From personal tragedy to professional mission: Transforming healthcare with contact centers

In a recent article, Sachin H. Jain warns that the growing trend of centralized call centers in healthcare is undermining the personal, relationship-driven care patients once trusted and stripping away the deep, human connections that enable responsive, tailored care. Unfortunately, Dr. Jain’s concerns about centralized contact centers resonate with many patients and providers. But as someone who joined the contact center industry after a deeply personal healthcare experience, I believe there’s a better way forward—one that addresses his valid critiques while also recognizing the immense potential of modern contact centers to enhance, not erode, patient care.

Let me start with why I came into this industry. My mother was a remarkable woman, but she faced the immense challenge of managing multiple chronic diseases. Coordinating her care across specialists was a logistical nightmare, often leaving my father and me feeling powerless.

One pivotal moment changed my life and my career path. After a cortisone injection for severe hip pain, her blood sugar levels skyrocketed. My father, a meticulous caregiver, followed the primary care physician’s sliding scale insulin instructions to the letter. But when her blood sugar stayed dangerously high for days, the PCP advised us to consult her endocrinologist.

What happened next was both heartbreaking and infuriating. Despite my father’s diligent efforts, his calls to the endocrinologist’s office went unanswered. The front desk staff, overwhelmed by their dual responsibilities of answering phones and managing the practice, simply couldn’t keep up. My father, ever the rule follower, refused to “just show up unannounced” as I had suggested. Days later, my mother collapsed and spent five days in the ICU.

This was preventable. A better system could have saved her from unnecessary suffering and my family from trauma.

Why contact centers are critical to the future of healthcare.

Dr. Jain paints a picture of the Lindas and Sandras of healthcare—the front-office staff who know patients personally and bridge gaps in care. While his depiction is compelling, it overlooks the realities of modern healthcare. The fragmented, uncoordinated nature of many traditional practices often leaves patients like my mother stranded.

Importantly, centralizing contact centers does not mean sending Linda’s job overseas. In fact, none of my health system partners are doing that. The goal isn’t to replace the familiar faces patients trust but to support them with technology and infrastructure that enables them to focus on what matters most—providing care and connection.

Healthcare contact centers, when designed thoughtfully, can fill the gaps in care coordination and access. Instead of being transactional hubs that frustrate patients with impersonal service, they can become extensions of the care team—focused on collaboration, continuity, and compassion. Here’s how:

Integrating contact centers into the care team.

A well-structured contact center isn’t just a scheduling or messaging hub—it’s a part of the care continuum. By integrating with electronic health records (EHRs) and other clinical systems, agents can have real-time access to patient information. This empowers them to provide informed, personalized guidance, ensuring patients feel known and cared for, even from a distance.

Empowering agents to make a difference.

Many of Dr. Jain’s critiques stem from the idea that contact center staff are powerless to act. That’s a design flaw, not an inevitability. By giving agents the authority to escalate issues, coordinate care across teams, and resolve urgent needs we can prevent the kind of delays that plagued my mother’s care.

Automating the routine to focus on the complex.

The reality of healthcare is that most calls involve straightforward needs: scheduling an appointment, refilling a prescription, or asking basic questions. These tasks can and should be automated through AI and self-service tools, freeing human agents to focus on complex, high-touch cases like chronic disease management.

Reducing frustration and stress.

A well-integrated contact center minimizes patient—or caregiver—frustration by simplifying communication and providing quick, direct solutions to urgent care needs. My father’s efforts to get an answer from the endocrinologist’s office were met with silence. Had he been able to schedule an appointment sooner, he might have avoided the stressful situation that ultimately led to my mother’s collapse.

Proactive, not reactive, care.

Modern contact centers can use AI and data analytics to identify at-risk patients and proactively reach out to them. Imagine if my mother’s elevated blood sugar levels had triggered an alert, prompting a care navigator to call and coordinate with her specialists before it reached a crisis point.

Care is a team sport.

Dr. Jain rightly emphasizes that healthcare is a team sport. But today’s team isn’t limited to those physically present in the office. With the right tools, contact centers can act as the connective tissue between providers, specialists, and patients, ensuring continuity and coordination across the entire care journey.

The reality is that complex chronic disease patients—who account for the majority of healthcare costs and resources—require this kind of coordinated approach. Fragmented offices with overburdened front desks can’t meet their needs.

Centralization doesn’t mean outsourcing.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that centralizing contact centers equals outsourcing jobs overseas. This is simply not true for the health systems I partner with. Centralization is about creating consistency, leveraging technology, and optimizing workflows—not replacing local jobs with offshore ones. The same Lindas and Sandras Dr. Jain remembers can now be supported with tools and processes that allow them to focus on meaningful, high-touch interactions, instead of being stretched thin by administrative burdens.

By centralizing operations, health systems can ensure that every call is answered, every patient is heard, and every issue is addressed—without losing the personal touch that makes great care possible.

A vision for the future.

The journey we are on isn’t about replacing the human connection in healthcare; it’s about enhancing it. We must ensure that the people answering the phones aren’t overwhelmed by routine tasks but instead have the bandwidth and training to guide patients through their care journey.

My mother’s story is my motivation. It’s why I believe so deeply in the potential of contact centers to transform healthcare—not into something colder or more disconnected, but into something more effective, compassionate, and human.

Dr. Jain, I agree that we must guard against depersonalization. But let’s not romanticize a fragmented system that so often fails those who need it most. Instead, let’s work together to build a model that combines the best of technology and human empathy to deliver the care every patient deserves.