- Company
- HomeWell Care Services
- Website
- homewellcares.com
- Scheduling system
- WellSky
Debbie Lee is a 15-year home care veteran and Colorado native who serves as Operations Director for HomeWell's Boulder/Westminster and Denver offices, and as Business Manager across the broader HomeWell Colorado operation, five offices, 150+ clients, and 120+ caregivers, and growing every day. When Phoebe first landed on her desk, she was the last person anyone would have pegged as an AI advocate. Today, she's a vocal champion.
"I was that person on the fence about AI. I jumped the fence and said, 'Let's try this.' It was amazing. 100% I would recommend it to everybody."
— Debbie Lee, Operations Director & Business Manager, HomeWell Care Services of Colorado
The Results at a Glance
| Before Phoebe | With Phoebe | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to fill an open shift | Hours of sequential calls and texts | 15–30 minutes (usually 15) |
| Caregivers reached per shift | 1 at a time by a scheduler | 15+ simultaneously by Phoebe |
| Callout scramble | All-hands-on-deck | Rare, shifts fill quickly |
| No-call, no-shows | A recurring pain point | "Way down" |
| Back-office capacity | Schedulers buried in phone tag | Schedulers freed up to support growth and admin (billing, onboarding, newsletters) |
The Challenge: One Scheduler, One Call, One Shift at a Time
Before Phoebe, filling an urgent shift at HomeWell looked the same as it does at most agencies: one scheduler, one phone, one call and one text at a time.
When a caregiver called out, or a new client needed to start services immediately, coordinators at HomeWell of Colorado would start manually working down the list.
- Check qualifications.
- Send text and wait.
- Start dialing.
- Leave a voicemail.
- Move to the next name.
- Get told no.
- Repeat.
By the time the shift was 30 minutes away, it was a full-team fire drill.
"It was very time consuming. Unless we knew somebody off the top of our head, it wasn't something that could be staffed quickly. Then the shift is going to start in 30 minutes, now it's all hands on deck - who have you called, who have you not called, who can we call?"
The cost wasn't just hours on the phone. It was stress, missed coverage windows, and schedulers who couldn't touch anything else on their plate until the shift was filled.
The Concern: Would AI Make Home Care Feel Less Human?
Debbie didn't say “yes” to Phoebe right away. Like a lot of home care leaders, she worried that layering AI on top of caregiver communication would erode the personal relationships that make HomeWell, HomeWell.
"I was a little hesitant. I didn't know how it was going to work. Is this going to be a robotic voice that calls somebody, and these people think it's just like when you call to pay your bill? I felt like we were going to lose the personal aspect of home care."
So she did what most thoughtful operators do: she tested it. Debbie and her team put themselves on the other end of a Phoebe call, stepping into the caregiver's shoes to hear exactly what the experience sounded like.
"The voice doesn't sound like a robot. It sounds like a human person. We literally tested it. We put ourselves in a shift and had Phoebe call us. It was great. I was sold after that."
The Solution: AI-Powered Shift Filling That Works Both Ways
Phoebe isn't a broadcast tool. It's a teammate. When a shift opens up, Phoebe reaches out to qualified caregivers across voice and SMS simultaneously, holds real conversations, and answers questions in real time using the client and care plan data already in WellSky.
For HomeWell's schedulers, one launch replaces dozens of outbound calls. For caregivers, the dynamic flips: instead of being chased, they're being asked and they can respond on their own terms with a thumbs-up, a "yes," or even a simple "N" if they're not available.
"They have to be interactive with Phoebe. We tell them: communicate with Phoebe, say yes or give a thumbs up. At least then we know you're not ignoring us. Before, we could call 15 times and people weren't going to answer."
That small shift, from one-way chasing to two-way conversation, is what changes caregiver behavior.
The Results
Shifts Fill in 15 Minutes Instead of Hours
The single biggest change for HomeWell Care Services of Colorado is speed. What used to take hours of manual outreach now resolves in the time it takes to grab a coffee.
"Our typical time to get a shift staffed is between 15 and 30 minutes, usually closer to 15. Phoebe's able to reach out to 15 caregivers in that time. A scheduler is only able to reach out to one."
That's not just faster scheduling, it's a structurally different operation. Fire drills get rarer. The 30-minute panic window disappears.
No-Call, No-Shows Drop Because Confirmations Actually Happen
Generic shift reminders are easy to ignore. Emails get buried, unknown numbers get silenced, and caregivers can always claim they didn't see it, but Phoebe's shift confirmations are different. They come from a consistent number caregivers recognize, they require an actual response, and they create a digital paper trail with a dashboard of results.
"Phoebe sends the confirmations and they have to confirm the shift which has cut our no-call, no-shows down. They can't say, 'I didn't know I was supposed to go see that client.' You got a confirmation. You confirmed it."
- Accountability goes up.
- Coverage gets more reliable.
- Clients notice.
Caregivers Feel Respected, Not Hounded
Counterintuitively, automating outreach has made HomeWell's communication feel more personal, not less. Caregivers aren't getting called 15 times in a row. They're getting one clear ask, with an easy way to say yes or no.
"They feel more appreciative. They feel like we're not bothering them over and over. As our communication gets better, it keeps our retention up."
The Back Office Scales Without New Hires
This is where the operational leverage shows up. With Phoebe absorbing the repetitive outreach, HomeWell's schedulers have time to take on work the agency used to hire for.
"It's freed up time for our schedulers to do other things. We have an admin helping with billing now, so we don't have to hire a billing assistant. Another admin does our welcome packets, our cards, our newsletters. All the things clients and caregivers appreciate. We don't have to hire another admin and take on more payroll."
The math is straightforward: the hours Phoebe reclaims don't disappear, they get redeployed into billing, onboarding, and client experience - the work that actually grows an agency.
Growth Is Following, Driven by Word of Mouth
Faster fills mean fewer gaps in care. Fewer gaps in care mean happier clients. And in home care, happy clients talk.
"We've had growth because of Phoebe. We can get people staffed quickly, so our clients aren't getting upset. They're telling their friends, 'I use this home care agency and I always have somebody here.' Word of mouth because of Phoebe has increased our growth over the past six months."
Working with the Phoebe Team
Phoebe is a product, but there is also a real team behind the product. For Debbie, this is part of the value.
"The staff at Phoebe has been amazing. Whenever we have a question, they're there. If we need more training, they say, 'Let's get you on the books.' If we ask, 'Can we customize something?' they're like, 'Yes, let's do that for you now.'”
Advice to Other Home Care Operators on the Fence
Debbie's closing pitch to skeptical operators is the same pitch she made to herself six months ago:
"I was that person on the fence. I jumped the fence and said, 'Let's try this.' It was amazing. It takes a lot of stress off the staff, and happy staff is a happy life."
The Bottom Line
HomeWell Colorado's six months with Phoebe show what an AI teammate is actually good for in home care.
- Shifts that took hours now fill in minutes.
- No-call, no-shows drop because accountability is built into the workflow.
- Caregivers feel communicated with rather than chased.
- The agency scales, adding clients and revenue, without having to scale the back office at the same rate.