How CareLink cut call volume by 71% for a 340B pharmacy

Overview

A federally qualified health center running three 340B pharmacy sites, serving roughly 14,000 patients per location. Growth in prescription volume had outpaced the phone system long before it outpaced the fill capacity, so the team went looking for a way to take routine calls off the counter without adding headcount.

The problem

Routine phone calls piled up faster than the team could resolve them, making it difficult to support patient requests.

As prescription volumes grew, the pharmacy was struggling to keep up with high-frequency inbound and outbound calls for refill requests, pickup reminders and delivery updates. Basic IVRs underperformed, pushing an increasing number of calls to staff.

The solution

CareLink deployed a call automation agent integrated directly into the pharmacy's management system and customized to their workflow.

In less than two weeks, CareLink worked with the pharmacy to configure and deploy a solution tailored to their specific call flows, patient communication preferences, and operational needs. The agent triages routine inquiries and escalates clinical concerns to pharmacists, enabling faster and safer patient communication without adding staff.

Inbound and outbound call automation

• Natural-language voice AI handles a wide range of pharmacy communications including refills, pickup updates, delivery scheduling, and follow-ups.
• Captures patient intent and routes to the pharmacy team as needed.
• Patients are authenticated using data in the PMS, requests are routed automatically, and logged with structured notes for audit compliance and continuity of care.

Event-based triggering

• Automatically initiates outbound calls to the patient based on PMS-detected events, such as movement of the prescription into filling or outbox status.

Two-way SMS follow-ups

• Automated text prompts confirm refills, schedule delivery and pickups, and nudge patients to complete steps such as pre-appointment intake forms and post-delivery signature requests.

Governance

• Dashboards provide visibility into call volume coverage, escalation patterns, and time savings.
• Consent tracking, audit logs, and configurable user permissions ensure operational compliance.

Results

The pharmacy reclaimed three hours of staff time daily, reduced patient hold times, and redeployed the team to clinical services and direct patient care.

Meaningful time savings and higher patient satisfaction

The module handled 65-76% of routine inbound and outbound calls, significantly reducing manual call volumes for pharmacy staff. Patients experienced 30% faster responses to requests with minimal hold time.

Operational efficiency

Pharmacy teams reclaimed a median of over three hours of talk time per day, which was redeployed to clinical services and direct patient care.

Reduced leakage from partial fills and no-shows

Automated reminders and confirmations lowered last-minute refill requests. This reduced the number of partial fills and missed pickups, improving continuity of therapy and patient satisfaction.

Cleaner documentation and conversation handoffs

Structured notes and centralized logging reduced rework, preserved context continuity across phone, SMS, and patient app handoffs, and delivered a consistent audit trail across modalities.