What 1 million patient calls reveal about why patients pick up the phone
Healthcare phone lines carry much more than scheduling requests. Across more than 1 million patient calls handled by Maya, Solv’s AI agent, patients reached out about everything from booking and insurance to prescriptions, records, payments, and clinical questions.
Booking and scheduling represented the largest share of calls at 30%, but that means 70% of calls were about something else. Billing and insurance accounted for 17% of calls, clinical questions and results another 17%, and clinic information and logistics 16%. The remaining calls included prescription requests, records, and documents.
For healthcare organizations thinking about AI receptionists or voice AI, that mix is important. The phone is not a single workflow. It is where many different patient needs converge.
Scheduling is only part of the phone experience
It makes sense that booking and scheduling make up the largest category of patient calls. Patients frequently call to find availability, change a visit, or understand where and when they can be seen.
But even within the other categories, there may still be an opportunity to help the patient move toward a booking. Someone asking whether their insurance is accepted may be deciding where to seek care. A patient asking about clinic hours or services may be trying to determine whether a location can meet their needs. Agents like Maya proactively offer bookings to patients where it makes sense, which has helped partners see 5x-8x more bookings made from the phone.
Billing and insurance questions make up a significant share of demand
17% percent of calls in the analysis involved billing and insurance. These conversations can include questions about whether a plan is accepted, whether a provider is in network, what a patient owes, or how to make a payment.
For patients, those questions are often part of accessing care, not separate from it. Uncertainty about insurance or cost can influence whether someone books, shows up, or completes a payment. The phone is an important part of both patient access and revenue workflows.
Many calls still require judgment and context
Another 17% of calls involved clinical questions and results, while others included prescriptions, records, and documents. Not every request should or can be resolved automatically. The value of an AI agent like Maya is that she can understand what the patient needs, resolving routine requests when appropriate, and recognizing when the conversation needs to move to a person.
Across more than 1 million calls, Maya has taken more than 3 million actions for patients. Those actions range from helping patients book care and make payments to gathering the context needed for a staff follow-up.
What 1 million calls tell us about healthcare voice AI
The data shows that patient phone demand is broad. Healthcare organizations are not managing one type of call repeated over and over. They are managing many different patient needs through a single channel.
That means the most useful healthcare AI receptionists and voice agents need to do more than answer common questions. They need to understand why a patient is calling and connect that request to the appropriate next step.
Read the full Off the Hook report for more insights from more than 1 million patient calls handled by Maya.
