What are chatbots?
In simple language, healthcare chatbots are computer program designed to carry on a digital interaction with people on internet. It assists individuals via text or voice response systems. This chatbot is an automated system of communicating with users. You can deploy chatbots via apps or websites (i.e. without the need to install another app) or integrate with an existing system.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be playing a crucial role for new few years in healthcare industry from patients to physicians.
Why Healthcare Chatbots?
Most of the pharmaceutical, medical devices and healthcare providers are adopting digital transformation to modernize customer communication, engagement, education and to improve internal processes.
With the increasing popularity of instant messaging and digital platforms, chatbots are now the centre of business messaging & transformation. According to IDG, 89% of enterprises plan to adopt or have already adopted a digital-first business strategy.
How does it work?
Chatbots provide a two-way interaction between the system and user on the basis of text or voice inputs. The chatbot technology draws context from the conversation to meet the user’s needs. Chatbots can access various data systems to provide the required medical and educational information and do so within a secured environment, in complete compliance with healthcare-relevant standards and guidelines.
What’s the premise of Healthcare Chatbots?
24*7 Support: Investing in support centre in a huge cost for any business and agents they aren’t available 24*7. Quick response is important for any business and is the new requirement of customers. Chatbots can manage customer queries with automated responses be it for patients and physicians.
Instant Answers: Customers be it internal or external simply don’t like to wait for assistance. Our attention time has come down due to digital technologies all around and hence all customers expect instant response. Chatbots are a smarter way to ensure that customers receive the instant response that they demand.
Orders & Bookings: Patients are comfortable booking an appointment using chatbot, physicians are comfortable taking appointments using chatbot platform, physicians are using chatbot for sample ordering. Healthcare businesses can leverage chatbots to automate transactional activities and reduce the cost.
78% physicians believed that chatbots would be most beneficial for scheduling doctor appointments.
76% physicians believed that chatbots would be most beneficial for locating health clinics.
71% physicians believed that chatbots would be most beneficial for providing medication information.
Physicians’ Perceptions of Chatbots in Health Care: Cross-Sectional Web-Based Survey
What are the benefits of Healthcare Chatbots?
Some of the benefits of employing healthcare chatbots
- Improve patient engagement with multi-channel integration
- Provide answers to frequently asked questions quickly and efficiently
- Schedule appointments and consultations
- Track patients’ care to reduce readmissions
- Send alerts and notifications for prescription refills and care guidelines
- Streamline admission, discharge and transfer requests
- Alert care teams of urgent changes in patients and emergencies
- Send and receive referrals
- Update record systems with patients’ medical history
- Signal hospital staff if patient needs assistance
- Allow the exchange of data from currently disparate health systems
- Automate data entry to significantly reduce error and avoid double entry
If you would like to know more about healthcare chatbot solutions and how it could be customized for your organization drop us a note today.
