Behavioral health access remains one of the most persistent challenges facing health systems and payors today. Yet access alone is not enough. For patients to see meaningful improvement, behavioral health care must be timely, coordinated, and sustained across the care journey — from referral to ongoing treatment.
SonderMind, a national behavioral health partner, works with health systems and payors to expand access to therapy, psychiatry, and self-guided mental health services through a combination of virtual care, in-person options, and digital tools. With a network of more than 16,000 licensed providers across all 50 states, the organization connects patients to care through consistent, clinically grounded referral pathways designed to support engagement at every step of the journey.
As demand for behavioral health services has continued to grow, SonderMind has remained grounded in a core principle: expanding access should never come at the expense of clinical integrity. That philosophy guides decisions across product development and operations, particularly within referral and intake workflows that serve as a patient’s entry point into care.
With more patients seeking services across markets, the importance of systems that could support growth without introducing friction for patients or added burden for care teams became increasingly clear. Maintaining consistency and quality meant investing in processes designed to scale responsibly, while preserving human review and clinical oversight.
Strengthening referral operations with agentic AI
SonderMind has long approached referral operations with a focus on reliability and consistency, recognizing intake as a key coordination point in setting patients up for successful, ongoing care. As the organization continued to grow alongside health system and payor partners, workflows were further refined to support accurate information flow, appropriate clinical context, and a smoother transition from referral to treatment.
To support this evolution, SonderMind partnered with Magical to apply agentic AI to the administrative, non-clinical preparation steps within referral workflows. The technology was implemented specifically to standardize data intake, extract and structure referral information, and prepare records for internal review — without automating clinical decisions or patient care interactions. All automation operates within HIPAA-compliant systems and under SonderMind’s established data governance and clinical oversight framework.
Every referral continues to be reviewed and approved by trained SonderMind team members. Clinical judgment, care recommendations, and patient communications remain entirely under human oversight.
By applying automation selectively to repetitive administrative preparation, SonderMind strengthened operational consistency while allowing care coordination teams to remain focused on supporting patients and providers during the transition into care.
Expanding access while maintaining clinical standards
The operational impact was significant. In one region, referral throughput tripled while administrative costs were reduced by roughly 50 percent.
Referral accuracy also improved, with error rates dropping to under 1 percent. By reducing rework and minimizing delays caused by incomplete or mismatched information, patients were able to move from referral into care more quickly and reliably.
“By strengthening administrative preparation with Magical, we’ve been able to support patients moving from referral into care more reliably, even as demand continues to grow,” said Zach Holmes, Account Lead at SonderMind.
Importantly, automation was applied only to non-care-related administrative steps such as data extraction, routing, and documentation preparation. No clinical determinations or responses related to patient health concerns — including high-acuity behavioral health needs — are automated.
“Reducing administrative friction before referrals reach our team allows us to focus on what matters most in care coordination: guiding patients into care quickly and safely, with confidence, while maintaining the standards our partners and patients expect,” said Bianca Estrella, Director of Care Coordination at SonderMind.
This model demonstrates how well-designed referral pathways — supported by targeted administrative automation — can increase capacity without compromising care quality or clinical oversight. For health systems and payors, consistent entry into care provides a strong foundation for continuity and sustained engagement across the behavioral health journey.
SonderMind continues to expand access to therapy, psychiatry, and Medicare-supported services nationwide, with a focus on clinical excellence, responsible technology use, and long-term partnership to support reliable, high-quality behavioral healthcare.
To learn more about SonderMind’s behavioral health services and how the organization partners with health systems and payors to support coordinated, high-quality care, visit sondermind.com.
To learn more about how Magical applies agentic AI to automate administrative workflows across healthcare operations, visit getmagical.com.
