Turnover Improved 2.7%, 60 Hours of Overtime Eliminated: How Nagai Hospital Transformed Operations with AI

Nagai Hospital

Healthcare·1-500 employees·Internal Helpdesk

Turnover Improved 2.7%, 60 Hours of Overtime Eliminated: How Nagai Hospital Transformed Operations with AI

At a glance

• Turnover rate improved 2.7% year-over-year
• HR overtime reduced by ~60 hours annually
• 87% of staff aware of Helpfeel within one year

The Challenge

Since its founding in 1947, Nagai Hospital has served as a regional secondary emergency care hospital in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture. Over the past decade, the hospital expanded rapidly, growing from 400 to over 500 employees. Annual emergency admissions doubled over five years to approximately 3,000 cases.

With both staff and patient numbers growing sharply, frontline and back-office operations were approaching their limits. In HR, three staff members managed labor administration for 500+ employees while fielding constant inquiries about salaries and policies. On the clinical side, frequent questions from new and mid-career nursing staff interrupted workflows. The hospital's many proprietary procedures and internal abbreviations meant even experienced staff needed time to become fully familiar with them.

As a private hospital in a city without a municipal facility, Nagai Hospital bears responsibility for regional healthcare. Remaining a cornerstone of regional care required operational reform across both frontline and back-office functions. The hospital launched its medical DX project "NAGAI 100" in 2024, and a cross-departmental sub-committee identified "questions and inquiries" as a significant drag on efficiency. The team needed a tool enabling unified access to operational knowledge and institutional policy information.

Why Helpfeel

The hospital initially considered a chatbot to answer staff questions, but Helpfeel's intent-prediction search, which surfaces the right information even when search terms vary slightly, was seen as ideal for a hospital environment filled with medical terminology and internal shorthand.

The team needed a solution that could:

• Consolidate knowledge and improve access for 500+ staff across departments
• Reduce new employee training workload and the psychological burden of repeatedly asking the same questions
• Cut HR inquiry volume related to leave entitlements and employee benefits
• Support frontline staff with instant access to procedures and protocols

Helpfeel's ability to handle variation in terminology and provide instant answers from smartphones met all these requirements.

What They Did

• Built content aligned with actual demand. Initial adoption was slow when the team focused on employment regulations. A staff survey asking "What information would be useful to you?" surfaced concrete frontline needs, including strong demand for infectious disease response protocols.
• Ran a creative awareness campaign. An employee suggested creating an original mascot character, "Fiiru Gorira" (a play on "Helpfeel" and "gorilla"), with its own chat account. The character regularly posted tips about Helpfeel's features in the company chat tool, building familiarity and interest.
• Timed deployment with company-wide smartphone rollout. The hospital introduced smartphones and a new chat tool for all staff, creating an opportunity to promote Helpfeel alongside the new infrastructure.

Results

Within one year, 87% of staff knew about Helpfeel, and 75% rated it as "easy to use."

In nursing operations, the reduction in training-related time costs was substantial. Head nurses previously fielded repeated questions from junior staff about examination procedures and clinical protocols. Now, staff look up procedures instantly on Helpfeel from their smartphones, and the frequency of such questions has dropped sharply.

Helpfeel reduced not only operational inefficiency but also the psychological burden on new staff during onboarding. While it is natural for new employees to ask their seniors for guidance, having to ask the same question multiple times creates discomfort. In terms of retention, the 2024 turnover rate improved by 2.7% year-over-year, a result the team attributes in part to Helpfeel's contribution to a more supportive and less stressful working environment.

Helpfeel also contributes to the quality of nursing care itself. With Helpfeel accessible at the bedside, nurses can answer patient questions immediately and confidently, delivering reassurance and value in the moment of care.

In the back office, inquiries related to leave entitlements and employee benefits declined. HR department overtime in fiscal 2024 decreased by approximately 60 hours per year compared to the prior year.

From a management perspective, a significant mindset shift occurred. Staff who had accepted analog processes as unavoidable began to feel that "existing tasks could actually be easier." This consciousness now extends beyond digital tools to encompass improvements in workplace conditions and institutional systems more broadly. The experience of successfully transforming operations through autonomous digital change became an important motivational foundation for further DX initiatives. Helpfeel's introduction was, in the director's words, "not an exaggeration to call the template for our medical DX."

"Before Helpfeel, we hadn't even recognized that existing workflows had room for improvement. Staff had become so accustomed to analog processes that inefficiency was accepted as unavoidable. But as Helpfeel delivered visible operational improvements, many staff members began to feel that existing tasks could actually be easier."

Kozo Hoshino, Director (Hospital President), Nagai Hospital

Looking Ahead

While reducing staff burden through operational efficiency is one goal, the deeper ambition is to enable richer and more attentive support for patients and their families. Routine and inefficient tasks can and should be reduced through digital tools. However, the communication between nurses and patients, the human presence that addresses anxiety, supports treatment, and maximizes the effectiveness of rehabilitation, can never be replaced by digital tools or AI.

The authentic value of healthcare and nursing lies in human-to-human connection. But providing that value requires that staff have sufficient physical and mental capacity to do so. The goal going forward is freeing up time and energy so that more of both can be devoted to the care of patients and their families.

“Before Helpfeel, we hadn't even recognized that existing workflows had room for improvement. Staff had become so accustomed to analog processes that inefficiency was accepted as unavoidable. But as Helpfeel delivered visible operational improvements, many staff members began to feel that existing tasks could actually be easier.”

— Kozo Hoshino, Director (Hospital President), Nagai Hospital