Most hospitals publish a number and tell patients to "call to schedule." We wanted to know what actually happens when they do.

So we placed 396 automated test calls to the published scheduling lines of 198 U.S. hospitals — critical-access, acute, and psychiatric facilities across 25+ states and every major EHR — twice each, at different times of day. We measured one thing: does a real person pick up?

The answer: usually not. Only 1 in 6 hospitals ever connected us to a live human. Two out of three calls reached no one at all. Calling during business hours barely helped, and the number hospitals publish specifically for booking turned out to be the least likely to reach a person.

This report breaks down the full findings — by time of day, by type of number dialed, and by facility type — along with what a modern front desk should look like and how an AI receptionist closes the gap.

Download the full benchmark.