How Is AI Changing Urgent Care? 5 Innovations You Must Know
Urgent care centers are facing mounting pressure: growing patient volumes, staff shortages, and rising demands for speed and accuracy. The result? Burnout, inefficiencies, and patient dissatisfaction.
But AI is starting to shift that narrative.
By automating time-consuming tasks, improving communication, and streamlining clinical workflows, artificial intelligence is unlocking new levels of efficiency for urgent cares—without sacrificing the human touch.
At TeleCloud, we've supported dozens of urgent care practices in modernizing their communication infrastructure. While we don’t currently have a formal relationship with Experity, we recognize their leadership in the urgent care space. That’s why we attended the Experity Health Client Summit in Louisville—to listen, learn, and better understand the real-world innovations transforming urgent care operations. With over 60% of urgent care clinics using Experity software, their perspective is shaping the direction of the industry.
This article explores five AI innovations that are already improving how urgent care centers manage calls, handle documentation, and engage with patients—based on insights shared at the summit and conversations happening across the urgent care landscape.
1. AI-Powered Call Handling: Urgent Cares Miss Nearly 50% of Front-Desk Calls
The Problem: High Call Volume Overwhelming Staff
Urgent care centers receive thousands of calls per month, but front desk teams are often stretched thin. Leading the conference Dr. David Stern, Experity CEO, highlighted a shocking statistic: 50% of calls to urgent care centers go unanswered (see video above).
This isn’t due to a lack of effort—it’s because front desk staff are busy assisting in-person patients. Missed calls mean lost revenue, frustrated patients, and bad online reviews.
The Solution: Flip CX AI Auto Attendant
One of the most promising AI solutions showcased at the summit was Flip CX by Brian Schiff, an AI-powered auto attendant designed specifically for urgent care centers.
How it works:
- Flip CX answers incoming calls and handles common patient requests, such as:
- What are your hours?
- Can I book an appointment?
- Is my provider available?
- If the AI can’t fully assist, it transfers the call to the front desk staff at a time when they’re less busy, ensuring they aren’t overwhelmed.
The Impact:
Why it matters:
- Eliminates the frustration of unanswered calls.
- Frees up front desk staff to focus on in-person patient care.
- Improves overall patient satisfaction.
Cost:
Flip CX costs over $1 per automated call, and if the call is forwarded, there is no charge. Meaning there is almost no downside to their service.
2. AI Medical Scribes: Reducing Documentation Time for Providers
The Problem: Time-Consuming Medical Documentation
For many healthcare providers, excessive documentation is a major burden. Doctors, PAs, and nurses spend more time typing notes into software than actually seeing patients, which leads to frustration and inefficiency.
Personal Example:
If you’re a provider, you probably feel the same frustration—hours spent typing instead of treating patients. My father-in-law Dr. George Kappakas owned an orthopedic practice out of Pittsburgh. One of the main reasons he retired after he sold his practice was that he found himself spending more time inputting data into the hospital’s Epic software than with actual patients.
The Solution: AI Scribe
At the summit, Experity demoed AI Scribe, a voice-powered medical scribe designed for urgent care that automates note-taking and medical coding.
How it works:
- Automatically listens, transcribes, and summarizes patient interactions in real time.
- Input key details into the Experity electronic medical record (EMR) form.
- Suggests billing codes based on conversation context.
The Impact:
- Reduce documentation time, allowing doctors to focus on patient care.
- Reduces the likelihood of billing errors.
- Improve physician satisfaction by taking more detailed notes while eliminating tedious manual data entry.
3. AI Chatbots & Virtual Care Agents: Enhancing Patient Engagement
The Problem: Slow Patient Communication & Follow-Ups
Many patients struggle to get quick answers to their questions—whether about prescription refills, hours of operation, new appointment availability, follow-up appointments, or general visit details.
The Solution: Care Agent AI Chatbot
Ian Lyman introduced Experity Care Agent, an AI-driven virtual assistant that communicates with patients through a secure web portal—without requiring them to install an app.
How it works:
- Patients send a text to the urgent care.
- They receive a link to a secure chat portal that is patient privacy compliant with HIPAA.
- The AI agent handles common requests, such as:
- Checking appointment status.
- Scheduling follow-ups including remote telehealth based on the type
- Requesting prescription refills.
