This article was updated May 7, 2025, with additional information from Epic's software development team.
A new conversational artificial intelligence tool from Epic could enable health systems to offer and schedule appointments to patients through text.
In about 20 seconds, the AI agent can initiate a conversation via SMS with the patient to see whether they want to schedule a follow-up. If the patient texts back that they do, it will then text appointment options, as seen in a video accompanying the announcement.
For example: "Kara, we are reaching out to you to help you book your follow up consult with a nutritionist. Would you like to schedule this visit now? Reply STOP to opt out."
If the patient selects an option, the AI agent texts a confirmation with a MyChart link for more details about the appointment. They can also use the link to check into a video appointment.
Some patients might soon start to see the texts, according to Epic, because some early-adopter providers have already started using it.
Four healthcare organizations are currently live with Conversational SMS Scheduling. Rebooking cancelled appointments is planned for a future version, Borno Akhter, software developer at Epic, said by email.
Epic representatives at HIMSS25 this past March noted that the company has been working to integrate agentic AI agents across clinical applications to improve efficiency and take the friction out of health system interactions.
"We expect AI agents to help with pre-visit prep by chatting with patients about their needs, identifying missing tasks (such as labs), helping schedule and complete those tasks, and creating an easy-to-read summary," Seth Howard, executive vice president for R&D at Epic, told Healthcare IT News earlier this year.
In addition to employing AI agents to schedule appointments, Epic is engineering modalities for multimodal follow-up, such as a post-surgical patient assistant agent.
"AI tools autonomously perform tasks such as summarizing information, interacting with patients, scheduling follow-ups, and more," Garrett Adams, Epic's vice president of research and development, explained in March. "These capabilities can improve the overall patient experience and streamline clinical workflows."
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
