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CLIENT
INDUSTRY
Healthcare
FEATURING
AI
Salesforce
15%
drop in patient calls for routine requests
5-15%
faster responses to common patient questions with agentic AI
25%
more patients used digital tools to get care info—avoiding call center wait times
PwC brought structure and strategy to patient engagement—so Rush could focus on delivering care that feels more connected, personal, and proactive
Interview with:
Jeff Gautney
SVP and CIO
Rush University System for Health
What sparked the need for change?
"Our leadership team at Rush University System for Health saw a chance to rethink how people access care and engage with our teams—making it easier, more responsive, more personal, and also more efficient. Delays and inequities in access to care were growing concerns—Rush’s oncology and academic teams saw that clinicians spent up to 40% of their time on administrative tasks. The leadership team wanted to remove that burden so that time could be reinvested in patient care and training future clinicians.
Patients were reaching out through calls, messages, and websites, but the experience felt disconnected and staff were stretched thin managing it all. Our team wanted to bring those touchpoints together, make answers easier to find, and free up staff to focus on integral care moments. Our patients are often students, employees, and providers as well, so their expectations are constantly evolving. The goal: build a better way to help patients. And the vision extended beyond technology—it was about reimagining the patient journey to feel more compassionate, connected, and responsive at every step.”
What solution did the teams unlock by working together?
“Working with PwC, we wanted to build a connected experience enabled by Salesforce Health Cloud, Data 360 (Data Cloud), Marketing. Routine questions—like “How do I refill my prescription?” or “Where is the closest clinic?”—could be handled by AI agents, available anytime. PwC helped design the blueprint, align patient data across clinical and non-clinical systems and build workflows that connect everything—from the contact center to the electronic health record (EHR) systems.
Alongside implementing Salesforce solutions, PwC also helped Rush establish an AI governance framework that confirmed responsible innovation and scalable impact. Together, this framework allows Rush to intake, monitor, evaluate, and continuously improve every potential AI use case across the organization—confirming that each innovation remained ethical and explainable, delivers value, and is aligned with Rush’s mission.”
Where did tech innovation meet human ingenuity?
“With PwC, our focus wasn’t just on getting parity with other health systems; we wanted to be leaders. For example, we moved from Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to full intent-based telephony experiences, including self-service across channels. Now, AI agents handle high-volume requests—like prescription refills, clinic hours and provider lookups—giving patients quick answers without tying up staff. This frees care teams to focus on more complex needs, like helping patients with multiple conditions or navigating post-visit follow-ups. The solution gave staff better visibility into patient history, preferences and next steps—all in one place. With the appropriate tools in place, our teams could respond with more confidence, more consistency, and less manual work.”
What was the real-world impact of approaching things differently?
“The shift wasn’t just about efficiency—due to changing regulations, competition, and the reality of Healthcare financial strain, Rush had to find ways to do more with less while improving quality of care. Rush and PwC developed new ways to measure impact. Recognizing that value in AI comes from small, cumulative productivity gains that collectively transform care delivery. The first step was to unlock the data that Rush has to better service all our stakeholders.
Outside of implementing technology, we also worked with PwC to refine our AI strategy and overall governance, to focus on what drives more value—we didn’t want to implement AI just for the sake of AI. By combining technology and empathy, we’ve helped build trust with patients while empowering clinicians with insights that personalize each care interaction. Rush is making it easier for people to stay on top of their health without delays or confusion. Staff no longer need to jump between systems or patch together workarounds, which means more time with patients and less time chasing data. With a strong digital foundation in place, our team is already looking ahead to scale automation, deepen personalization, and continue raising the bar on care delivery.”
With PwC’s support, we built a strategy that put AI to work responsibly—simplifying access for patients, reducing administrative burden for clinicians, and creating more time for meaningful, human care.
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