In the high-stakes world of hospital operations, where every delayed call can mean frustrated patients and strained staff, Tampa General Hospital has emerged as a frontrunner in harnessing conversational AI to overhaul its call center. The 1,529-bed academic health system, one of Florida’s largest, partnered with New York-based Hyro to deploy an AI agent named Aimee, who now greets every inbound call as a digital host. This move, rolled out in just 90 days starting September 24, 2025, has delivered dramatic results: a 56% drop in ambulatory queue abandonment rates, 35% in specialty queues, 58% reduction in average wait times for ambulatory scheduling from 6.2 to 2.4 minutes, and a 21% surge in daily appointments scheduled within two weeks of launch, as detailed in Healthcare IT News.

“Tampa General is deeply committed to reimagining how we connect with our patients,” said Scott Arnold, executive vice president and chief digital and innovation officer at the hospital, in a statement echoed across multiple outlets. The system previously abandoned around 40,000 calls monthly due to overwhelming volumes, high turnover, and agents bogged down by routine queries like appointment confirmations, prescription refills, insurance checks, and directions. Aimee’s integration with Epic EHR, Cisco telephony, and SpinSci enables real-time authentication, data retrieval, and transaction completion without human handoff, freeing agents for complex cases requiring empathy and clinical insight, according to Fierce Healthcare.

Amy Bender, manager of inpatient informatics at Tampa General, highlighted the pre-AI chaos: “Experience center agents were frequently engaged in low-value tasks rather than focusing on cases requiring empathy, critical thinking or clinical coordination.” The AI’s natural language understanding replaces clunky IVR menus with fluid conversations, supports multilingual interactions, and scales to thousands of simultaneous calls, generating analytics on call drivers and bottlenecks for ongoing optimization, per the Healthcare IT News report.

From Contract to Go-Live: A 90-Day Sprint

Tampa General moved with unusual speed in healthcare IT circles. Discussions with Hyro began in June 2025, contract signed before July 4, calls answered by mid-September, and appointment scheduling active by October’s end, Arnold told Health System CIO. The phased rollout—starting with triage and routing—ensured smooth adoption by IT, operations, and Hyro teams. Aimee now handles inbound calls for patients and staff, reducing misroutes and burnout while recognizing vulgar language to de-escalate frustrated callers, as noted in HealthLeaders Media.

Hyro’s platform, designed for HIPAA compliance and EHR interoperability, powers these feats through secure APIs that pull patient data for personalized service. “Our capacity hasn’t changed. We’re still very full. But they’re able to spend more time getting people access where we were having an issue with that before,” Arnold explained, underscoring how AI amplifies human efforts without replacement. Early metrics also show 17% overall productivity gains in appointments, building on the initial 21% spike reported in PR Newswire.

This rapid deployment contrasts with typical healthcare tech timelines, validating Hyro’s plug-and-play approach amid industry staffing shortages. Tampa General chose Hyro over Epic’s nascent voice capabilities for its proven healthcare focus, as Arnold confirmed to Fierce Healthcare.

Hyro’s Expanding Arsenal in Healthcare AI

Founded seven years ago, Hyro has scaled to over 45 health systems, including Inova Health, Baptist Health, Sutter Health, Prisma Health, and Piedmont Healthcare, serving 30 million patients. A $45 million growth round in October 2025, led by Healthier Capital with Norwest, Define Ventures, Bon Secours Mercy Health, and ServiceNow Ventures, doubled its valuation to fuel agentic AI for administrative, operational, and clinical workflows, per Hyro’s blog. The firm reports 5-11x returns on AI investment with partners, automating up to 85% of routine interactions across voice, chat, SMS, and web.

Israel Krush, Hyro’s CEO and cofounder, emphasized to MobiHealthNews: “In short, AI agents aren’t replacing people, they’re enabling them to work at the top of their license while giving patients an access experience that finally feels coherent.” Features like Proactive Px for bi-directional communications and Cisco Webex integration further enhance Tampa General’s setup, eliminating IVR friction and boosting agent desktops, as in a prior PR Newswire announcement.

Hyro’s analytics dashboard reveals top call drivers, trends, and gaps, informing staffing and training. “By partnering with Hyro, we’ve been able to leverage the power of responsible AI agents to meet patients where they are… In just weeks, we’ve seen a measurable impact,” Arnold added in Hyro’s blog.

Quantifying the Gains: Metrics That Matter

The numbers speak volumes. Daily abandonment plunged from 34% to 14.9% overall, with ambulatory queues at 56% improvement and specialty at 35%, per Becker’s Hospital Review. Wait times halved in key areas, enabling a 17% rise in total appointments and positioning the experience center as a revenue driver rather than a cost sink. Agents now tackle high-value tasks, curbing burnout and turnover in a sector plagued by shortages.

Bender noted: “Lower abandonment rates, shorter wait times and increased appointment scheduling demonstrate how the integration of Aimee directly addressed call center core challenges.” These outcomes align with Hyro’s broader claims of 65-85% deflection of routine calls, as seen in payer deployments with 85% abandonment drops and 79% faster answers, from Hyro’s site.

Patient satisfaction climbs as multilingual support serves diverse Tampa Bay populations, while data loops drive continuous refinement. “Instead of guessing what patients need, they can anticipate it,” Krush told MobiHealthNews.

Industry Ripples and Future Horizons

Tampa General’s success is rippling outward, proving call centers—long viewed as cost centers—can become profit engines via AI. Hyro’s model, with end-to-end resolution for billing, MyChart support, and prescriptions, sets a benchmark. Expansions loom: full appointment booking, cancellations, rescheduling, and proactive outreach, per Bender in Healthcare IT News.

As health systems grapple with no-show costs exceeding $150 billion annually industry-wide, Aimee’s playbook offers a scalable fix. Arnold’s vision: “Every call, every message, every interaction is an opportunity to make care more accessible and personal,” as quoted in Hospital Management. With Hyro’s funding fueling clinical AI, expect deeper integrations like triage and care coordination.

This case underscores a shift: AI not as gimmick, but as operational imperative, turning overwhelmed queues into seamless access points and redefining patient-provider bonds.