In a session sponsored by Hippocratic AI at Becker’s 4th Annual Spring Payer Issues Roundtable, Betsy Williamson, RN, vice president, quality performance and population health at Medical Mutual of Ohio, discussed the organization’s experience with generative AI voice agents.
The session, “Clinical Abundance in Action: AI Agents Driving Measurable Value,” was moderated by Munjal Shah, co-founder and CEO of Hippocratic AI.
Here are four key takeaways from the discussion:
1. AI enables health interventions that were previously unimaginable
Historically, health plans have used risk stratification to identify and focus on only the most expensive patients. While going after other, less costly patients might improve outcomes, the cost of intervention was traditionally deemed too high and the payoff too low.
AI changes everything, as it brings “abundance” to healthcare. AI reduces the cost to intervene with patients by 10x, giving organizations infinite capacity and the ability to think differently. “There are lots of use cases out there,” Ms. Williamson said.” It’s infinite what we can now do.”
2. AI agents enable Medical Mutual of Ohio to connect with more members
Medical Mutual of Ohio’s mission is to help people live healthier lives at all stages. Ms. Williamson explained that 90% of the company’s members have a chronic condition, with 4 in 10 having two or more conditions.
The organization’s chronic condition management programs have been successful at engaging members and driving down utilization. Increased hemoglobin A1C testing, eye screenings, and kidney screenings drove annual cost savings of $5,500 per member.
“It’s a huge savings when we can connect with members,” Ms. Williamson said. “But we only have 3,200 employees. So, we partnered with Hippocratic AI to create a generative AI agent named Stephanie.” Stephanie provides greater scale and connects with more members at minimal cost, handling use cases ranging from quarterly wellness checks to member onboarding, medication adherence calls, chronic condition management and pharmacy optimization.
3. Through increased annual wellness visits, AI agents drive down medical costs
In 2025, Medical Mutual of Ohio had many new Medicare members with high medical loss ratios (MLRs). To address these high MLRs, the organization used Hippocratic AI’s agent to make 25,000 calls and schedule annual wellness visits within 30 days.
“We connected with 4,600 members, got updates on their PCPs and routed them for their annual wellness visit,” Ms. Williamson said. “The average cost per call was $2.66. Meanwhile, we drove medical costs down by nearly $1 million due to those annual wellness visits. It was a great business case for Hippocratic AI.”
4. Hippocratic AI has increased staff capacity and satisfaction
Medical Mutual of Ohio’s first live call with Stephanie occurred in January 2025. Since then, Stephanie has conducted nearly 400,000 calls across 13 unique use cases. The result has been around a 400% increase in staff capacity. In addition, staff satisfaction has increased.
“Our employees want to talk with people and operate at the top of their license,” Ms. Williamson said. “Stephanie allows them to do that. They can talk with high-acuity members and create care plans.”
At the Becker's 5th Annual Fall Payer Issues Roundtable, taking place November 2–3 in Chicago, payer executives and healthcare leaders will come together to discuss value-based care, regulatory changes, cost management strategies and innovations shaping the future of payer-provider collaboration. Apply for complimentary registration now.
