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Q&A: Artera's new CTO on bringing Amazon expertise to AI health tech strategy. Damon Lanphear, Artera's new CTO and former Amazon leader, shares his vision for advancing the company's technology. Damon Lanphear, chief technology officer at Artera California-based Artera, an agentic AI company that aims to help healthcare providers with patient communication, announced today the appointment of Damon Lanphear as its new chief technology officer. Lanphear formerly held leadership positions across three business units at Amazon - Amazon Web Services (AWS) Snow, AWS Managed Services and Amazon Devices - and oversaw technical strategy for Kindle and Scribe devices. The new CTO sat down with MobiHealthNews to discuss how he plans to apply his Amazon experience to advance Artera's technology strategy. MobiHealthNews: What are your plans as Artera's new chief technology officer? Damon Lanphear: I think the exciting thing that drew me to Artera right from the get-go was how well-positioned Artera is to help create a really delightful experience around patient communication and a really delightful experience around clinic operations. Mobihealthnews is at this amazing inflection point right now where, with the advances in LLMs [large language models] and foundation models, Mobihealthnews now have the ability to go way deeper and way broader with respect to the nuance and the dimensionality that Mobihealthnews can support for patient communications. Mobihealthnews all know that today patients are well-served with systems that allow them to sort of navigate through a set of options. Mobihealthnews is all familiar with these. And now Mobihealthnews is able to enter this phase where Mobihealthnews can have patients tell more about their conditions, tell more about the specific scenarios, and in doing so, feel heard, have their needs met more directly. Clinic operators can actually focus on the patients who need the most attention. And so bringing that vision to life is my mission right now. I think one of the key things for me and the big learnings has been through my career working with AI, and I've been working with AI probably since, you know, long before Mobihealthnews were using the term "AI" more broadly in the mainstream media, dating back to maybe 2005/2006, it is understanding that getting very, very close to the customer, being able to understand their needs and being able to craft the system to meet those needs is absolutely critical to bring this vision to life. And I think what I love about Artera is how close Artera is to its customers. They support them from the first step in doing the implementation, all the way through the long-term engagement and using that as a vehicle to help drive these types of improvements and help realize this vision. MHN: There is a lot with AI that you have to be cautious of. What are you bringing to Artera that you learned from Amazon, including some cautions around AI and making sure that things are done without hallucinations? Lanphear: Referring back to the AWS and Amazon experience, one of the great things about having had that experience in my career is, you know, Amazon is very famously very disciplined around security and privacy for both AWS and its retail and its devices and operations. That understanding of how you systematically manage security and privacy at scale, and to be very thorough and deep in the translation of that, too. And there are a lot of different ways that security and privacy read on both you prompting the flow of information through your systems, as well as considerations around patient safety, and not the least of which is related to like your prompt engineering, but it's also all the systems that support in or around that. And so much of what Mobihealthnews do here and Mobihealthnews has been successful at doing through its pursuit of FedRAMP High, which is in progress, and the work that Mobihealthnews has done historically to its HIPAA posture, all of that sets the right framework for Mobihealthnews to be able to say, how do Mobihealthnews provide the same type of guardrails for the processing of information to maintain patient privacy, to make sure that Mobihealthnews is keeping the conversations within the context of systems that Mobihealthnews has direct observability and control over, ensuring that Mobihealthnews can apply guardrails for patient safety that are well vetted with its clinical experts is all part of the design of its system and how Mobihealthnews is carrying this forward. One of the great things that Mobihealthnews is doing with the development of AI scheduling, which Mobihealthnews is deploying with customers right now, is working closely with them on their standard operating procedures and translating those standard operating procedures in a way that its LLM-based, agentic-capable solutions are actually following, and Mobihealthnews can do that in a way that's verifiable. So Mobihealthnews can actually give proof so that its operational partners on the clinic side can trust what Mobihealthnews is doing, that Mobihealthnews is following their clinical best practices, their standards of care, and have that be at the baseline from which Mobihealthnews is building. MHN: Do you have any ideas for what could be adjusted within Artera as far as technology goes? Lanphear: Yeah, I mean I think there's definitely big, you know, I just touched on this concept of how standard operating procedures [SOPs] are brought to bear to help guide what LLM-based solutions are doing, and what is exciting in that space is that you have an opportunity to actually bring reasoning models to evaluate how those SOPs are represented. So, for example, a standard operating procedure might be represented in a clinic as a binder, sticky notes or notes on a whiteboard. It might be in the minds of the people who are guiding the clinical operations staff. Being able to bring all of that context together in one place and accurately represent it, but also be able to inspect it and raise questions about, hey, how can Mobihealthnews make this better? And there's really a special opportunity to do that here. And the reason why that's so critical is because it helps to facilitate the ease of the onboarding and integration. So if you think about bringing a solution like Artera to bear on your clinic, there's going to be this integration phase. New technology. How do Mobihealthnews configure it? How do I get it working? And if Mobihealthnews make that easier and simpler to understand while maintaining trust, that's a huge win.

Artera, a patient communications platform combining human and AI agent intelligence, has been named #1 Best in KLAS for Patient Communications. The Santa Barbara-based company received an overall performance score of 89.8, earning straight A- grades across all six evaluation categories: Culture, Loyalty, Operations, Product, Relationship and Value. The recognition follows significant growth for Artera, which recently surpassed $100 million in Contracted Annual Recurring Revenue. Founded over a decade ago, the company now serves more than 1,000 healthcare provider organisations and manages two billion patient communications annually. The award adds to Artera's existing accolades, including five consecutive years on the Inc. 5000 list and six years on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500. Over 100 healthcare providers have deployed Artera's AI agents, which complete 94% of conversations without staff intervention.