- Answering FAQs like hours of operation and address location
The Impact:
- Patients get instant responses instead of waiting for a callback. The AI can pick up from the last conversation as it recognizes the user
- Reduces staff workload by automating repetitive tasks.
- Prevents patient frustration, leading to better Google reviews and online reputation management.
4. AI for Billing & Insurance Matching: Improving Cash Flow
The Problem: Inefficient Insurance Billing & Delayed Reimbursements
Urgent care clinics often struggle with billing inaccuracies, leading to delays in insurance reimbursements and financial strain.
The Solution: AI Insurance Matching Tools
Experity showcased a new AI-powered insurance verification tool that automatically matches patient visit notes to the correct billing codes, reducing errors and speeding up claims processing.
The Impact:
Before AI:
- Staff manually reviewed visit notes and selected codes.
- Coding error rates for human medical coders were as high as 17%.
- High rejection rates led to payment delays and increased Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).
- Staff lost hours weekly to correcting and resubmitting claims.
After AI:
- AI systems automatically matched visit notes to billing codes.
- Error rates dropped significantly—by up to 70% compared to traditional methods.
- Rejected claims decreased, and reimbursements were processed faster.
- Clinics reported improved cash flow and a dramatic reduction in manual billing tasks.
5. AI in Diagnostics: Improving X-Ray Accuracy with Fracture Detection
The Problem: Missed Fractures in Urgent Care Settings
Urgent care clinics rely on radiologists or MDs to review X-rays, but even experienced providers can occasionally miss small fractures. Sometimes ERs or urgent cares do not have radiologists available for quick diagnosis.
The Solution: AI Fracture Detection
Dr. Harvey Castro, a keynote speaker at the summit, showcased AI-powered X-ray analysis that can:
- Scan images in real-time using machine learning to cross-reference thousands of past cases to give an accurate diagnosis.
- Identify fractures that may have been overlooked.
- Flag potential secondary injuries beyond the primary concern.
The Impact:
- Improves diagnostic accuracy, reducing the risk of misdiagnosis.
- Speeds up patient care by providing instant analysis.
- Enhances provider confidence in treatment decisions.
What’s Next for AI in Urgent Care?
- AI-Driven Remote Diagnostics – Reducing unnecessary ER visits and improving at-home care.
- AI & Telehealth Integration – Enhancing virtual consultations and automating symptom analysis.
- Automated Billing & Coding – Reducing errors and speeding up reimbursements.
- Real-Time AI Analytics – Using speech recognition and predictive insights to optimize care.
- Expanding AI Ecosystems – Seamless integration across urgent care, EMR, and telehealth platforms.
AI will continue to streamline urgent care, making patient interactions faster, smarter, and more efficient.
Challenges & The Future of AI in Urgent Care
Adoption Rates: Who’s Implementing AI First?
- Larger urgent care groups are adopting AI faster due to higher patient volumes and stronger IT infrastructure.
- Smaller clinics may take longer to adopt but can still benefit from targeted AI solutions like call handling and billing automation.
Challenges in AI Implementation
- Generational Differences: Older patients may prefer human interactions over AI-powered tools.
- AI Learning Curve: Early AI models may struggle with regional dialects, slang, and complex medical terminology.
- Ensuring a Positive Patient Experience: AI should enhance, not replace, human interactions to avoid frustrating patients.
Is AI the Future of Urgent Care?
The challenges facing urgent care clinics—missed calls, manual documentation, billing inefficiencies, and overwhelmed staff—are real. But they’re no longer unsolvable. As we’ve seen, AI is already reshaping urgent care operations: automating up to 50% of calls, reducing billing errors by up to 75%, and improving cash flow with smarter, faster billing tools.
From AI-powered call handling to automated medical scribe technology, these innovations aren’t just theoretical—they’re in use today, helping clinics operate more efficiently and provide better care. The urgent care space is changing fast, and AI is the driving force behind that transformation.
So what does this mean for your clinic? If you're exploring ways to improve communication, reduce admin burdens, and enhance patient satisfaction, now is the time to look into tools like Flip CX for AI call handling and Experity’s AI Scribe. These platforms are helping clinics like yours create smoother workflows, faster reimbursements, and stronger patient relationships.
Schedule a consultation with TeleCloud to learn how AI-powered solutions can integrate into your existing systems and future-proof your operations.