In health care, data tells the tale. And in behavioral health, one number stands above the rest: nine of 10 people who need behavioral health care never receive it.
That’s a staggering figure that certainly pains all care providers. That’s because even when patients seek help, the intake process often fails them:
Approximately 20% of inbound phone calls are missed or go to a messaging service
Nearly 80% of web inquiries are not successfully contacted
Admissions and intake staff can vary widely in training, availability and consistency
For a person struggling with behavioral health challenges, simply making that phone call is an act of strength and bravery. The idea that 90% of those people won’t find the help they need is devastating. Whether by phone or online, potential patients often encounter delays, voicemail boxes or missed connections at the very moment they are most ready to engage.
This is behavioral health’s “front door” — the place where a person in need takes the first step toward help. For far too many potential patients, the front door is closed.
“Looking at Hazelden in the past, we had people call up to 20 times to get care,” says Bob Poznanovich, Senior Fellow at Rosecrance Health and former Chief Growth Officer of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. “Now we’ve shortened that process and we can more frequently get them care in that first interaction.”
What behavioral health providers are finding is that they can help more patients by using AI at intake. Providers using the Heads Up system from Anonymous Health, for instance, have boosted admissions by a whopping 20%.
“AI doesn’t replace compassionate engagement,” says Anonymous Health CEO Geoff Nudd. “It scales it.”
The four capabilities from AI intake
Heads Up: AI Intake superpowers an admissions team with the best evidence-based practices to guide them into care. The results are powerful and deliver four key capabilities:
24/7 intake coverage. When staff members are not available, AI-enabled phone and web chat systems capture client information, triage needs and schedule follow-ups automatically.
Real-time coaching for live calls. When admissions staff members are speaking with clients, conversational AI tools can provide on-screen prompts, evidence-based phrasing and compliance reminders to optimize empathy and outcomes in the moment.
Personalized engagement: AI uses insights from prior interactions to tailor messaging, helping patients feel understood and supported before they ever step into treatment.
Data-driven decision support: Every interaction captured by AI contributes to a richer understanding of patient demand, referral patterns, and capacity trends, informing operational improvements across the organization.
“These tools allow every inquiry to be met with immediacy, accuracy and warmth, ensuring that the desire for help is never met with silence,” Nudd says.
How the AI-enabled front door boosted admissions by 20%
The predictive power of AI is an exciting frontier. A recent study, for example, showed that AI was more successful than a panel of clinicians at predicting relapse among alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients, with AI 76% successful vs. the clinicians at 58%.
If providers can identify risk factors upfront and then on an ongoing basis, that creates the potential to intervene. Those interventions through Heads Up from Anonymous Health drive users seeing a 20% increase in admissions. Anonymous Health’s AI contacts convert 14.9% of all inbound calls to admissions.
While the figure is highly dependent on a provider’s call mix, it is still 50% higher than the company projected when they launched. The Anonymous Health approach transforms AI from a patchwork of digital tools into a cohesive front door — one that preserves human empathy, streamlines operations and ensures every patient is met with clarity, consistency and care.
“To my knowledge, we’re the only organization in the industry that’s been able to do these warm transfers from AI to another third party, whether that’s on the web chat or via the phone,” Nudd says.
Essentially, AI intake systems bring wins in three buckets: outcomes for patients, staff and the business. Patients, of course, are the most important part. AI builds wins for patients in several key ways. First, it eliminates overflow and overnight misses. AI systems ensure every call and chat can be engaged through full intake.
Second, AI intake can immediately engage web inquiries. Converting from a one-way form completion to a two-way supportive and interactive dialogue to provide immediate support, intake and scheduling
Third, it reduces wait times. Instant triage and scheduling enable earlier intervention, often preventing crises before they escalate.
All of this improves patient satisfaction. Patients report feeling more supported when engagement is consistent, responsive and personalized.
In the end, Anonymous Health’s AI converts almost one in three patient inquiries to a completed admission. Its partners are achieving these results in as little as 30 days.
Poznanovich sums it up well: “Through the use of AI, we can reach people much earlier in their disease.”
This Views article is sponsored by Anonymous Health, and is excerpted from the new white paper from Anonymous Health and BHB titled “AI at the Front Door: Transforming Behavioral Health Admissions.” To download the free white paper, click here.