WellSpan Health used 'Ana', a multilingual AI care agent from Hippocratic AI, to phone 1,878 patients due for colorectal cancer screening in September 2024. A peer-reviewed JMIR study found FIT-kit opt-in of 18.2% among Spanish-speaking patients vs 7.1% among English-speaking patients; the study was funded by Hippocratic AI.
Reported outcomes
Outcomes are reported exactly as stated by the source; we have not independently audited them.
How it works
- Eligible patients without active web-based health profiles are selected for outreach.
- The AI agent calls each patient in their preferred language.
- It explains colorectal cancer screening and answers questions.
- Patients who opt in get a FIT kit mailed to their home.
Risks & compliance
- Patient-facing clinical conversation; escalation path required
- Study outcome is opt-in, not completed screening
Healthcare cases cover operational and commercial workflows. Nothing here is medical advice or a claim about a device's or drug's efficacy.
Editor's notes
- JMIR conflict-of-interest statement: most authors are Hippocratic AI employees and Hippocratic AI funded the study; WellSpan provided data.
- The vendor page reports an 89% Spanish-speaker connect rate; the peer-reviewed paper reports 69.6%. We use the paper's figure.
- Paper text verified via Europe PMC (PMC12278996) because jmir.org blocks automated fetches.
Tools mentioned & how to build it
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Tools mentioned
- Hippocratic AI (Hippocratic AI)
Healthcare AI agents for non-diagnostic patient outreach.
Build a version yourself
- Retell AI
Build and deploy phone agents for scheduling, intake and call routing. - Make
Visual no-code automation with AI agents; good for intake, routing and follow-up flows. - ElevenLabs
Voice models and a conversational-agent platform behind many voice agents.
Sources
“Spanish-speaking patients demonstrated significantly higher engagement across all measures than English-speaking patients with respect to FIT test opt-in rates (18.2% vs 7.1%, P<.001)”Using a Multilingual AI Care Agent to Reduce Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening for Higher Fecal Immunochemical Test Adoption Among Spanish-Speaking Patients: Retrospective Analysis
“Our AI agent, named Ana, is designed to conduct targeted outreach to at-risk patients, with a particular focus on Spanish-speaking populations.”Colorectal Cancer Screening AI Case Study
Grade rationale: Named organization, quantified outcome, peer-reviewed paper (note vendor funding and authorship). Automated check on Oct 17, 2026: 2/2 quotes and 2/2 outcome claims matched the source. Compiled by the Agent Casefile research desk (AI-assisted; see methodology). Spot an error? Request a correction.
