Answers for surgery center front offices

Short answers for ASC administrators and business office managers about phones, scheduling, benefits verification, prior auth and pre-op calls.

• What is an AI receptionist for a surgery center?An AI receptionist for a surgery center is a voice agent that answers the ASC's phones, schedules procedures into surgeon block time, and makes pre-op and reminder calls, while clinical questions go to your staff.
• Can AI handle prior authorization for an ASC?AI can do the prior authorization prep for an ASC: flag which cases need auth, build a ready-to-submit request and track it to a decision, while your auth team reviews and submits.
• How does insurance verification automation work for surgery centers?Benefits verification runs as soon as the referral is charted: plan eligibility, outpatient surgery coverage at an ASC, and whether prior auth is required, with any problem sent to the business office the same day.
• Can pre-op calls be automated at an ASC?Yes: Ava makes pre-op calls in English or Spanish and reads only the instructions your center documented (arrival time, driver, fasting and what to bring), and sends medication questions to the pre-op nurse.
• How can an ASC reduce same-day case cancellations?Most same-day cancellations trace back to a missing auth, an unverified benefit, a missed prep step or a missing driver, so the fix is catching each one days ahead instead of the morning of surgery.
• Does AI scheduling work with HST Pathways, SIS, eClinicalWorks or Epic?It works in the system your center already uses: where you have a scheduling or API connection, Ava books and the agents chart directly; otherwise Ava works through an approval queue your staff clears in one click, and we confirm the connection for your system before you sign.
• Is there a HIPAA-compliant AI phone agent that signs a BAA?Yes: Surgery Center Front Desk signs a business associate agreement with your center before go-live, and every vendor that touches patient information is under a BAA.
• Is there a bilingual AI receptionist for surgery centers?Yes: Ava runs the whole call in English or Spanish, including scheduling, pre-op instructions and texts, and switches language whenever the patient asks.
• How should a surgery center handle after-hours calls?After hours, an AI front desk can finish the routine calls (arrival times, reschedules and prep questions answered from your instructions) and route anything clinical to your on-call process, instead of taking messages for the morning.
• Can an ASC automate fax referral intake?Yes: an AI agent reads faxed, e-faxed or emailed referrals, builds the chart with a duplicate check, verifies benefits and flags prior auth, and sends anything it cannot read clearly to a person.

In use now at Texas Cardiac & Vascular Specialists (TCAVS), a multi-location cardiology and vascular group with its own surgery center.