RelateCare: The Empathy Engine Powering Healthcare's Front Door, Where Clinical Expertise Meets Operational Ingenuity

The modern healthcare journey often begins not in a waiting room, but in a moment of digital or telephonic uncertainty. A patient seeks an appointment, a provider needs to authorize a procedure, a worried family member calls after hours. These moments, critical to patient outcomes and institutional revenue, are frequently where complex healthcare systems falter lost in phone trees, staffing shortages, and administrative silos. At this precise friction point, RelateCare operates, not as a traditional outsourcer, but as a strategic clinical-operational partner engineered to make healthcare’s "front door" accessible, empathetic, and efficient.

Forged from a joint venture between the Cleveland Clinic and contact center specialist Rigneydolphin, RelateCare possesses a unique dual DNA: deep clinical process understanding and world-class customer experience execution. The company addresses a fundamental industry paradox: healthcare providers are experts in delivering care but are often burdened by the administrative complexity required to connect patients to that care. RelateCare’s mission is to resolve this tension, allowing its client partners including top U.S. academic medical centers to focus resources on direct clinical delivery while it expertly manages the surrounding patient access and coordination ecosystem.

This approach moves far beyond call center logistics into the realm of strategic revenue cycle optimization and clinical integration. By combining a workforce of over 1,400, including registered nurses and medical assistants, with sophisticated technology and rigorous quality frameworks, RelateCare transforms patient access from a cost center into a driver of patient satisfaction, provider efficiency, and financial health. Its model proves that in healthcare, the human touch, when expertly scaled and systematized, is not a luxury but a clinical and commercial imperative.

The Financial Alchemy of Smartsourcing

RelateCare’s value proposition is anchored in what it terms "smartsourcing" a deliberate pivot from cost-cutting outsourcing to intelligence-driven partnership. This model directly influences client revenue generation through two primary channels: accelerating cash flow and unlocking capacity. By managing prior authorizations, referral coordination, and scheduling with high efficiency, RelateCare reduces administrative delays that stall billing. A referral processed in 24 hours instead of 30 days becomes a billable encounter weeks sooner, improving days in accounts receivable.

Concurrently, by assuming the burden of high-volume, a repetitive patient interaction, RelateCare liberates expensive in-house clinical and administrative staff to focus on higher-value activities. This operational arbitrage is quantified: the company reports reducing client cost-per-call by up to 20% while simultaneously improving service levels. The financial impact is a dual win reduced operational expenditure and increased revenue-generating capacity within the client’s own team, making the partnership a lever for margin expansion.

Clinical Protocols at Scale: The Guardrails of Quality and Revenue Integrity

Perhaps the most significant differentiator is RelateCare’s clinical integration. Its teams of nurses utilize standardized, evidence-based protocols for triage, care coordination, and post-discharge follow-up. This systematic approach does more than ensure patient safety; it safeguards revenue integrity. Appropriate triage reduces unnecessary and non-reimbursable ED visits, steering patients toward profitable ambulatory care. Meticulous discharge follow-up cuts preventable readmissions, protecting providers from financial penalties under value-based care models.

Furthermore, RelateCare’s deep expertise with EHR platforms like Epic used by over 90% of its clients ensures that every remote interaction is documented with the rigor of an in-clinic visit, creating a clear audit trail for compliance and billing. This fusion of clinical governance with operational execution transforms patient support from a transactional call into a billable, quality-measured episode of care coordination, directly tying RelateCare’s services to its clients’ clinical and financial outcomes.

The Empathy Dividend: Where Patient Experience Meets Brand Equity

In an industry where patient satisfaction scores directly influence reimbursement and market share, RelateCare’s focus on empathetic engagement is a calculated investment in its clients’ brand equity. The company’s obsessive emphasis on first-contact resolution and 24/7 accessibility tackles two major drivers of patient frustration: abandonment and delay. By slashing call abandonment rates from industry highs of 24% to under 5%, RelateCare captures potential revenue that would otherwise be lost to competitor health systems or patient attrition.

This "empathy dividend" extends beyond immediate satisfaction. Positive navigation experiences increase the likelihood of appointment adherence, completing the revenue cycle. They also foster patient loyalty, encouraging return visits and generating the word-of-mouth referrals that are healthcare’s most powerful marketing. In this context, every interaction managed by RelateCare is not merely a solved problem, but a strategic investment in patient retention and lifetime value for the client institution.

For healthcare leaders grappling with workforce shortages, margin pressure, and rising patient expectations, RelateCare presents a compelling third way. It is neither a piecemeal software fix nor a rigid outsourcer. It is a hybrid partner that embeds itself as a flexible, clinical-grade extension of the client’s own team. By mastering the complex interplay between human empathy, clinical protocol, and operational efficiency, RelateCare does more than manage calls it orchestrates the initial and ongoing chapters of the patient journey, ensuring that the business of healthcare access never compromises the humanity of care itself. In doing so, it redefines what it means to be a vital partner in building a more resilient, patient-centric, and financially sustainable health system.

Conor O'Byrne , Group Chief Executive Officer

“To connect patients, providers and caregivers to the right care, at the right time, in the right place resulting in exceptional experiences and outcomes.”