Where do chatbots and virtual assistants feature in the future of healthcare?

The onset of COVID-19 has altered the way hospitals, establishments and companies functioned and the need to limit physical interactions has made it difficult for certain entities to cope. One of the worst affected industries has been the global healthcare sector, which lay at the forefront of the pandemic. The seismic increase in patient volumes directly translated into the multiplication of operations and patient care-related work. It became evident that hospitals were not equipped with the right tools or devices to handle the onslaught.

Despite boosting hiring practices and increasing personnel, healthcare providers spread across 66 percent of the globe have stated that the workforce shortage is a leading driver of service disruptions in the healthcare industry,  according to research by the World Health Organisation. Apart from treatment and pathology, a significant portion of the patient care journey comprises routine tasks laden with redundancies. Patient form-filling, EHR retrieval/updating, patient insurance filing, report generation, follow-up booking, patient scheduling etc., are regular day-to-day tasks that have drastically risen in volume, leading to bottlenecks. A study by the National Library of Medicine revealed  that doctors spent 33 percent of their time on these types of front-desk operations instead of pathology and treatment.

As the number of patients filtering through the system increased by over 1000x, doctors were required to focus solely on patient care. Yet, these operations form the backbone of a successful healthcare system. Without seamless front-desk operations, the entire healthcare system begins faltering at the seams.

Chatbots and AI-powered virtual assistants have existed in symbiosis with the healthcare system before the global pandemic. However, it remained as a Marketing/Customer Support tool for years. These Bots, either through text/voice, would answer generic queries and gather feedback from customers.

With the help of advanced technologies like Conversational AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Meta-Learning, these Bots now come layered with a form of cognitive intelligence that allows them to interact with customers and automate processes without the need for human intervention.

Hospitals and healthcare providers required an increasing number of trained personnel to conduct these front-desk operations on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, healthcare contact centers were getting overwhelmed by the influx of calls and requests. AI-powered virtual assistants helped healthcare establishments overcome these challenges by placing a human-like voice/interaction at the forefront of all patient-related communication. These Bots accumulated information, and using speech-to-text abilities, generated reports and forms. By automating this entire step, doctors can now remove these tasks from their scope of work and focus on patient care.

Another major factor that must be considered is the sensitivity that comes along with these interactions. When talking about medical information, albeit personal or documented records, this data needs to be handled with privacy and care. Furthermore, it isn’t uncommon for patients to be wary of talking to Bots when disclosing information. Hence, they prefer to rely on human interactions.

This is where the true power of Conversational AI comes to the fray.

Cognitive intelligence allows these Bots to self-train in the art of conversation, which creates an environment of trust with patients. The Bots are capable of conversing in human-like tones, which puts individuals at ease. Moreover, the AI component ensures that language barriers and dialects do not threaten the fluidity of operations.

Despite these advantages, other important fundamentals must be adhered to when deploying AI Virtual Assistant in the healthcare space. When handling patient data, the Bots must be HIPAA compliant. This ensures all patient data is handled with the highest standards of confidentiality and security. Any misappropriation of patient data could open up institutions to libel.

Keeping all of this in mind, the ability of virtual assistants to help the healthcare industry is now more evident than before. By providing a tool that negates the need for human intervention across repetitive and redundant work, healthcare professionals can focus on what truly matters: the patient.

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Pranay Jain is the CEO and Co-founder of Enterprise Bot. He founded the company alongside his wife, Ravina Mutha, and CTO Sandeep Jayasankar. Enterprise Bot is enabling enterprises across the globe to provide an omnichannel experience to their customers by building AI-powered virtual assistants across chat, email, and voice channels. Through Enterprise Bot’s unique technology, the overall customer experience is enhanced, while operational costs can be reduced by up to 40 percent. Follow Enterprise Bot on Twitter: https://twitter.com/enterprisebot and visit the website: https://www.enterprisebot.ai