Health systems in the US see thousands of patients checked in monthly, while Canadian ED reports ED waits slashed by half

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Luma Health, the Operational AI platform for healthcare, today announced new ways to prepare patients for care and support them once they arrive, part of Luma’s summer 2026 release. When staff can see who has arrived, who is ready, and what each patient still needs, the day runs better and patients wait less. These features tie pre-visit prep to what happens inside the clinic, so the front desk stays clear and staff can focus on the patient in front of them.

“Clinics have enough to manage on a busy day. We built these features to guide patients from home all the way to the clinic floor, so staff aren’t managing multiple software tools or a whiteboard of who’s waiting,” said Marcelo Oliveira, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Luma.

Luma has prepared patients and managed in-clinic flow for years, and this release brings new AI capabilities to both. Before a patient arrives, Navigator (conversational AI agent) can remind them about an outstanding balance. When they walk in, they check in and finish prep on their own, and walk-ins flow into a managed queue for staff.

Highlights include:

• AI for payments. Navigator reminds patients to clear a past balance before the visit and lets them pay through LumaPay from their phone. AI-powered copay determination automatically suggests the right copay for staff.
• Check-In Builder. Admins design their own in-clinic experience. For example, they can customize patient flow for walk-ins, lab appointments, non-clinical lines, and patients who need staff help to check in.
• More ways for patients to self-serve in the clinic. Patients can check in, finish forms, update insurance, and pay on their own, at a kiosk or by scanning a QR code.
• Enhanced staff workflows. Queue Manager gives staff a live view of who’s waiting, while Luma’s schedule view shows scheduled patients who still need forms or payment. Queue Manager now automatically adds patients to the right queue after they check in at a kiosk, with drag-and-drop between queues.
• Financial admin support. Facility-managed card readers, including PIN configuration, and a detailed report of every payment transaction help administrators manage financials.

Coming soon, Luma will extend this support to urgent care and emergency department prep and intake.

To date, customers have seen outcomes including:

• 28,000 patients checked in at Wooster Community Hospital for walk-ins and outpatient infusions, procedures, and testing since February 2026.
• 57% fewer patients leaving the emergency department before being seen at Sault Area Hospital, where patients are seen nearly 3.5 hours sooner on average (a 53% drop in 90th percentile time to first assessment).

“With a high volume of patients coming through our hospital doors, we needed check-in for a variety of walk-in and scheduled care without adding steps for staff,” said Teresa Strauss, Director of Patient Access at Wooster Community Hospital in Wooster, Ohio. “Luma gives my team one clear view of who’s in the clinic and what they need before care.”

“Luma understood the unique demands of our emergency department, which serves a high number of non-acute, walk-in patients,” said Dr. Stephen Smith, VP Medical Affairs at Sault Area Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. “With our Virtual Home Waiting Room, eligible patients can wait at home instead of a crowded waiting room, and Queue Manager helps our busy staff manage ED flow.”

These features run inside Luma’s Operational AI platform, which carries a patient from access and engagement through intake and payment, all in one place and tied to the EHR. The new AI features, like Luma’s entire platform, are secured under Luma’s ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, SOC 2 Type II attestation, and the HITRUST AI Security Certification (ai2).

Read more on the blog. Luma customers can see the full set of Luma’s Summer 2026 features in the webinar. To learn more or get a demo, contact info@lumahealth.io.

About Luma Health

Luma Health’s Operational AI platform eliminates bottlenecks to make health systems more efficient, from the patient journey to the back office. Headquartered in San Francisco, Luma has research and development centers in the United States, Brazil, and Europe. Luma serves more than 1,000 healthcare organizations across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean, and supports the care journeys of more than 100 million patients.

Media Contact: lumahealth@nextpr.com

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SOURCE Luma Health