How One Medical Practice Replaced Their Answering Service and Saved $3,000/Month with Vida’s AI Agent

Patient in plaid shirt consulting with medical professional at reception

Empty road through misty forest with bright light at the end

Hand stacking wooden blocks in an increasing graph-like arrangement

Smiling customer service representative working with headset in office

Colleagues collaborate on laptops with blue graphic overlay in workspace

Blue vintage telephone handset gripped by a hand against blue background

Two professionals smiling and collaborating in an office with blue background

Two smiling business colleagues collaborate at laptop in blue office

Laptop, smartphone, and water glass on desk with blue-tinted workspace background

Smiling woman in blue blazer talking on phone against blue background

Hands using smartphone near laptop with blue circular background

Smiling woman talking on phone while sitting on blue and gray couch

Business team discussing project with smiling colleague in office

Skydivers in colorful gear form a circular formation mid-air against blue backgrounds

Relay race runners passing baton on blue track, casting dramatic shadows

Person typing on keyboard with smartwatch, blue graphic overlay

Smiling customer service representative wearing headset in blue office

Business professional presenting strategy diagram on whiteboard with enthusiasm

Modern skyscrapers reaching up against bright blue sky, view from below

Person standing by train with blue circular graphic element

Smiling professional in white shirt talking on phone in office

Person in light blue shirt smiling at desk with blue background

Woman in beige coat checking smartphone with blue background

For many medical practices, the administrative overhead of scheduling, prequalifying patients, and managing after-hours care coordination adds up quickly—both in labor costs and staff burnout. One client, a mid-sized multi-provider clinic, faced all of these issues and more. They turned to Vida to implement a custom AI Agent solution that went beyond typical call routing or message-taking.

Here’s how we tailored our AI Agent to solve three high-impact pain points—and delivered measurable ROI in under a month.

Problem 1: Scheduling Appointments with Insurance Prequalification

The Challenge:
The clinic needed an AI Agent that could do more than book appointments. They required a system that could:

Identify existing patients in real-time as the phone rings
Prequalify new patients, especially those with new insurance information
Sync all of this data seamlessly with AthenaHealth, their EHR and practice management system

Our Solution:
By integrating directly with AthenaHealth, Vida’s AI Agent was able to:

Identify incoming callers instantly, using their phone number to match existing records
Create new patient records automatically for first-time callers
Collect and validate insurance details on the spot, including real-time checks on plan coverage and status
Schedule appointments within Athena, with proper insurance documentation logged before the visit

This meant front-desk staff no longer needed to make follow-up calls to collect insurance info or manually enter new patient details. Everything was handled in one conversational flow—by AI, before the call even reached a human.

Problem 2: On-Call Physician Communication—Without Waking the Wrong Person

The Challenge:
Text alerts to on-call physicians were unreliable—sleeping doctors often missed them, and those who didn’t were being woken up unnecessarily. The clinic needed:

Phone call notifications that would reliably wake the right on-call physician
A way to relay the patient’s concern without revealing personal contact information
A simple mechanism to transfer the call only if necessary

Our Solution:
Vida’s AI Agent was configured to:

Take the after-hours message and summarize it immediately.
Fire off a webhook to a phone call service that initiates a voice call to the designated on-call physician.
When the physician answers, they hear the summary and have the option to say, “put me through.”
Upon command, the AI Agent transfers the original patient call to the physician—while masking both parties’ phone numbers for privacy and compliance.

This preserved sleep for physicians when calls weren’t urgent, while maintaining patient trust and responsiveness during off-hours.

Results: Over $3,000 in Monthly Savings

Before switching to Vida’s AI Agent, the clinic used a 24/7 answering service that charged by the minute. The cost added up fast—especially during nights and weekends. By deploying Vida’s AI Agent across their phone system, the clinic was able to:

Eliminate the need for outsourced call center services
Automatically prequalify insurance and reduce billing issues
Dramatically reduce administrative load on staff
Improve patient satisfaction with faster and clearer service

The bottom line:
This practice now saves over $3,000 per month—and delivers a smoother experience for both patients and providers.

Takeaway

Vida’s AI Agent platform doesn’t just answer the phone. It integrates deeply with your systems, understands your workflows, and takes real action—across voice, SMS, and chat. Whether it's scheduling, insurance collection, or intelligent physician routing, we help healthcare organizations automate their most painful call flows.

If your medical practice is still relying on a traditional answering service, it might be time for an upgrade.

‍

About the Author

Stephanie is the pseudoname for our AI Blog Agent. That's right, we use AI agents to write some of our blog articles. Stephanie is inspired by the many content writers we've worked with over the years, and is edited by our marketing department.