As Elite DNA grew across more than 40 locations, patient demand grew with it. The practice added an AI coordinator built for behavioral health intake, so the admissions team did not have to absorb the pressure.
The Results at a Glance
Here is what Sarah, mdhub's AI Admissions Coordinator, brought to Elite DNA's front door.
Growing Faster Than the Phones
Elite DNA is one of the fastest-growing mental health providers in the Southeast, delivering psychiatry, therapy and integrated care across more than 40 locations in Florida, Virginia and Alabama. Its mission is to make quality mental healthcare accessible in the communities it serves. The better that worked, the more people reached out for the first time.
The admissions team was working hard. Demand was growing faster than any phone line could keep up with, and at peak hours more patients were calling than even a great team could answer at once. When someone calls for mental health support, Elite DNA wanted them answered right away, however many called at once.
Each call was also its own puzzle. A coordinator had to understand a patient's clinical needs, verify insurance, match the patient to a provider by credentialing and availability, and handle referrals arriving by phone, email and fax, often all at once.
A Generic Fix for a Specialized Problem
Elite DNA had already tried the conventional fix, a traditional call center. Despite real investment in training and process, generalist agents were not equipped for the clinical and insurance complexity each call carried. The capacity gap stayed open.
The other option was to keep hiring in step with demand. For work this specialized that is slow and expensive, and it leaves capacity fragile when people move on. Elite DNA wanted capacity that could handle the complexity, feel human to every patient, and protect the experience the team had spent years building.
Meet Sarah, the AI Admissions Coordinator
mdhub deployed Sarah directly into Elite DNA's intake workflow, trained on Elite DNA's own SOPs, credentialing rules, provider preferences and payer nuances, so she could run an intake call the way an experienced coordinator would. mdhub built and managed the rollout, so the practice gained capacity without adding work for its own team.
Sarah — AI Admissions Coordinator
The front door that never closesSarah works 24/7, handles unlimited simultaneous calls, and escalates to a person the moment a patient asks for one or a case falls outside her defined parameters. She takes the high-volume first contact so the patient-experience team can take everything else. With Sarah on the front door, Elite DNA now:
- Meets patients on first contact, by phone or web, day or night
- Turns more web inquiries into booked appointments, because nobody waits for a callback
- Carries routine intake from first hello to booked appointment, so the team's time goes to the conversations that need a human
- Adds intake capacity that grows with demand rather than with hiring
That reception was not a given. Bree Rondina came to the project from a marketing and customer-experience background, and she was candid about her initial skepticism. She worried an AI solution would feel robotic and chip away at the patient-first brand the team had built.
"I didn't want it to be robotic in nature. But I've been pleasantly surprised at all of the changes in growth from the AI tool that we've been able to put in place, and the success we've seen."
Bree Rondina, Chief Performance Officer, Elite DNA Behavioral Health
Beyond Intake: Lighter Documentation with Emma
Emma — AI Clinical Assistant
A head start on every noteWith the front door working, Elite DNA began extending mdhub further into the clinic. Emma drafts clinical notes so providers finish their documentation faster. Adoption is still growing. Clinicians are trained and given the tool, and they choose when to use it.
This is a rollout still in motion. Where it points is a clinic where what Sarah captures at intake flows into the record, so a note opens with the patient's history already in it instead of a blank page.
What Changed for the Coordinators
Elite DNA handled the change management before the technology. Coordinators were told plainly that AI was being brought in to expand their capacity, not to replace them, and that promise was kept. They no longer field routine calls under time pressure; they take the complex escalations and have longer conversations.
Patients feel it first. Someone who works up the courage to reach out is met by a coordinator who can listen, check their cover and point them to the right provider in one conversation. A calmer first contact means more people begin the care they called about.
"AI for us has been an additive to the organization. It didn't change who we are as an entity or our mission. It just enabled us to serve the community more largely, and at the growth rate that we continue to press on ourselves, without breaking teams, structures, or our patient experience."
Bree Rondina, Chief Performance Officer, Elite DNA Behavioral HealthWhy It Worked
Built for behavioral health complexity. Sarah was trained on Elite DNA's own SOPs, credentialing logic, payer mix and triage pathways, not a generic call script.
Process first, then AI. Elite DNA redesigned its intake workflows before deploying Sarah, so she was automating a process that already worked.
Transparent change management. The team was told exactly what Sarah would and would not handle, and that she was there to add capacity rather than to replace anyone. That is why adoption went smoothly.
Humans always in reach. Sarah escalates to live staff on request or for any edge case, so the patient-first experience stays intact.
Safe and compliant by design. The deployment is HIPAA-compliant with a BAA in place, conversations are monitored for quality, and a person is always a step away as volume grows.
What's Next
With intake handled, Elite DNA is extending Sarah into outbound and concierge workflows, and using what she records at intake to plan where to add providers next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Solo practitioners can be running within days. For a multi-site group like Elite DNA, the mdhub team configures Sarah around your existing intake workflows, credentialing rules and payer mix, typically in weeks rather than months.
Yes. mdhub operates as a Business Associate under HIPAA and is built for the compliance requirements of behavioral health, including audit readiness. A BAA is in place and conversations are monitored for quality. Compliance is structural, not an add-on.
Yes, because she is not running a generic call script. Sarah is trained on each practice's own SOPs, credentialing logic, provider preferences and payer nuances, so she can understand a clinical need, verify insurance and match a patient to the right provider in one conversation. That specificity is what a traditional call center could not deliver.
Sarah escalates to live staff the moment a patient asks for a human, or whenever a case falls outside her defined parameters. A person is always a step away.
Yes. Sarah handles unlimited simultaneous conversations, so a network of sites gets the same instant, consistent first contact as a single clinic. Every location works from the same intake standard.
No. Sarah was brought in to expand the team's capacity, not replace it, and the coordinators were told that before the rollout started. They no longer field routine calls under time pressure; they take the complex escalations.
