How Voice he is freeing up Healthcare Staff and Offering Companionship – ryan

Voice Assistants Are Becoming A Bigger Part of Our Daily Lives, and Hype From Labs Like Openai has sparked debate about Whether Talking Chatbots Might Actually be a Substate for Real Human Connections.

But in Many Health and Social Care Contexts, Voice he is less about human-human connections and more about gaps and freeing up staff from busywork. In clinics across the US, AI-POWERED VOICE TOOLS ARE ALREADY Calling Insures and Handling Paperwork, Freeing Up Staff for More Meaningful, Patient-Facing Work.

At the individual level, he voice companions are stepping in to offer conversation and comfort to people who might otherwise have no one to talk to.

Cutting admin headaches

One Big Pain Point in US Healthcare is the time staff spend on the phone with insurers, chasing approvals, waiting on the Hold, and dealing with endless pepperwork.

CencoraA Major US Healthcare Distributor and Clinic Operator, Faces This Daily Problem. Its Teams Handle Benefits Verification, Pharmacy Services, and Specialty Drug Management – Tasks that Require Houge Volumes of Rapo Phone Calls.

“There are a lot of administrative Phone calls that have to be made,” Said Jeff Buck, Cencora’s Vice President of Digital Solutions. Internal Audits Show Benefit Verification Calls at Cencora Can Up to 90 Minutes, and Call Volumes Spike Tenfold in January.

Human Staff Handled Every Call, but AS DEMAND GREW, BUCK SAYS CENCORA TURNED TO InfinitusA San Francisco Startup Founded by Form Google Engineer Aconi Jain, to Help Automate The Process.

Infinitus Develops he agents to handle calls, collect information, and flag tricky caesses for a humanw.

Jain Said the Idea Came After Google’s He for Making Phone Calls on Behalf of USSERS, CALLED DUPLEX VOICE AI, AND SIMilar Tech Tackle Healthcare’s Chronic Hold-Music Problem. “No one goes into healthcare to Wait on Hold – People work in healthcare to serve patients,” Jain Told Bi.

Now, Instead of Staff Waiting Down the Line, Infinitus’s Voice Agent, Eva, Helps Cencora Handle Calls, Ask Questions, and Update Records automatically. “Eva Will Actually Converse with the Payer Counselor, Changing the way she was Questions Based on How the Payer Responds,” Buck Said. If something Unclear, he added, eva escalates it to a human.

Cencora Says Oversight is Still Key, and Every Eve Call is recorded and Spot-Cacked by the Quality Team. Cencora Said Eva Now Completes As Many Calls As Over 100 Full-Time Staff and Processs Requests Four Times As Fast As Before. “Our test Showed that Eve Eve Caught and Addresssed Inconsistent Information That Came Up During Verification Calls,” Buck Added.

“In healthcare you can’t hallucinate,” Said jain, adding that the agent only says THATS HAVE BEEN “Pre-approved.”

A 2024 Mayo Clinic revolution Found that-a-popuered tools, Including Voice-to-Text and Note Summarization, Can Significantly Cut Clinicians’ Time Spent on Paperwork, Freeing Up More for Patient Care and Reducing Burnout. Some studies cited in the review found he assistants Could Reduce Documentation time by up to 70%, though results vary by setting and tool.

But with Wins Like Cencora, Jain Said Rolling Out New Tech in Healthcare Means Long Sales Cycles and Constant Return on Investment Audits. “Change Moves Slowly New SO Much of the Industry Still Runs on Fax,” He Said.

Everfries and Hume he add Empathy

Voice he isn’t just freeing up admin Time; Its Also Stepping in to Offer Comfort and Companionship to Those Who Need It Most.

For Entrepreneur Daniel Hungerford, The Potential of the Tech Became Clear After HIS FATHER DED AND HIS MOTHER WAS Left Alone. “It broke my heart and time said, ‘you’re the only person i’ve talked to Today,’” Hungerford Told Bi.

That inspired Him to Build EverfriendsA Smartphone app that Acts as a Digital Companion for Seniors and People with dementia. “WE SET OUT TO MAKE COMPANIONS THAT ARE ULTRA-REALISTIC, Compassionate, Empathetic Digital Best Friends,” Hungerford Said. “We know we can never replace human contraact, but go goal was to simulate it as closely as Possible for those gaps in life.”

To budild a companion that COULD Respond Vocly with Real Empathy, Hungerford Used Hume he, A New York-Based Startup LED by Alan Cowen, A Veteran of Google and Meta. “We’re now able to have models that list as well as they Speak,” Cowen Told Business Insider.

Hume’s System Relations on Millions of Human-Labelled Emotion Samples, WHICH HUNGERFORD SAYS HELPS EVERFRENDS PICK User MOOD AND INTERT, and Respond in a way that natural feels. IF SOMOKS SOUNDS ANXIOUS OR SAD, THE AI ADAPTS. “If you pop onto everfriends and you act a little bit down today, it knows that you’re down today,” Hungerford Said. For People with dementia, it Slows down or repeats itself as needed, he added.

HUNGERFORD SAID NORDS OF PEOPLE HAVE Used Everfries SO Far. Families, he Said, Say It Helps Loved Ones Feel Connected.

A 2025 revolution of 13 Studies Found That About 85% of Studies Reported Reduced Loneliness in Older Adults Who Used Voice Assistants, Particularly Be the Devices Were Personalized and USSERS WERE GIVE SUPPORT TO GET STARTED. The Authors Said, Howver, That More Research and Larger, More Diverse Samples Were Needed.

Why voice he still needs humans

Each founder aggregated that voice he isn’t a silver bullet. There are technical and social limits, from speech Errors and background noise to privacy and digital exclusion, especilly for the Older Ussers or Those with Strong Accents or Cognitive Decline.

Jain Said Trust and Transparency Are Essential. “The Voice Agent Should Say, ‘I Can’t Do It, So Let Me Find You Another he agent or a human agent that can take it.’”

Similarly, Voice he is a substitute for human connection or oversight, but it can be a powerful complement. The Founders All Said Their Technology is Designed to Support, Not Replace, Humans.

For Buck, Success Comes Down to Pairing People and Technology. “The Real Power isn’t Replacing People But Marrying I Fat He,” He Said.

Hungerford Added, “We Know We Can Never Replace Human Contact, but go goal is to simulate it as closaly as Possible for those gaps in life.”

Cowen aggrees: “The goal isn’t to make it perfectly human. It is About Whether People Feel Heard, Get What they Need, and Would Come Back.”

He added, “Realism shoulded be the goal. We optimize for whether users their goals were met – and that they don’t make they oWE AI ANYTHING.”