Healthcare startup Zibu launches AI voice agent for after-hours patient calls
Zibu, a San Jose-based healthcare AI company, has released a voice agent designed to answer patient calls outside clinic hours and relay information to providers. Missed appointments cost the U.S. healthcare system over $150 billion annually, with unanswered calls a primary culprit. About 80% of appointments are still scheduled by phone.
The platform captures patient concerns during after-hours calls, generates structured summaries for providers, and enables doctors to respond via text or voice through a mobile app. Zibu targets a market worth $11.5 billion.
Founder Avi Singh, a former Principal Product Designer at Moveworks, said the system addresses a straightforward problem: "Healthcare doesn't stop after 5 PM but most systems do."
Addressing provider burnout through workflow efficiency
Burnout among healthcare workers has remained elevated since the pandemic. The CDC reported 46% of health workers felt burnt out in 2022, up from 32% in 2018. Primary care physicians experience the highest rates, reaching 57.6% according to a NIH study.
Zibu's system reduces administrative friction by preparing providers with patient information before callbacks and allowing them to respond from their phones rather than desktop systems. The platform integrates with existing electronic health records, so appointment scheduling and prescription refill requests flow directly into office systems.
Built for healthcare compliance and clinical workflows
Unlike generic call automation tools, Zibu is built specifically for healthcare. The platform is HIPAA compliant and includes guardrails to prevent the AI from offering medical advice or generating inaccurate information-concerns that emerged during conversations with medical practitioners.
Key features include:
- AI-powered call handling that captures patient concerns in real-time
- Structured summaries to help providers prepare for callbacks
- Multi-channel notifications via text or voice
- Mobile-first response options including voice and video calls
- Direct integration with scheduling and prescription refill systems
Singh, who previously led product design at Fortune 500 companies and founded another venture, has won design awards from NY Design Awards and A'Design Awards.
Early adoption signals demand
Zibu is currently in use at healthcare practices seeking to reduce missed calls and improve patient responsiveness. The company plans to expand into proactive patient communication and care coordination features.
For PR and communications professionals in healthcare organizations, this type of solution represents a shift in how patient-facing operations are managed-moving from manual call handling to structured, compliant automation that integrates with existing workflows.
More information is available at zibu.ai.
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