AI Receptionist “Zoe” Serves 3,500+ Patients a Month at a Multi-Location Urology Practice

From Backup Support to Front-Line Assistant

The clinic didn’t go all-in with AI on day one. They began by deploying Zoe at a single location, only as a second line of support—stepping in when call center staff were unavailable. This gave the team time to observe Zoe’s impact, fine-tune her performance, and build internal confidence.

Encouraged by the results, they moved Zoe to the first line of contact, where she began answering and routing all incoming calls. Afterwards, the clinic expanded Zoe’s role to all locations—demonstrating their trust in the system and the scalability of the solution.

A Smart Front Desk Agent That Scales With Demand

Before Talkie.ai, the clinic’s call center was receiving nearly 1,000 voicemails per week, overwhelming a six-person team tasked with returning every call within 24 hours. Just one week after Zoe took over incoming calls, that number dropped by almost half—a shift so dramatic the team initially thought there was a system issue.

Able to handle unlimited concurrent calls, Zoe took the pressure off human staff by answering routine questions and routing more complex ones intelligently. Patients no longer waited on hold. Staff could now focus on those physically in front of them, rather than juggling phones. And with voicemail volume cut in half, the team could finally keep up with return calls.

Always On—Even After Hours and Across Languages

One of the most striking changes came after hours. Previously, patients calling in the evening would hear a message prompting them to press 1 for emergencies—and many did, even though they simply needed to reschedule or check their next appointment. This pushed everyday requests onto on-call doctors—which is not ideal and potentially even dangerous.

Now, Zoe intercepts those after-hours calls, triaging true emergencies and handling everything else—like appointment reminders or FAQs—on the spot.

And with multilingual support in Spanish and Russian, Zoe can now serve the clinic’s highly diverse patient base more effectively than ever. What once relied on a single Spanish-speaking staff member is now a seamless, automated experience for 40% of their patients who prefer Spanish, and 10% who speak Russian.

Reducing Frustration

Patients used to navigate a phone tree just to leave a message. Many weren’t sure whether to contact a doctor, nurse, or the front desk—resulting in misrouted calls and delays. With Zoe, there’s no confusion. Patients simply state what they need, and the system guides them or delivers answers instantly.

That clarity alone helped eliminate a major source of patient frustration—and significantly reduced complaints about unreturned messages. In fact, many of the calls Zoe handles—about 60%—involve simple requests like appointment details, which used to drain staff time.

An Ongoing Partnership

From the beginning, Urology Group of Southern California saw Talkie not just as a technology provider, but as a partner. Weekly check-ins, data dashboards, and a collaborative approach to improvement have made it easy to adapt Zoe’s workflows to meet evolving needs.

Zoe helped the clinic reduce workload, improve patient satisfaction, and streamline operations—without adding staff or overhauling their systems. 

Patients now get the answers they need:

• Faster,
• In their own language,
• Anytime they wish. 

And the front desk team has the freedom to focus on the people in front of them.