Current article
A multi-site FQHC on athenahealth keeps roughly 41,500 calls a year out of its queue, live in four weeks.
Client Snapshot
Organization
Greater Seacoast Health — multi-specialty FQHC in New Hampshire
EHR
athenahealth
Solutions
AI patient call agent; proactive recall outreach
Time to go-live
6 weeks
As an FQHC, Greater Seacoast Health provides comprehensive, accessible care regardless of patients’ ability to pay: a mission that demands operational excellence at every touchpoint, including patient communications.
The Challenge
At peak hours, Greater Seacoast Health’s patient services team faced a math problem with no good answer: call volume that outstripped capacity, a labor market that made hiring agents slow and keeping them uncertain, and patients waiting on hold either way. Covering peak demand with staff alone would have meant five additional hires, a cost the FQHC’s mission-driven budget couldn’t absorb.
The staffing challenge was structural, not temporary. Recruiting qualified agents was difficult, turnover was a constant risk, and every new hire carried a heavy training burden. Unpredictable demand plus an unstable workforce left leadership unable to guarantee a consistent patient experience, especially during unexpected coverage gaps.
Covering peak demand with staff alone would have meant five additional hires, a cost the FQHC's mission-driven budget couldn't absorb.
Organizational complexity added a final layer. With multiple specialties, locations, and departments, each with distinct scheduling rules and care team logic, routing patient requests correctly required institutional knowledge that was difficult to capture, transfer, or scale.
By the Numbers
45%
of call center volume deflected
0 seconds
hold time for patients served by the AI agent
5 FTEs
hires avoided for peak coverage
4 weeks
to full implementation
The Solution
HealthHelper implemented a purpose-built AI agent that integrates directly with Greater Seacoast Health’s athenahealth EHR and handles the full range of common patient requests in real time.
Appointment Management
Scheduling, rescheduling, and canceling appointments directly in athenahealth, no human agent required.
FAQ Handling
Answering common patient questions about locations, hours, services, and care team information.
Smart Triage & Routing
Proactive Recall Outreach
Reaching patients by text and phone to schedule follow-up care, turning care coordination into a scalable, automated operation.
The platform was purpose-configured for Greater Seacoast Health’s organizational complexity. HealthHelper’s AI Success Services embedded the organization’s scheduling rules, departmental workflows, care team logic, and location-specific nuances into the solution, and continues to iterate as the organization evolves.
“HealthHelper’s AI agent delivered the relief we needed with our inbound call operations. Patients are getting help faster, and I have peace of mind when we’re unexpectedly short-staffed. Their team took the time to understand the nuances of our workflows, departments, and patient population so the solution truly fits our organization.”
Amanda Smith — Call Center Director, Greater Seacoast Health
Results
The impact was immediate and measurable. Since go-live:
Greater Seacoast now deflects 45% of inbound call volume — roughly 41,500 calls a year that never enter the queue.
Patients whose requests the AI agent handles wait zero seconds from contact to resolution.
The health center avoided an estimated five additional FTE hires that peak coverage would otherwise have required.
The AI agent is on pace to schedule more than 5,000 appointments this year, booked directly in athenahealth.
The call center team now works from organized, completable EHR tasks instead of raw call volume.
Leadership has coverage confidence and continuity, even during periods of unexpected short-staffing.
What’s Next
Live within four weeks, the initial deployment’s success has Greater Seacoast Health evaluating additional areas where HealthHelper can reduce costs and improve the patient experience.
What would 45% fewer calls mean for your health center? Get in touch.
