MUSC Health's AI Agent Emily Handles 25% of Calls

The South Carolina health system says its artificial intelligence agent now answers all 92 of its patient access phone lines.

Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence

MUSC Health's AI Agent Emily Handles 25% of Calls

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Would you be comfortable handling your doctor's office calls through an AI agent?

MUSC Health's AI agent Emily, built on SoundHound AI's platform, handles 25% of the health system's patient calls and has supported more than 2.2 million patient calls since 2024. The system added its retail and specialty pharmacy phone lines to Emily in July.

Why it matters

The call center was previously open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the system wanted 24-hour support to address patient frustration and workforce pressure. Emily's integration with the Epic electronic health record lets appointment changes update patient records automatically.

MUSC Health reports that its AI agent Emily handles 25% of patient calls and has supported more than 2.2 million calls since 2024, but the figures are self-reported and the stub does not include patient satisfaction or accuracy metrics. Industry survey data cited in the same reporting says 60% of healthcare firms use AI customer service chatbots, while outcomes at MUSC Health remain unreported.

The players

MUSC Health

MUSC Health is the South Carolina health system that deployed Emily to answer its patient access phone lines.

SoundHound AI

SoundHound AI is a voice artificial intelligence company whose platform powers the Emily agent used by MUSC Health.

The details

Emily answers all 92 of MUSC Health's patient access phone lines, confirming and canceling appointments first and later taking on billing questions, bill payments and pharmaceutical refill requests. When a caller asks for both a scheduling change and a bill payment in one call, Emily completes the scheduling request before raising the payment request.

2024: MUSC Health deployed Emily.
March: Broj described Emily's first tasks at HIMSS.
July: MUSC Health added its retail and specialty pharmacy phone lines to Emily.
August: Broj described the pre-Emily call center hours to HealthTech.
June: Broj said Emily handles 25% of patient calls.

Roadmap

Health systems are moving voice AI from pilot projects into live patient-facing phone operations, with SoundHound AI's platform now carrying a 92-line access center at MUSC Health. The rollout reflects a broader pattern in which 60% of healthcare firms report using AI customer service chatbots.

Patients who call MUSC Health can now have appointments confirmed, canceled or changed and bills paid by Emily, with changes updating their record automatically. Callers who need a pharmacy refill are routed to a pharmacy team after Emily takes the request.

The takeaway

AI phone agents are already handling a meaningful share of routine patient calls, so patients can expect faster scheduling and billing help outside traditional office hours. Readers can ask their provider which phone lines use automated assistance and how to reach a human when needed.