Beyond Generic Summaries: How Laguna Built Team-Specific Call Documentation

How collaborative partnership with health plans improved care management from administrative burden to member-focused care

"We have a new little tool here that helps me to focus on you and it does all  the note taking for me. So it's very helpful for me!"  

These words, spoken by a care manager during a routine call with a health plan member, capture something important happening in healthcare today. For the first time in years, this care manager wasn't frantically scribbling notes while trying to maintain a meaningful conversation. Instead, she was fully present, building the kind of therapeutic relationship that actually improves health outcomes. 

This transformation didn't happen with a generic AI tool pulled off the shelf. It's the result of a fundamentally different approach to healthcare AI—one that starts with understanding the particular workflows of the people who care for members, rather than imposing generic technology solutions from the outside. 

The Problem with One-Size-Fits-All AI 

Care managers today spend precious time after each call crafting detailed and specific notes,  trying to capture not just what was said, but the nuances that matter to them. Many organizations have turned to exciting but generic AI summarization tools that promise to automate note-taking, but there's a fundamental problem: they treat all healthcare (and non-healthcare) conversations the same way. 

A call with an oncology patient discussing complex medications requires different clinical documentation than a wellness check-in. A behavioral health session needs to capture different elements than a post-transplant follow-up. Generic AI tools don't understand these distinctions—they simply transcribe and summarize, leaving care managers to spend significant time editing the output.

"It seems prehistoric to have to copy a template from MS Word into our system," one care manager shared before implementing Laguna Companion.

"There should be easier ways to document our calls." Another added, "I probably spend more time than necessary when charting my note, but I want to make sure I document all the important information." 

Most AI implementations focus on technology first, asking "What can AI do?" rather than "What do care teams actually need?" The result is often tools that create more work rather than less. 

Starting with Workflows, Not Technology 

Laguna Health took a different approach. Instead of building an AI solution and fitting it into healthcare workflows, we partnered directly with health plans early in implementations, working closely with care managers and supervisors to capture real time feedback and make rapid improvements. 

"We knew from day one that we couldn't build something meaningful without truly  understanding the daily reality of care managers," explains Yoni Shtein of Laguna.

"So we didn't start with algorithms or natural language processing models. We started with real world conversations."

What we discovered was both obvious and insightful: every care management team had developed their own documentation culture, priorities, and workflows.

This insight became the foundation of Laguna's product philosophy. Rather than creating a generic tool that required teams to adapt their workflows, we would create products that mirror and enhance each team's existing workflow and expertise. 

The collaborative approach began with health plan partners willing to invest in genuine  partnership. Leadership teams were initially cautious about AI implementation. "One of our initial considerations was whether AI would obscure warmth and authenticity in the care management process," recalls one product manager. 

But Laguna's approach quickly distinguished itself. "The conversational alliance and  empathy aspect of Laguna is what makes the platform great," noted one early partner. "That's what sets Laguna apart from any other AI vendor." 

This wasn't just about technology adoption—it was about building trust through genuine partnership across multiple health plan organizations. 

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The Evolution: From One Summary to Specialized Care Documentation 

Laguna Companion launched with a summary tailored to clinical case management calls.  Through intensive feedback sessions with care management teams across partner organizations, we achieved something significant: within weeks, care managers were making minimal edits to AI-generated summaries. 

The data demonstrates rapid improvement in summary accuracy, reaching consistently high  levels where care managers could trust the documentation. But the impact goes beyond  efficiency—care managers are reporting better conversations with members. "I find  this extremely helpful in my documentation process," shared one care manager. "The  notes are written very well and really pull details from the call in." 

Expanding Beyond Clinical Case Management 

Success sparked expansion opportunities. Other teams—behavioral health specialists, wellness coaches, social workers, and specialty coordinators—were eager to experience  the same transformation. As these teams began using Laguna, they provided valuable feedback revealing that while the summaries were highly effective, each team had unique documentation needs that could be better supported with further customization. 

Laguna developed specialized summary types for each major function: Clinical Case  Management, Behavioral Health, Wellness, Social Work, Specialty Care, and more. 

The Specialty Revolution 

Specialty teams presented an even more complex challenge. Oncology coordinators needed to document cancer medication details with precision. Transplant teams required exact appointment times and locations for post-transplant adherence. This drove the development of "flavors"—highly specialized summaries for specific medical specialties.

Measurable Impact

The results across partner organizations are meaningful: 66% reduction in post-call documentation time and less than 1% error rates in critical clinical content. But perhaps most importantly, care managers report genuine satisfaction with documentation that reflects their clinical expertise. 

"I really love!! Laguna! I find AI generated notes capture the content of the conversation,  summarizing the important information, very well!" shared one care manager. "The  team has taken feedback from users to tweak and polish what is captured." 

The Laguna Difference 

This specialized approach fundamentally differs from generic AI tools that start with existing capabilities and try to configure them for healthcare use. Laguna starts with healthcare expertise and builds technology that amplifies that expertise. The result isn't just time savings—it's technology that empowers care managers to focus on what they do best: caring for members. 

When AI handles administrative tasks effectively, it creates more space for the human connections that are central to effective healthcare. The care manager who can now focus fully on their member during a call represents the future of healthcare AI—not replacement of human expertise, but empowerment of it.