Kirby Medical Center Partners with Switchboard, MD to Automate Patient Communication Workflows
Switchboard, MD is proud to announce a new enterprise partnership with Kirby Medical Center, a nationally-recognized critical access hospital based in Piatt County, Illinois. The organization selected Switchboard, MD to preserve and strengthen its service standards for care delivery and help advance the vision for greater access to care, operational excellence, and care coordination.
“In the critical access hospital world, teams are accustomed to wearing many hats. Switchboard, MD will enable us to reduce unnecessary administrative burden while preserving the level of care our patients deserve. This partnership will help ensure that our patient communications and EHR work as hard as our talented people do”
Mark Fred, RN, BSN, MCP
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Information Officer
Kirby Medical Center
Earlier this year, Kirby engaged with Switchboard, MD’s Contact Center solution in a focused assessment centered on the intake of prescription refill requests. By routing recorded calls to an AI voice agent, the team evaluated how transcription, summarization, call classification, and sentiment analysis could expedite and centralize communications. After capturing each call, agentic AI was deployed to process and present the results in a unified view for staff validation. This assessment gave early insight into how automated triage and structured summaries could expedite response times, reduce repeat calls, detect clinical urgency, and reveal how call-type patterns inform future automation opportunities.
Under this partnership, Kirby Medical Center will deploy Switchboard, MD’s platform to streamline patient communication and bolster timely access to care. The solution scope includes conversational AI that guides callers and multi-agent orchestration to route requests and close the loop on routine tasks, such as scheduling requests. Leveraging voice AI technology, Kirby Medical Center aims to enable patients to self-serve without waiting in a queue to speak to a live agent. Core platform capabilities introduce physician-trained models to triage across all communication channels, summarize, classify, prioritize, flag clinical urgency, and evaluate caller sentiment, then route tasks to the right care team member in real time.
Additional functionality, including autonomous scheduling for high-volume visit types, appointment reminders and confirmations, and wayfinding assistance, will extend automation across workflows, reducing friction while preserving Kirby’s exceptional standard of care.
“Finding a path to cut through the noise and make that widely known makes Switchboard a disruptor in the market,” said Fred, reflecting on his experience thus far. “From what I've seen, Switchboard has the best product in this business space, hands down.”
Kirby’s selection of Switchboard, MD reflects its longstanding commitment to protecting the extraordinary patient experience that has earned the organization repeated national recognition, including multiple Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Awards, a Top 20 Critical Access Hospital-Patient Satisfaction distinction from the National Rural Health Association, and a recognition by Modern Healthcare as one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare.
“The past several months collaborating with Kirby have shown us how extraordinary their team truly is. They approach their work with a deep sense of mission and an unwavering commitment to their patients and staff, and we’re honored to be part of their continued journey.”
Ankit Tiwari
Chief Commercial Officer
Switchboard, MD
As the program expands, the partnership will focus on improving throughput, unlocking staff capacity, and building sustainable automation that supports Kirby’s mission while keeping patient experience front and center.
Deployment across additional OrthoWest divisions is already underway, supported by a shared infrastructure that allows for rapid onboarding and minimal disruption to daily operations. The expansion supports OrthoWest’s ongoing investment in intelligent infrastructure, which enables better patient access, streamlined staff workflows, and more resilient scheduling operations.
About Kirby Medical Center
Kirby Medical Center is an independent, not-for-profit hospital located in Monticello, Illinois, that has been serving the healthcare needs of Piatt County and surrounding areas since 1941. They are committed and proud to provide high-quality, compassionate healthcare services to all people in need, regardless of their ability to pay. As a vital resource for rural healthcare, they encourage patients to explore the wide range of wellness services available right in their community.
About Switchboard, MD
Switchboard, MD is a physician-led artificial intelligence and data science company with a mission to prioritize the human connection in medicine. Its HIPAA-compliant, SOC 2 Type 2-certified platform improves patient engagement and outcomes, while reducing inefficiency and burnout. By designing and deploying clinically relevant products, Switchboard, MD helps providers and operators collaborate more effectively to deliver high-quality experiences for both patients and staff.
