ElevenLabs powers AI voice agents for patient access at Banner Health

For many patients, care begins with a phone call. ElevenLabs makes that first step effortless: conversational voice agents that help patients schedule care and bring in a Banner team member the moment a conversation calls for one.

ElevenAgents for patient-facing call handling are now deployed at Banner Health, one of the nation’s largest fully integrated nonprofit health systems.

"Patients should not have to wait on hold to schedule care," said Michael J. Reagin, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Banner Health. "Our goal has always been to make that first step of reaching us as simple as possible."

"This deployment means calls are answered around the clock, appointments are booked in a single conversation, and a Banner team member is always within reach when a patient needs one," Reagin added. "That is the experience our patients deserve.”

The initial deployment is live, starting with primary care scheduling, where ElevenAgents:

• Answer inbound patient calls around the clock, with no hold queue
• Schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments directly in Banner's electronic medical record
• Warm transfer to a Banner team member whenever human support is needed, with call context provided

For patients, the change is simple. The phone gets answered, whether they call at 10 a.m. or 10 p.m. For Banner's patient access teams, it means time back for the patients and calls that need them most.

Health systems set a high bar for security, privacy, and reliability. Banner's is higher still, and this deployment was engineered to meet it. Every agent operates inside Banner's AI governance framework, with enterprise-grade security and HIPAA compliance.

"Every AI system we deploy starts with the same question: does this make care safer, more accessible, and more trustworthy for our patients?” said John Rares Almasan, Banner Health's senior vice president and chief AI, data and infrastructure officer. “This deployment clears that bar, with human escalation built into every conversation, full HIPAA compliance, and real-time oversight that lets us continuously improve the experience.

"When patients can reach us easily, at any hour, that is when technology is doing its job," Almasan added.

For ElevenLabs co-founder Mati Staniszewski, the partnership comes down to what a single phone call means when someone needs care. "Voice AI matters most in the moments people can least afford to wait, and calling for care is one of them," he said.

"Together with Banner Health, we're making that moment simple: calls answered right away, appointments booked in a single conversation, and a Banner team member brought in when needed. When care is easier to reach, outcomes follow for every community Banner serves."