Can an AI voice agent make surgery day smoother — without losing the human touch? In this episode of Innovate Health, OHSU shares how it became the first health system in the country to launch an agentic AI patient-reminder call for surgical patients — cutting procedure cancellations by roughly 50% while freeing staff for higher-value work.

⚠️ Content warning: This episode includes a brief discussion of self-harm and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 (U.S.) to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

In this episode:

• Why pre-op reminder calls are so labor-intensive — and how AI reduces last-minute surgery cancellations

• How OHSU co-developed a human-in-the-loop voice agent with escalation to real staff (plus a real-time 988 safety escalation)

• What patients actually thi ...