Hyro’s responsible AI agents empower Sutter’s patients with seamless self-service capabilities across voice, chat and SMS— helping drive better access and outcomes
NEW YORK – Hyro, the leader in responsible AI agents for healthcare, today announced a groundbreaking collaboration with Sutter Health, one of California’s leading and most innovative health systems. By incorporating Hyro’s suite of AI skills within their integrated, not-for-profit health system, including calls and messages supporting appointment management, scheduling, prescription management, billing inquiries and more, Sutter Health is set to redefine the modern patient experience.
“We focus on empowering patients and changing the experience around what is possible in healthcare. And to that end, we are always looking for opportunities to build stronger connections with consumers across all channels and engage in ways that fit into their lives,” said Jennifer Bollinger, chief consumer and brand officer for Sutter Health. “With the addition of an AI-powered voice and chat communications platform, Sutter will continue to transform touchpoints for our patients and our people, helping drive better patient engagement, streamline operations for our teams and deliver data-driven insights that can help us better serve their needs now and in the future.”
Sutter Health selected Hyro to address critical strategic objectives: enhancing patient access and outcomes, boosting the ability to resolve inquiries quickly and accurately, and streamlining employees’ day-to-day workflows. Hyro’s AI agents will provide one cohesive Sutter experience across all channels, offering patients 24/7 self-service options through chat, voice or SMS. By automating routine interactions and processes through Hyro, Sutter customer support representatives will be free to focus on more complex interactions as they field 13 million patient visits a year for about 3.5 million people.
Since 2020, a growing chasm exists within the healthcare industry. Customer support teams aren’t always able to field high volumes of patient interactions. Meanwhile, patients expect faster service and convenient access to care. Attempts have been made to patch that demand with fragmented digital strategies that have seen chatbots and conversational Interactive Voice Response systems come and go. Looking to the future, Sutter Health set out to discover and evaluate production-ready AI agents for their patients, designed specifically around their routine workflows as compassionate caregivers. Three of their biggest priorities were deep interoperability with Epic electronic health record) systems and Genesys CCaaS, robust AI safeguards, and proven expertise with automated workflows purpose-built for providers.
Hyro continues to lead the AI-powered patient communications space with a focus on performance over promises across 40+ health systems, having released success stories featuring 5-10x return on AI investment with Inova Health and Baptist Health in recent months. With contact centers often besieged by repetitive calls, patients frequently experience frustration while waiting on hold, eventually dropping off without resolving their issue. Hyro uses agentic routing. This approach helps identify patient objectives and routes those patients to the corresponding source of care using multiple pathways: end-to-end resolution for skills like scheduling, offering the option to switch from a call to a text message for self-serve scenarios, and accurate live agent handoff always with embedded context. Ultimately, that approach averages 85% less abandonment rate and boasts industry-leading workflow automation metrics by offloading administrative tasks from call center representatives.
Beyond the call center, patients are offered preferred channel flexibility, with chat and SMS as supporting mediums for digital services. Omnichannel interactions funnel to a dashboard featuring real-time reporting and analytics, highlighting patient trends, operational insights, AI agent performance metrics and more. Part of Sutter’s decision to partner with Hyro was its ability to provide actionable insights from patient interactions, enabling Sutter to continuously improve how patients search for and access care. Additionally, the collaboration is built on established safeguards and guidance from Sutter Health’s AI governance council – including strict data sources and citations, explainability and the ability to understand reasoning behind AI outputs, and HIPAA and SOC-2 compliance, adhering to best practices that meet regulations and maximize trust from patients.
“Sutter’s stated mission is to ‘care for their patients first—and their people always’; and Hyro can help play a critical role in that work,” said Israel Krush, CEO and co-founder of Hyro. “Our proven track record of increasing capacity gains and operational efficiencies will provide more accessible care. Together, we’re unburdening staff, unblocking access and unlocking operational insights that’ll propel better patient outcomes for millions of Californians.”
