Mayank Pant, SVP- Product and Innovation at IKS health. Focussed on disrupting administrative side of healthcare.gettyPatient access is under pressure from many fronts, from staffing overload to affordability. In response, many organizations have relied heavily on automated, one-size-fits-all mass outreach tools like text reminders and portal updates. But despite this explosion of communication, patients still miss appointments, show up without having completed their intake, delay payments and disengage from their care plans.Every time a patient shows up late or cancels a visit at the last minute, it’s a symptom of bad engagement and therefore a system design failure. As I often tell healthcare leaders, we need to stop calling every patient notification “engagement.” Generic messages are outreach. Engagement only happens when those interactions drive patient action. Better follow-through and outcomes come from understanding why patients don’t act and designing systems that remove those barriers in real time. Why Generic Outreach Fails And How Agentic AI HelpsUsing a tailored, agentic AI approach designed to put patients first creates a personalized interaction path meant to drive adherence. A key element needed to deeply understand patient behavior includes an algorithm that learns how best to support patients. The problem is that most healthcare organizations treat all patients the same, ignoring which barrier is actually in the way. They reach out to every patient with the same message, with the same timing, on the same channel. Patients don’t want repetitive, generic messages. They want clearer expectations and convenience. An email reminder might help a patient who forgot they had an appointment scheduled, but it’s not going to help a patient who doesn’t understand how to fill out their paperwork or who only responds to texts over email.When patients disengage, it’s typically for one of three reasons:1. Awareness: Patients may lack clarity on next steps, logistics or financial responsibility. For example, a patient may be unaware that they have an outstanding balance or that they need to complete their preregistration paperwork.2. Ability: Patients are aware of what they need to do, but challenges such as financial barriers, transportation and time constraints—and confusing administrative processes—prevent them from following through.3. Willingness: Some patients lack the willingness to follow through due to mistrust or lack of motivation.A Case Study In Behavioral IntelligenceTo address this issue, healthcare organizations need to deliver targeted and personalized engagement to patients. This is the patient-first principle: leading with outreach that reduces friction for patients and addresses their barriers to following through. Engagement should span the entire patient journey from intake to payment, reducing efforts for patients and staff, learning from behaviors and adapting in real time.Let’s use a hypothetical patient, “Sarah,” as an example. Sarah was prescribed 12 visits of physical therapy for her back pain, but after eight visits she stopped booking. There must be some barrier. By applying behavioral intelligence to Sarah’s patient profile and previous behavior, we can predict why she stopped following through. We can see that her awareness of her obligation and ability to book and attend the rest of her appointments are high, but her willingness is medium. Perhaps she is discouraged that the physical therapy might not be working or she became busy with other priorities. Based on this information, we can send timely nudges on her preferred channel to book her next appointment, emphasizing the importance of completing the full 12 visits. By automating scheduling and streamlining check-in, we can also adapt to Sarah’s busy schedule and reduce the friction on her end. As a result, she is more likely to book her next appointment and show up prepared.This is an accountable patient-first engagement workflow in action. Instead of waiting for the patient to fall through the cracks, barriers are proactively removed so the patient can get the care they need.The Compounding Impacts Of Patient-First EngagementMost healthcare outreach doesn’t do a good job of changing patient behavior and instead just creates noise. That’s because outreach does not equal engagement. Engagement should be intelligent and personalized, and it should reduce effort for patients and staff rather than creating administrative burden or fatigue from repeated generic reminders.When you reduce patient burden and meet patients where they are with your engagement, everything else improves. On the clinical side, you can see better adherence, improved preparedness and fewer care gaps. On the operational side, fewer no-shows and cancellations and reduced staff burden make things easier for both clinical and non-clinical staff. These improvements, in addition to fewer unexpected insurance denials and patient bills left unpaid, lead to more predictable revenue and better financial outcomes. The future of patient engagement won’t be defined by how often we reach out to patients but by how effectively we use technology to help them act.Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?