# Did an AI voice agent increase colorectal cancer screening sign-ups?

> WellSpan Health used 'Ana', a multilingual AI care agent from Hippocratic AI, to phone 1,878 patients due for colorectal cancer screening in September 2024. A peer-reviewed JMIR study found FIT-kit opt-in of 18.2% among Spanish-speaking patients vs 7.1% among English-speaking patients; the study was funded by Hippocratic AI.

- **Evidence grade:** A — Named organization, quantified outcome, independent source (news, paper, filing, or customer quote outside vendor marketing).
- **Organization:** WellSpan Health (health system)
- **Industry:** Hospitals & Health Systems — Integrated health system
- **Roles:** Patient Access & Outreach, Clinicians & Clinical Ops
- **Tools:** Hippocratic AI care agent ('Ana') (Hippocratic AI)
- **Status:** production · **Agent pattern:** voice-agent · **Autonomy:** 3/4
- **Last verified:** 2026-10-17

## Reported outcomes
- FIT test opt-in (Spanish vs English speakers): 18.2% vs 7.1% [1]
- connect rate (Spanish vs English speakers): 69.6% vs 53.0% [1]

## How it works
1. Eligible patients without active web-based health profiles are selected for outreach.
2. The AI agent calls each patient in their preferred language.
3. It explains colorectal cancer screening and answers questions.
4. Patients who opt in get a FIT kit mailed to their home.

## Risks & compliance
- Patient-facing clinical conversation; escalation path required
- Study outcome is opt-in, not completed screening

## Notes
- JMIR conflict-of-interest statement: most authors are Hippocratic AI employees and Hippocratic AI funded the study; WellSpan provided data.
- The vendor page reports an 89% Spanish-speaker connect rate; the peer-reviewed paper reports 69.6%. We use the paper's figure.
- Paper text verified via Europe PMC (PMC12278996) because jmir.org blocks automated fetches.

## Sources
1. Journal of Medical Internet Research, "Using a Multilingual AI Care Agent to Reduce Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening for Higher Fecal Immunochemical Test Adoption Among Spanish-Speaking Patients: Retrospective Analysis" (2025-06-25) <https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e71211>
   > "Spanish-speaking patients demonstrated significantly higher engagement across all measures than English-speaking patients with respect to FIT test opt-in rates (18.2% vs 7.1%, P<.001)"
2. Hippocratic AI, "Colorectal Cancer Screening AI Case Study" (2024-10-24) <https://hippocraticai.com/colorectal-cancer-case-study/>
   > "Our AI agent, named Ana, is designed to conduct targeted outreach to at-risk patients, with a particular focus on Spanish-speaking populations."

Canonical: https://agentcasefile.com/cases/wellspan-hippocratic-ana-colorectal-screening-outreach/ · License: CC BY 4.0 (summary) · Source: Agent Casefile