An ASC call center audit reviews the phone work that surrounds each case so you can automate the calls that put the OR schedule at risk. You pull two to four weeks of call logs, categorize them by reason, and measure how much time goes to pre-op scheduling, insurance eligibility, prior authorization status, patient cost estimates, and post-op follow-up. In an ambulatory surgery center, the highest-value targets are the payer calls: eligibility and prior authorization status, because an unverified benefit or an uncleared authorization can bump a scheduled case. The next targets are pre-op confirmation and post-op follow-up. You then build voice agents for those call types inside your ASC platform, whether that is HST Pathways, SIS, AmkaiCharts, Provation, AdvantX, or SourceMedical, so results land in the system your staff already use. The payoff is fewer bumped cases and hours returned to your pre-op team.
What does an ASC call center handle?
An ASC call center runs the administrative path around every procedure. The core call types are pre-op scheduling and confirmation, insurance eligibility and benefits verification, prior authorization submission and status checks, patient financial conversations and cost estimates, and post-op follow-up. Surgery adds urgency that a clinic does not have: the work has to clear before the case, or the OR slot and the anesthesia and staffing committed to it are wasted. Prior authorization is the heaviest piece, running about 13 hours per physician per week across specialties, and surgical authorizations are among the most documentation-heavy.
How do you audit ASC call logs?
Audit ASC call logs the same way you would any call center, with one addition: tag the case. Pull two to four weeks of records, categorize each call by reason, and measure volume, handle time, and hold time. Then connect each payer call to the case and the procedure it supports, so you can see how much phone work each case type generates. Note which system the rep used for each call, your ASC EHR, the eviCore or Carelon portal, or the payer line, because that determines how the agent is built. The result is a ranked list showing which call types consume the most pre-op staff time per case.
Which ASC calls should you automate first?
Automate the payer calls first. Eligibility and prior authorization status are high-volume, rules-based, and directly tied to whether a case proceeds, which makes them the highest-return targets. A manual claim status inquiry alone takes about 24 minutes and $12 according to the CAQH Index, and ASCs make these calls constantly. After the payer calls, automate pre-op confirmation and post-op follow-up, which are scripted and high-volume. Leave clinically sensitive pre-op screening conversations to staff. See the ASC prior authorization page for the procedure-level detail behind these calls.
How much staff time can an ASC reclaim?
Size the reclaimed time from your audit by multiplying each automatable call type by its volume and handle time. ASCs carry a concentrated burden: the AMA survey found 40 percent of physicians have staff working exclusively on prior authorization, and surgical settings often have a dedicated authorization coordinator. Automating eligibility and authorization status calls commonly returns a large share of that coordinator's week, which you can redirect to working denials and complex cases. The broader opportunity is real: the CAQH Index finds more than $20 billion a year available from automating administrative transactions still done by phone and fax.
How do voice agents work inside HST Pathways, SIS, and AmkaiCharts?
Voice agents work inside your ASC platform rather than beside it. For eligibility, the agent calls the payer or works the portal, captures the structured benefit data, and writes it back to the case record in HST Pathways, SIS, AmkaiCharts, Provation, AdvantX, or SourceMedical. For prior authorization, it pulls the procedure and clinical documentation from the case, submits through the right payer or delegate, and tracks the authorization to a decision before the scheduled date. Because we build the agent around your specific platform and your real call patterns, the result lands where your pre-op team works. See AI for HST Pathways for one platform example.
Want this on your own case data? Book a 30-minute ASC contact center audit, or read the audit-then-automate approach.