Discover how Golden Gate Hand Therapy eliminated phone tag and transformed patient scheduling with AI
Doubled in 12 months
Doubled monthly
From 27% to 39%
February 20, 2026
5 minutes
When Melanie Jonkey's front office manager announced she was moving away, it triggered the kind of operational crisis that keeps small practice owners up at night. Golden Gate Hand Therapy had thrived for 15 years across San Francisco, but the math on replacing a skilled admin simply wasn't working anymore.
Candidates ghosted interviews. The ones who showed up came with salary expectations that would crush already thin margins. And the complexity of Melanie's operation made training someone new a months long undertaking. Three locations. Different insurance panels at each. A scheduling puzzle that required real expertise to solve.
Meanwhile, every unanswered call meant a patient booking somewhere else.
The front office challenges weren't just about finding warm bodies to answer phones. Melanie noticed a pattern in her missed calls: patients were reaching out after hours, during lunch breaks, after putting kids to bed. The exact moments when they finally had time to schedule an appointment, nobody was there to help them.
Voicemails piled up. Phone tag stretched across days. New patient inquiries slipped through the cracks.
For a private practitioner watching reimbursements shrink and overhead climb, the traditional solution of hiring full time admin support was becoming, in Melanie's words, "more and more unattainable."
Melanie admits she approached AI with skepticism. How could software actually replace the nuance of a real person handling complex scheduling across multiple locations with varying insurance requirements?
She decided to find out.
Working with Solum Health, the team built a custom AI scheduling assistant (affectionately named Annie) trained specifically on Golden Gate's operations. Every insurance panel, every location quirk, every scheduling rule got mapped into the system. Scripts were developed, tested with real patients, and refined based on feedback.
The timing couldn't have been more chaotic. Melanie was simultaneously relocating her practice after 15 years and switching electronic medical records from WebPT to Strata PT. Anyone who has changed EMRs knows this process alone can derail a practice for months.
The Solum team rebuilt scheduling templates for the new system and adapted to Strata's different workflows without missing appointments during the transition.
Twelve months later, the results speak for themselves.
Golden Gate Hand Therapy doubled its bookings, a 100% increase, without hiring additional office staff.
The call conversion rate jumped from 27% to 39%, ensuring after-hours callers ended up on the schedule rather than lost in voicemail limbo.
Today, 100% of voicemails are captured, directly driving a significant increase in monthly revenue with zero added headcount.
Numbers matter, but sometimes the human moments reveal more about whether technology actually works.
A few months into the transition, one of Melanie's patients showed up with cupcakes. She wanted to thank Annie personally for being so pleasant and helpful on the phone.
She had no idea Annie was AI.
Patient feedback consistently ranks the scheduling experience among the best AI interactions they've encountered. For a practice owner who worried that automation would feel cold or frustrating to her patients, this validation meant everything.
Melanie's story isn't unique in its challenges. Every independent clinic faces the same squeeze: rising labor costs, tighter reimbursements, and patients who expect 24/7 accessibility. The difference is how practices respond.
The old playbook said you needed full time staff to deliver quality patient experiences. Golden Gate Hand Therapy proved that thoughtful automation can actually improve the experience while cutting costs and capturing revenue that previously slipped away during nights and weekends.
For Melanie, the skeptic who took a chance on AI scheduling, the verdict is clear.
"It's really changed my practice"
Watch Melanie Johnke's full interview on replacing front desk staff with AI scheduling at Golden Gate Hand Therapy