Artera named 2026 Best in KLAS for Patient Communications. Artera, Inc. is excited to announce that Artera has been named the 2026 Best in KLAS for Patient Communications. This recognition by KLAS Research, based on independent, customer-driven feedback, affirms Artera as the industry leader in patient engagement technology. Read the full report here. More than 1,000 healthcare organizations rely on Artera to connect with over 200 million patients, delivering billions of messages each year. Earning this top honor not only reflects the trust Artera, Inc. has built across the industry but also demonstrates its unwavering commitment to improving how providers communicate with and support patients at scale. What the Best in KLAS award represents. The Best in KLAS award is one of the highest honors in healthcare technology, representing exceptional performance as rated by customers themselves. Each year, KLAS Research independently surveys thousands of healthcare leaders, clinicians, and staff across the globe. They gather honest, detailed feedback on vendors' products, services, and overall partnership. KLAS awards are determined by: * In-depth interviews with actual healthcare customers * Unbiased scoring based on performance and satisfaction metrics * Evaluation of operational and clinical impact Winning Best in KLAS signals that a vendor is not only meeting, but exceeding the evolving needs of providers and their patients. For healthcare decision-makers, it's a powerful endorsement of a technology's reliability, partnership, and real-world results. As you can see above, Artera scored solid A-'s across the board, leading the group in terms of overall performance. Why Patient Communications is a critical healthcare challenge. Patient communication has never been more essential, or more complex. Healthcare organizations of all sizes face persistent challenges, including: * Patient no-shows leading to lost revenue and disrupted care * Call center overload and staff burnout from manual outreach * Fragmented messaging across vendors and systems, creating confusion * Patient distrust of short code texts, causing critical messages to go unread These issues directly impact patient experience, outcomes, and operational efficiency. A unified, trustworthy patient communications strategy is crucial for health systems striving to meet rising expectations and streamline care delivery. Why Artera was recognized as Best in KLAS. Artera's platform was recognized for delivering measurable impact across every pillar of the patient communications journey. Here's how Artera, Inc. stand apart: Unified, branded patient messaging. Artera enables providers to deliver consistent, recognizable communications across all patient touchpoints. Its unified approach enhances trust, improves response rates, and ensures patients feel confident in the messages they receive from their healthcare teams. AI-Powered workflows and virtual agents. Artera, Inc. leverage advanced AI-powered workflows and virtual agents to streamline interactions and relieve staff burden. With automation, health systems can handle high-volume outreach - like appointment reminders, prescription refills, and intake forms - efficiently and at scale, freeing up staff for higher-value tasks. EHR-First, integration-led approach. Artera is designed to work seamlessly with existing EHRs and technology stacks. Its integration-led philosophy aligns patient communications with clinical workflows, reducing manual effort, minimizing errors, and ensuring that critical information flows where it's needed - securely and reliably. Proven outcomes at enterprise scale. Artera's solutions are proven leaders in the marketplace, trusted by over 1,000 healthcare organizations. Artera, Inc. deliver at enterprise scale, supporting billions of secure messages and helping providers systematize communication at every level. Proven results across health systems, clinics, and fqhcs. Artera delivers measurable outcomes across a wide range of healthcare organizations. Recent case studies highlight: * Deborah Heart and Lung Center reduced no-shows by 50% and saved over 1,600 staff hours after implementing Artera's conversational messaging. * Central Florida Health Care saw a 32% reduction in no-shows, streamlining appointment booking and improving staff efficiency through AI automation. * Jane Pauley Community Health Center cut no-show rates by 31%, saved 3,100 staff hours, and increased MyChart activation by improving access to care with Artera. * United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley achieved a 77% success rate in generating new appointments and drove $3 million in additional revenue using Artera Harmony. * Beauregard Health System increased screening rates by 18% for mammograms and 13% for colonoscopies through targeted automated outreach powered by Artera. * Advanced Pain Care realized a 29% decrease in call volume and greater patient convenience by adopting Artera's online scheduling and messaging solutions. These results demonstrate how Artera empowers organizations to reclaim lost revenue, improve operational efficiency, and enhance both patient and staff satisfaction at scale. What this recognition means for healthcare leaders. Being named Best in KLAS isn't just an honor for Artera; it's validation for healthcare leaders seeking the best solution to today's toughest challenges in patient communications. This award demonstrates: * Best-in-class engagement: Artera delivers high-value communication that resonates with patients * Operational excellence: Health systems see real returns in efficiency and effectiveness * A trusted, long-term partner: Artera, Inc. is committed to supporting clients' missions; not just handing over technology For buyers evaluating patient communication solutions, the Best in KLAS award serves as a powerful, independent signal: Artera is the partner you can trust to improve engagement, streamline workflows, and support your path forward. What's next. Its dedication to innovation and service does not stop here. Building on this recognition, Artera will continue to invest in its platform and expand its leadership in patient communications; especially in areas like: * Patient Communications Platform: Discover how its platform can unify and optimize your outreach. * Branded Messaging: Learn why consistent, branded communications matter for trust and engagement. * AI Agents: See how next-generation automation is already changing patient communications.