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Cedars AI Voice Agent Kora Handles 400,000 Calls, Boosts Payments and Cuts Staffing Across U.S. Providers
Since its April 2025 debut, Cedar’s AI voice agent Kora has answered almost 400,000 patient calls across the United States, a milestone that underscores the growing role of conversational AI in health‑system billing. The announcement follows a year of deployment at more than a dozen partners, including Hartford HealthCare, Keck Medicine of USC, ApolloMD, Emerus and Gastro Health, and highlights the platform’s impact on provider operations.
Founded in 2021, Cedar positions itself as a technology partner for hospitals and health systems that need to streamline patient payment processes. Its platform plugs into existing billing systems and bundles tools for payment plans, collections and patient communication. Kora marks the company’s first step into conversational AI, leveraging the same data that powers its payment‑collection engine.
Kora operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as a voice‑based agent that resolves common billing inquiries on the first interaction. Cedar says the system is trained on proprietary healthcare billing data, enabling it to answer questions about patient authentication, bills in collections, balance inquiries, bill explanations and outbound collections campaigns. The agent can handle a full conversation without hand‑off to a live agent, freeing staff to focus on more complex issues.
At ApolloMD, Cedar reports a 42 percent increase in patient payments and measurable reductions in live‑agent workload after the platform’s introduction. Gastro Health, one of the largest gastroenterology practices in the country, incorporated Kora in September. The agent has handled more than 60,000 calls at the practice, with system‑reported metrics showing a 24 percent decrease in live‑agent handle time and a 22 percent reduction in call‑center staffing. A post‑call survey of patients who used Kora at Gastro Health found that more than 80 percent rated their experience as “highly satisfied.” Gastro Health CFO Lawrence Freni told Fierce Healthcare that “the numbers speak for themselves as handle time is down 24%, staffing needs are down 22%, and patient satisfaction is above what live‑agent teams were hitting.” He added that the agent “takes pressure off our people, allowing them to spend less time on repetitive calls and more time on interactions that actually need a human.”
Cedar CEO and co‑founder Florian Otto also spoke to Fierce Healthcare. He said, “Patient trust vanishes in the face of healthcare billing, with bills arriving late, not matching expectations and lack of help in getting questions answered. That’s the problem Kora was built for—not to deflect calls, but to handle the ones that genuinely require explanation and resolution.” Otto added that after 400,000 calls the data shows the agent is working, and that “across those interactions, we’re seeing patients resolve complex billing questions, including EOB discrepancies and collections inquiries without ever reaching a live agent, and doing so with satisfaction scores that outperform benchmarks from live agents.”
The 400,000‑call figure is significant for a first‑year deployment. It indicates that providers are routing a substantial portion of routine billing inquiries to the agent, which in turn reduces the volume of calls that live agents must handle. The reported 24‑percent reduction in handle time and 22‑percent staffing cut at Gastro Health suggest that the agent can resolve many issues in a single interaction, a key metric for call‑center efficiency.
Industry analysts note that AI‑based call‑center solutions are gaining traction in healthcare because they can address the high cost of billing support while maintaining compliance with privacy regulations. Cedar’s use of proprietary billing data allows Kora to understand the nuances of medical billing codes and payer policies, which is essential for accurate responses.
Cedar originally set a goal of automating 30 percent of inbound billing calls by year‑end. The company now says it is expanding Kora’s capabilities to new use cases, including outbound patient engagement and agentic workflow automation. The platform’s growth reflects a broader trend of AI‑driven call‑center solutions in healthcare, where providers seek to reduce administrative costs while maintaining or improving patient experience.
Looking ahead, Cedar plans to extend Kora’s functionality to outbound patient engagement, such as proactive reminders about upcoming payments or educational content about insurance coverage. The company also aims to incorporate agentic workflow automation, where the AI can trigger downstream actions like updating payment plans or escalating complex cases to human agents.
The company’s next milestones include integrating Kora with additional billing platforms and expanding its language capabilities to serve non‑English speaking patients.
Cedar’s CEO, Florian Otto, emphasized that the agent’s success is measured not only by call volume but also by the quality of interactions. He noted that the agent’s ability to resolve complex billing questions without human intervention is a key differentiator.
