Universal Health Services uses an AI voice agent from Hippocratic AI to conduct post-discharge phone calls, replacing a process that previously relied on nurses and residents. The system expanded the tool from a small pilot to all 29 of its acute care hospitals, addressing challenges such as high labor costs, low answer rates, and unproductive staff time. Patients can request a nurse at any point during the call, but many complete the interaction with the AI agent, which adapts to whether a patient prefers a brief or extended conversation and closely mimics human speech patterns.
About 40% of patients answer the AI-driven post-discharge calls, and roughly 30% complete them, with those patients showing about a 5% lower readmission rate than those who do not complete the call. While the AI tool costs roughly the same as labor expenses for post-discharge calls across 14 hospitals, scaling it across all 29 facilities is expected to generate net financial gains, especially by reducing costly readmission penalties. UHS leaders emphasized that the AI approach preserves patient engagement while freeing clinical staff to focus on higher-acuity needs.