At Complete Health, growth has never been a challenge. The organization operates across Alabama, Florida, Virginia, and Colorado, with more than 175 primary care providers who share one goal: ensuring exceptional patient-centered care. As the organization expanded through acquisitions, it began exploring ways to streamline scheduling across its growing network and create a unified experience for both patients and staff.

For Erin Sandoval, Senior Director of Support Services, the next steps were clear.

“Two years ago, we did not have a centralized call center. We were on eight different phone systems at the time. We had our front desk still scheduling and answering calls,” shared Sandoval. “We had patients going to voicemail, which is never something that I love.”

Centralizing scheduling has become an opportunity to improve coordination and simplify how patients connect with the right provider.

Identifying the Opportunity: Creating Consistency in Access

Before centralization, each market operated with its own approach to scheduling. Complete Health recognized that unifying these processes would create consistency for patients and allow staff to better align schedules with provider availability.

“We have to keep our providers busy but also happy at the same time. Finding the access of the right patient for what their visit reason is and what they’re coming in for that matches that day, that availability is what is key to helping our access,” said Sandoval.

The goal was clear: build a scheduling model that balances access, provider preferences, and operational efficiency across all locations.

The Solution: Centralized Scheduling with a Foundation for Automation

To achieve this, Complete Health launched a centralized scheduling hub that unified all four locations under one call center model. The team focused on creating standardized training, maintaining provider preferences, and ensuring a smoother experience for patients regardless of where they are.

“When doing that with such a huge amount of providers and making such a big change for patients, we needed to have something in place that we can train our staff very easily on,” explained Sandoval. “But also at the same time, we needed to make sure that we were still upholding the preferences that those providers did agree to.”

Once the foundation was established, they introduced automation to support the call center. The goal was to simplify routine appointment tasks so staff could focus on patients who needed personalized support.

This led to the rollout of agentic AI, designed to manage high-volume, repeat requests efficiently.

“When we implemented Voice AI, it was a very similar thing. We needed to make sure we understood where the low hanging fruit is, what is our true problem, and what can solve that,” said Sandoval.

What Changed: A More Connected Scheduling Model

With the new system in place, Complete Health could coordinate scheduling more effectively across its network. The team took a deliberate approach, beginning with locations best positioned to adopt the changes and measuring results along the way.

“We were very strategic on who we rolled it out too,” shared Sandoval. “The last time I looked since our start date, we are now at 56% where the AI autonomously takes care of the calls.”

The centralized model created a more coordinated scheduling experience and allowed automation to manage more than half of appointment-related calls, supporting staff and improving access for patients across every state.

Lessons Learned: Continuous Access Improvement

For Complete Health, success came from a clear understanding of where technology could make the most meaningful difference. Each improvement began with identifying the bottlenecks and then applying the right solution.

By centralizing scheduling and introducing agentic AI to their call center in thoughtful stages, they built a connected model that supports their staff, strengthens provider alignment, and simplifies access for patients. Their experience shows that even in complex, multi-location environments, meaningful progress starts with small, intentional changes that build on one another.

For other healthcare organizations, the path forward may look different, but the principle remains the same. Start with data, focus on the patient journey, and design workflows that help teams work smarter together. The result is not only better scheduling efficiency but a stronger, more connected experience across every point of care.

Improve Access and Enhance Care with Relatient

Relatient is a healthcare technology leader dedicated to improving patient access through intelligent, mobile-first solutions. Our Best in KLAS platform Dash® integrates with leading EHRs and PM systems to streamline scheduling, personalized communication, online chat, mobile payments, and digital intake. Trusted by over 47,000 providers and managing approximately 150 million appointments annually, Relatient helps healthcare organizations optimize workflows, reduce no-shows, and enhance the patient experience with modern, consumer-driven solutions.