In summary, Cedar’s Kora has reached a milestone of nearly 400,000 patient interactions, driving higher payment rates and lower staffing needs for early adopters. The platform’s continued expansion into outbound engagement and workflow automation will test its scalability and effectiveness across a wider range of billing scenarios. Providers and investors will be watching how Kora’s performance evolves as more health‑system partners integrate the agent into their operations.
Founded in 2021, Cedar positions itself as a technology partner for hospitals and health systems that need to streamline patient payment processes. Its platform plugs into existing billing systems and bundles tools for payment plans, collections and patient communication. Kora marks the company’s first step into conversational AI, leveraging the same data that powers its payment‑collection engine.
Kora operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as a voice‑based agent that resolves common billing inquiries on the first interaction. Cedar says the system is trained on proprietary healthcare billing data, enabling it to answer questions about patient authentication, bills in collections, balance inquiries, bill explanations and outbound collections campaigns. The agent can handle a full conversation without hand‑off to a live agent, freeing staff to focus on more complex issues.
At ApolloMD, Cedar reports a 42 percent increase in patient payments and measurable reductions in live‑agent workload after the platform’s introduction. Gastro Health, one of the largest gastroenterology practices in the country, incorporated Kora in September. The agent has handled more than 60,000 calls at the practice, with system‑reported metrics showing a 24 percent decrease in live‑agent handle time and a 22 percent reduction in call‑center staffing. A post‑call survey of patients who used Kora at Gastro Health found that more than 80 percent rated their experience as “highly satisfied.” Gastro Health CFO Lawrence Freni told Fierce Healthcare that “the numbers speak for themselves as handle time is down 24%, staffing needs are down 22%, and patient satisfaction is above what live‑agent teams were hitting.” He added that the agent “takes pressure off our people, allowing them to spend less time on repetitive calls and more time on interactions that actually need a human.”
Cedar CEO and co‑founder Florian Otto also spoke to Fierce Healthcare. He said, “Patient trust vanishes in the face of healthcare billing, with bills arriving late, not matching expectations and lack of help in getting questions answered. That’s the problem Kora was built for—not to deflect calls, but to handle the ones that genuinely require explanation and resolution.” Otto added that after 400,000 calls the data shows the agent is working, and that “across those interactions, we’re seeing patients resolve complex billing questions, including EOB discrepancies and collections inquiries without ever reaching a live agent, and doing so with satisfaction scores that outperform benchmarks from live agents.”
The 400,000‑call figure is significant for a first‑year deployment. It indicates that providers are routing a substantial portion of routine billing inquiries to the agent, which in turn reduces the volume of calls that live agents must handle. The reported 24‑percent reduction in handle time and 22‑percent staffing cut at Gastro Health suggest that the agent can resolve many issues in a single interaction, a key metric for call‑center efficiency.
Industry analysts note that AI‑based call‑center solutions are gaining traction in healthcare because they can address the high cost of billing support while maintaining compliance with privacy regulations. Cedar’s use of proprietary billing data allows Kora to understand the nuances of medical billing codes and payer policies, which is essential for accurate responses.
Cedar originally set a goal of automating 30 percent of inbound billing calls by year‑end. The company now says it is expanding Kora’s capabilities to new use cases, including outbound patient engagement and agentic workflow automation. The platform’s growth reflects a broader trend of AI‑driven call‑center solutions in healthcare, where providers seek to reduce administrative costs while maintaining or improving patient experience.
Looking ahead, Cedar plans to extend Kora’s functionality to outbound patient engagement, such as proactive reminders about upcoming payments or educational content about insurance coverage. The company also aims to incorporate agentic workflow automation, where the AI can trigger downstream actions like updating payment plans or escalating complex cases to human agents.
The company’s next milestones include integrating Kora with additional billing platforms and expanding its language capabilities to serve non‑English speaking patients.
Cedar’s CEO, Florian Otto, emphasized that the agent’s success is measured not only by call volume but also by the quality of interactions. He noted that the agent’s ability to resolve complex billing questions without human intervention is a key differentiator.
In summary, Cedar’s Kora has reached a milestone of nearly 400,000 patient interactions, driving higher payment rates and lower staffing needs for early adopters. The platform’s continued expansion into outbound engagement and workflow automation will test its scalability and effectiveness across a wider range of billing scenarios. Providers and investors will be watching how Kora’s performance evolves as more health‑system partners integrate the agent into their operations.
