Rethinking Your Patient Engagement Strategy in the AI Era
- Jen Calohan
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
By Jen Calohan, RN, TQMP, SOLC, LSSBB, Chief Operating Officer at HealthTalk A.I.
Patient engagement isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the difference between thriving and falling behind. If your strategy relies on basic EHR features, you’re not just missing opportunities, but you’re leaving patients behind.
While many organizations turn to their EHR vendors for bundled or 'all-in-one' type solutions, real-world experience shows these 'one-stop shop' approaches often result in suboptimal outcomes. Partnering with a best-in-breed, purpose-built patient engagement platform like HealthTalk A.I. leads to superior engagement, stronger ROI, and measurable improvements in outcomes.
The Illusion of the EHR One-Stop Shop
EHR vendors often promise convenience by bundling engagement tools. However, these tools frequently lack depth in functionality, are difficult to tailor to unique patient needs, and fail to deliver meaningful results.
Why Best-in-Breed Matters
HealthTalk A.I. is designed from the ground up to meet the complexities of modern healthcare communication, delivering measurable value:
34% improvement in appointment adherence
48% reduction in manual outreach workload within 6 months
Multilingual SMS engagement, real-time analytics, and personalized workflows
In contrast, EHR-native tools showed minimal or no significant change.
Integration Is Not the Barrier It Used to Be
Modern interoperability standards such as FHIR and SMART on FHIR APIs allow seamless integration with most EHRs in 6–12 weeks. Where APIs are not available, HL7 and SFTP integrations ensure full functionality.
Measuring What Matters
In a multi-site analysis, HealthTalk A.I. clients reported:
25% decrease in no-show rates
40% increase in confirmations, reducing staff burden
31% improvement in preventive care scheduling
EHR-native tools saw minimal or no significant change.
Real Results: A CIO’s Perspective on Transforming Patient Access
Denatras Silas, CIO of MedCura Health in Atlanta, shares how his FQHC successfully implemented HealthTalk A.I. and the powerful results they’ve seen. He highlights the platform’s flexibility, the dramatic increase in response and booking rates through AI-driven self-scheduling, and the value of having a true “foxhole partner” in HealthTalk A.I.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Recommendations for Healthcare Leaders
Evaluate vendors based on performance data and real-world outcomes
Prioritize solutions that improve engagement KPIs
Ensure scalability and user satisfaction
Avoid settling for bundled convenience over meaningful results
Patient engagement is too important to be treated as an afterthought. Best-in-breed, purpose-built patient engagement solutions like HealthTalk A.I. consistently outperform EHR-native tools in usability, effectiveness, and ROI. In an era where outcomes define success, organizations should choose innovation over inertia and partnership over convenience. To learn more, explore KLAS Research or download our Klas report to see how we stack up against other solutions.