How Coastline Ortho Cut No-Shows by 76% with Steer

Challenge

In one of Southern California's most competitive healthcare markets, Coastline Orthopedic Associates was running a 22% no-show rate that destroyed daily production, created idle provider time, and generated the administrative burden of manual outreach to patients who had already drifted. At orthopedic revenue levels, a no-show rate that high is not an inconvenience, it is a structural threat to profitability.

Patients expected seamless digital access, but analog scheduling, fragmented tools, and complex OR workflows meant missed opportunities, underutilized surgeons, and declining patient satisfaction at every step, from booking to pre-surgical prep to post-op follow-up.

Implementation: Engineered for the OR, Not Just the Front Desk

Steer did not treat Coastline like a generic clinic. The onboarding team began by studying how the practice's 13 providers move patients through booking, pre-surgical prep, the operating room, and post-op follow-up, then configured FastTrackCare around the parts that hurt most: the no-show problem and the surgical scheduling variability. Luna's reminder and confirmation sequences were tuned to each patient's preferred channel and timing, the live waitlist backfill was wired to the practice's real cancellation patterns, and the predictive analytics layer was calibrated against Coastline's own OR data before go-live. The team stayed hands-on through launch, watching early results and fine-tuning messaging as live patient behavior came in.

“With Steer, we could finally focus on what matters: patient care. Everything else just worked smarter," said Dr. Payam Farjoodi.”

Solution

Coastline deployed FastTrackCare, Steer Health's omnichannel AI front door, to modernize the entire patient journey.

Luna, the AI voice agent embedded in FastTrackCare, handles appointment reminders, confirmation management, and live waitlist backfill: when a patient cancels, the next appropriate patient is contacted within seconds. AI-driven online booking matches patients with the right provider and optimizes pre- and post-surgical touchpoints. Automated engagement runs across voice, SMS, chat, and email, tailored to each patient's journey, and real-time analytics fine-tune surgical scheduling to reduce last-minute cancellations. Everything reconciles back to the EHR and practice management systems for one unified operational flow.

Why It Matters

In Orange County's competitive orthopedic market, the practices that win are the ones patients can reach instantly, online, by text, or by voice, without waiting on hold. With FastTrackCare, Coastline can:

• Cut no-shows with automated, channel-matched reminders
• Backfill cancelled slots in seconds through live waitlist outreach
• Match patients to the right provider at the point of booking
• Reduce inbound call volume and administrative firefighting
• Improve OR utilization and surgical scheduling consistency

The impact reached every part of the operation. The no-show rate fell from 22% to 5.2%, a 76% improvement, while online bookings rose 30% and patient satisfaction climbed to 97% (4.7 out of 5). Inbound calls dropped 72% as Luna absorbed routine volume, 83% of patients shifted to digital-first interactions, and surgical scheduling variability tightened from 36% to roughly 9%. By unifying patient access across channels, Coastline cut no-shows dramatically and freed clinicians to focus on care instead of administration, becoming a blueprint for how mid-size orthopedic groups win in saturated markets.