full picture of their cost per lead, making marketing efforts more effective.
“It used to be a guessing game, relying on caller ID or manual record matching and provide a full, accurate picture of patient engagement.”
This has significant implications for healthcare marketers trying to optimize their advertising spend. “Now we’re talking about lowering the cost per lead,” Dalrymple continued. “If one call leads to multiple patient conversions in a household, that changes how we measure ROI. AI is giving marketers real clarity.”
The Future of AI in Healthcare Calls
Where does AI-powered conversational intelligence go from here? According to Metzinger, the patient’s experience will always come first. Every health system needs to know the primary issues their patients are experiencing—whether it’s appointment availability, billing confusion, or long wait times—to improve accessibility and satisfaction.
“Four out of five times, there’s an AI solution that can help solve these issues and patients are open to using them—especially if you’re transparent about how these technology solutions are being used, he noted. As AI continues to play a bigger role in patient interactions, healthcare organizations must strike a balance between automation and human touch and patients are becoming more comfortable interacting with AI.” Patients are open to AI, especially if they know it’s there to help them,” Metzinger noted. “And it’s not just patients. Frontline staff and administrators want support, too. They don’t care if it comes from AI or not, as long as it makes their jobs easier.”
Dalrymple added that AI’s ability to analyze sentiment and patient experience data is a significant win. “Understanding patient sentiment is critical,” she said. “You want to know what’s frustrating patients before they leave a bad review. AI helps health systems be proactive in protecting their brand.”
Ultimately, AI is proving to be more than just a tool for efficiency—it’s becoming an essential part of patient engagement. From improving honesty in symptom reporting to refining healthcare marketing strategies, AI is driving how patients communicate with healthcare providers.
For healthcare leaders, the message is clear: AI isn’t just listening—it’s learning, optimizing, and reshaping the future of patient care. Organizations that leverage AI effectively will gain a competitive edge in delivering better experiences and smarter healthcare marketing.
Watch the entire live event on-demand:
The Future of Patient Calls: AI Talking, AI Listening
