Colorectal cancer remains a formidable challenge in American healthcare, projected to claim over 55,000 lives in 20261. While early-stage detection boasts a survival rate exceeding 90 percent2, a significant barrier persists: nearly one-third of eligible adults remain unscreened3. Often, the culprit is not a lack of intent, but the daunting complexity of the multi-step preparation process required for a successful colonoscopy.
To address these screening gaps and simplify the patient journey, Atlantic Health, a leading not-for-profit health care system caring for patients throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the New York metropolitan area, has partnered with Artera to deploy AI Agents specifically for colonoscopy patient outreach.
Transitioning from Manual to AI-Driven Outreach
The preparation for a colonoscopy is uniquely taxing, involving strict dietary changes and medicinal protocols over several days. For many health systems, including Atlantic Health, managing this process traditionally relied on manual phone calls and inconsistent pre-appointment instructions, leading to high cancellation and no-show rates.
After reviewing its internal processes and patient feedback, Atlantic Health saw an opportunity to improve the patient experience by standardizing the experience across its organization. By utilizing Artera’s AI Agents, the system moved toward a “digital-first” model, leveraging agents to place automated calls to patients one week before their procedure to confirm the appointment, prompt a review of prep materials, and answer specific questions.
“Colonoscopy prep is uniquely complex – every patient’s journey is different, and there are so many steps to complete before the procedure,” said Orla Seidel, Director of Digital Marketing, Atlantic Health. “This isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about making sure our patients get to the finish line of this potentially life-saving procedure.”
The Agent is rigorously trained using a proprietary Atlantic Health knowledge base, allowing it to answer more than 80 Atlantic Health-approved clinical and operational frequently asked questions – without relying on external internet data sources. It also honors individual patient preferences by speaking in multiple languages, including Spanish, and intelligently adjusts its conversational tone within clinical-guardrails to deliver a highly personalized experience.
Measurable Impact in 30 Days
The deployment of Artera’s AI Agents has yielded immediate results for Atlantic Health. Within the first 30 days of the launch:
- 43% of patients contacted by the AI Agent successfully answered and confirmed their identities.
- 39% of patients explicitly confirmed their attendance for their upcoming appointments.
- 7% of patients utilized the AI to ask specific questions regarding the procedure.
Perhaps most importantly for overtaxed staff, the AI Agent has reduced the time spent on these manual calls by 38 percent. This allows gastrointestinal procedure schedulers and clinical teams to refocus their energy on high-level patient care and complex cases, while the AI Agent manages routine touchpoints.
A Model for Modern Patient Journeys
This initiative marks Atlantic Health’s first use of an AI Agent for outbound communication to patients, designed to deliver an enhanced consumer experience and help patients better prepare for timely preventative care. It also marks a milestone in the long-standing collaboration between the two organizations.
“As a pioneer adopter of agentic AI in healthcare and an Artera partner for more than six years, Atlantic Health recognizes that a modern patient journey requires modern, AI-driven solutions to solve decades-old challenges,” said Tom McIntyre, President of Artera. “This is a prime example of agentic AI in practice: satisfied patients, better efficiency, and closed care gaps. By automating the complexities of the colonoscopy journey, we are helping clinicians return to the work they love while no patient falls through the cracks.”
As colorectal cancer continues to be a leading cause of death for adults under 504, the need for seamless screening processes has never been more urgent. By automating the complexities of the colonoscopy journey, Atlantic Health and Artera demonstrate how agentic AI can close care gaps that have persisted for decades.
“We have, within our power, the ability to protect many patients from colorectal cancer, but that starts with screenings,” said Ravish Parekh, MD, gastroenterologist, Atlantic Health. “By delivering personalized, easy-to-understand guidance, we hope to see better patient adherence and more effective exams”.
Atlantic Health’s move toward AI-driven outreach marks a significant shift in how large health systems can begin to manage preventative care at scale.
1 American Cancer Society, “Colorectal Cancer Statistics, 2026”
2 Colorectal Cancer Alliance, “Preventing, detecting and treating colorectal cancer” (March 2026).
3 ACS National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT), 2026 Data and Progress Report.
4 JAMA / ACS, “Mortality Under 50 Declines for 4 of 5 Leading Cancers in U.S., but Colorectal Now Top Cancer Killer” (Jan 2026).
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