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3 minute read
The Brief: GoTo has added AI-powered scheduling to its GoTo Connect for Healthcare integration with athenaOne, athenahealth’s EHR, practice management, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement platform.
The capability lets practices automate appointment booking, rescheduling, and cancellations directly in athenaOne, 24 hours a day, without adding staff. Calls can be answered at any time, while patients who need human assistance can reach staff. The integration is available through the athenahealth Marketplace for GoTo Connect and athenaOne customers.
GoTo also provides a unified record, one Business Associate Agreement, and one support team for the integrated experience. The capability addresses after-hours calls, busy periods, and situations that leave front-desk employees handling complex needs.
Source: GoToGoTo and athenaOne Bring AI Scheduling to Healthcare Practices
Analyst Perspective: GoTo is connecting two functions that practices already depend on: telephone access and appointment management. The update gives its healthcare communications portfolio a stronger operational role because calls can now initiate scheduling actions inside athenaOne. That makes the phone channel part of the workflow instead of leaving it as a separate intake mechanism.
The integration also fits GoTo’s existing healthcare proposition, which combines communications capabilities with technology intended for medical practices. AI scheduling adds an automated service function without requiring practices to introduce another system for routine appointment transactions.
For customers, that creates a clearer relationship between patient access and staff workload. A practice can use automated scheduling for recurring requests while reserving employee attention for cases that require judgment or direct assistance. GoTo therefore adds utility to the communication channel without changing who makes clinical decisions.
AI Handles Routine Appointment Requests Around the Clock
GoTo Connect for Healthcare now uses AI to manage routine appointment activity within athenaOne, so patients can book appointments, reschedule existing appointments, or cancel them without waiting for front-desk availability. The capability operates 24/7, covering periods when practices may have limited administrative coverage.
The addition addresses several common telephone situations, including after-hours calls, Monday morning demand, and periods when employees are occupied with complicated patient needs. Automated scheduling gives those callers another route to completing routine requests.
GoTo also keeps human assistance available when needed. Patients who require an employee can reach one without navigating phone trees or waiting through hold music. This creates a division between routine transactions that AI can handle and conversations that benefit from direct staff involvement.
AthenaOne Keeps Scheduling Activity in the Practice Record
The integration places appointment activity directly in athenaOne, connecting the telephone interaction with the platform practices already used for healthcare operations. That connection is important because scheduling does not remain an isolated action in the communications system. The practice can manage the resulting activity within its existing environment.
GoTo also presents the integration as a way to reduce vendor complexity. Practices do not need to add another vendor to their compliance footprint for this capability. Interactions remain in one record and fall under one Business Associate Agreement, while one support team manages the integrated service.
This arrangement gives practices a more consolidated way to manage patient communications and scheduling. For organizations already using both GoTo Connect and athenaOne, the integration adds automated appointment handling without requiring a separate scheduling product.
Automated Scheduling Gives Front Desks More Room for Complex Needs
AI scheduling changes how front-desk employees can allocate their time. Routine appointment requests can move through automated handling, which enables staff to spend more attention on patients whose needs require direct assistance. GoTo connects this capability to a larger patient-experience concern: unanswered calls can leave appointments unbooked and create lost revenue for practices.
The need for reliable communication also carries implications for patient retention. Smart Communications’ 2025 Healthcare Customer Experience report found that 69% of patients would switch providers when their communication expectations are not met. GoTo’s integration addresses one element of that experience by keeping appointment access available outside normal staff capacity.
For practices, the value therefore extends beyond call handling. Automated scheduling can help maintain access to routine administrative services while employees handle situations that require more attention.
GoTo Extends Healthcare Communications Into Patient Access
GoTo’s move fits its existing GoTo Connect for Healthcare offering by adding an operational function to a communications platform already designed for medical practices. The connection with athenaOne also makes sense because scheduling, patient engagement, practice management, and revenue cycle activities already sit within the athenaOne environment.
Practices using both platforms have a direct use case for automated appointment handling, particularly when call volumes exceed front-desk capacity.
Where Implementation Will Matter Most
One consideration is whether automated scheduling can handle the different appointment needs and requests that practices receive. GoTo can help address this by keeping routine scheduling automated while giving patients a way to reach staff when they need personal assistance.
Requests that fall outside routine scheduling can then receive human attention, helping practices maintain the right balance between automation and staff support.
The Next Opportunity for GoTo Connect
The integration gives GoTo a foundation for making communications more operational within healthcare settings. Its immediate value lies in connecting calls with appointment activity, but continued development could make the healthcare offering increasingly useful for administrative workflows.
The strongest opportunity will come from maintaining a clear boundary between automated tasks and decisions that belong with healthcare professionals.
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