What was holding hiring back
AccuCare Nursing & Home Care is a nursing and home care agency in Middletown, NY, with a focus on pediatric nursing. Jen Park, Chief Operating Officer, leads the project with the agency's recruiting team.
In July the agency had more than 100 open cases and very few applicants. With volume that thin, every applicant counts, and any delay in the first conversation is expensive.
Every role needs a valid nursing license, and jobs are posted by town, license and shift. Each applicant has to fit a real case, in a real place, at a real time of day.
What changed
Care Hero went live on July 21, 2026, after a paid pilot. Applicants from Indeed get a message within minutes and call in to a short AI phone interview whenever it suits them. The recruiting team gets a summary and a score for each one.
- A first conversation at any hour. Evenings and weekends included, when a working nurse is free to talk.
- Screening on the agency's own requirements. The AI interview checks for the required nursing license, and applicants are matched by town, shift and case.
- A teammate for the recruiters, not a replacement. Their time goes to qualified candidates and the conversations only a person can have.
The numbers
The agency's earlier process compared with Care Hero since go-live:
| Metric | Before | With Care Hero (Jul 21 to Oct 29, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| First screening | Recruiter phone screen | AI phone interview, available 24/7 |
| Application to completed AI interview | No baseline | Median 39 minutes |
| Speed of completed interviews | No baseline | 52.6% of completed AI interviews finished within 1 hour of applying |
| Interviews after hours | No baseline | 46.4% |
No before numbers were provided by the agency.
Why this matters for nursing agencies
When a license is required for every role, the applicant pool is small. The people in it often have a shift of their own, so they are free in the evening or on a weekend, not during office hours. An interview that waits for the next business day can lose them.
AccuCare moved the first conversation to the moment the applicant applies. Nearly half of the AI phone interviews happen after hours, and the median completed interview is finished 39 minutes after the application.
From first call to go-live
- July 10: demo. Goal: an AI first phone screen for licensed roles.
- July 16: pilot signed. Paid pilot agreed.
- July 21: live. First AI phone interviews run.
- July 27: first check-in. Job posts reworked directly on Indeed by town, license and shift.