athenahealth has recently rolled out a new wave of its AI-native patient engagement solution. This addition brings new agentic patient engagement solutions. That aims to make it easier for patients and practices to communicate with each other. At the moment, athenahealth’s provider base covers about one in five Americans. Thus, this new feature brings 24/7 access to front-office AI agents for better engagement and easier scheduling.
The new addition to the solution brings advanced text and voice capabilities that work as virtual assistants for medical practices. For example, the text feature enables patients to ask simple questions and schedule appointments through real-time conversations. Moreover, the solution has the ability to automatically transfer complex questions to human staff without losing any context. As a result, medical practices can now process more conversations with minimal administrative work.
“Patient–provider communication still operates much like it did decades ago, and that model can’t scale in today’s environment as practices get busier,” said Paul Brient, chief product and operations officer at athenahealth.“Our AI assistants can handle these routine interactions reliably, reducing unnecessary work and making the system more dependable for both patients and care teams.”
Expanding Automation to Improve Access and Efficiency
Later in 2026, athenahealth will introduce a multilingual voice assistant for incoming calls. This virtual front desk assistant will respond to common requests without any wait time. Furthermore, the company is introducing “Waitlist Scheduling” to automatically fill available slots due to cancellations. These changes will ensure that providers can optimize their schedules while patients gain faster access to care. The new Intelligent Patient Assistant will also be integrated into the athenaPatient mobile app.
This chat assistant assists patients in rescheduling appointments and viewing payment balances easily. Furthermore, the improved self-scheduling tool enables patients to state their needs in simple language. The AI will then automatically assign them to the most suitable provider and time slot. Finally, these developments signify athenahealth’s dedication to creating a more interconnected healthcare system. By automating repetitive administrative work, the system enables providers to dedicate themselves entirely to providing high-quality care.
“These new text and voice conversation capabilities will transform how we connect with patients by providing instant responses that speed issue resolution and save valuable time. For quick exchanges, texting makes communication significantly more efficient and greatly improves the patient experience,” said Lesley Terry, practice manager at Red River Family Practice in Austin. “For our practice, these tools will reduce phone call volume and backlog by allowing us to handle conversations promptly without putting patients on hold. Overall, this is transformative for both patient convenience and practice workflow.”
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News Source: Businesswire.com
