William is an executive at an engineering firm. His workdays are packed with meetings and deadlines, but his hardest job begins when he leaves the office. At home, he is the primary caregiver for his 82-year-old mother. Each week he juggles appointments, unanswered calls, and paperwork that seems endless.
William’s story reflects a larger reality. Millions of adults shoulder both the demands of their own careers and the complexities of navigating healthcare for a loved one. Their daily struggle echoes what nurses, care coordinators, and advanced practice providers face too: endless logistics, documentation, and coordination that pull them away from the very human connections patients need most.
The Human Cost of Administrative Burden
Healthcare was never meant to feel like paperwork. Yet today, clinicians spend 50% of their time on data entry and logistics instead of visiting with patients. 60% of physicians now report at least one symptom of burnout, often citing clerical work as a leading driver. Nurses and coordinators face similar strains, and turnover is climbing as the administrative load grows heavier.
Family members like William feel it too. Millions of adults balancing careers with caring for a loved one report high rates of stress, depression, and financial strain. Each phone call, each form, each disconnected portal chips away at the energy they want to spend on actual care.
The human cost of this cycle is clear. A rushed 10-minute visit or a perfunctory reminder call cannot replace the value of listening to someone’s story. Patients who feel unheard disengage. Caregivers who feel unsupported burn out. Providers drowning in tasks lose the connection that makes their work meaningful.
How Human-in-the-Loop AI Changes the Equation
At Lena Health, we believe technology should give time back to humans, not take it away. That’s why we’ve built our AI with a human-in-the-loop model at its core. Scaling outreach alone isn’t enough. Patients already get plenty of reminders. What they deserve is outreach that combines consistency with compassion.
Lena AI takes on the repetitive, time-consuming work (dialing calls, waiting on hold, verifying details) so coordinators, nurses, and care teams can focus on what humans do best: listening, guiding, and building trust.
Working with countless patients across health systems, we’ve uncovered hidden barriers such as food insecurity or lack of transportation that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. And when those barriers are addressed, outcomes change. Patients re-engage in care, missed appointments decline, and readmissions fall.
For health systems, this means reduced costs, improved capacity, and teams with the bandwidth to focus on higher-value care. In fact, in a study currently being published by a prominent ACO, patients navigated by Lena (Humans + AI) had an average reduction of $2,656 per patient in total Medicare spend within 6 months, a 13% increase in physician visits and a rise in planned elective care - delivering more than a 20x return on investment for a value-based care organization taking full risk on its Medicare population.
A Scalable Model That Keeps Care Human
The future of healthcare outreach is not about choosing between technology and people. It is about designing systems where each plays to its strength. AI brings scale, consistency, and speed. Humans bring trust, compassion, and adaptability. Together, they close care gaps faster, strengthen relationships, and reduce burnout on both sides of the call.
At Lena Health, we believe in keeping humans at the center, supported by AI that lightens their load. Patients get the care they deserve and caregivers get the focus they need. Healthcare has always been a human service. With AI and people working hand in hand, healthcare can scale without losing what matters most: trust, connection, and compassion.