Artificial intelligence is going to impact and disrupt an innumerable number of domains and industries over the coming up years; among all, healthcare is one that is going to witness the most significant paradigm shift.
Believe it or not, Artificial intelligence in healthcare is a reality. However, one of the most pressing problems the USA faces is a dearth of access to healthcare.
According to the estimation of WHO, a shortage of 4.3 billion doctors, nurses, and other health professionals across the globe, which is a negative sign for the welfare of patients.
When it comes to India, according to estimations, the country is a shortage of 2 million nurses and 6 Lakh doctors. According to the reports of AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) in April 2019, the USA is expected to face a shortage of 46,900 to 121,900 physicians by 2032.
While many are looking to find the solution to the problem, they should not overlook the responsibility that emerging technologies can play in both overseeing health care and treating common diseases & conditions.
Some of you feel that active doctors & nurses can fill up some gaps; their overworked at all levels is evident. A study has made known that the doctors burned out are more expected to go through anxiety & depression, making them inclined to making mistakes and negligence.
To face the shortage of physicians, a large number of reforms are going to take place around the globe to handle the situation that includes;
ü Slackening the doctors licensing procedure
ü Developing improvements that offer enhanced & inexpensive access to medical care for everyone.
ü Making it simple for international students to practice.
The initiatives mentioned above are admirable. In order to enhance admittance to care & relieve the clinical lumber, we cannot ignore the budding technologies around the globe.
Healthcare began to discover conversational AI to automate definite interactions with patients.
The adoption of conversational artificial intelligence by healthcare providers is a part of a larger overall trend that will see the AI healthcare market rapidly expand in the coming up years. Accenture predicts that by the end of 2026, these changes could save the US healthcare industry $150 billion/year.
Continue reading!
This article will give you a much-needed in-depth view of conversational AI and the different ways in which it can be helpful/save the healthcare sector.
What is conversational AI?
Conversational AI coverages three different technologies: Artificial intelligence, speech recognition, and messaging apps. Some of these, such as voice recognition software has roots back in the 1990s. However, combining language technology with artificial intelligence has changed the game completely.
If you have used a virtual assistant such as Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, or Google Home, then you have experienced conversation AI before. The virtual assistants are learning from us and vice versa.
Conversation AI has evolved to deliver productive& useful expertise.
Where can we find conversational AI?
You can find bots everywhere around us, from the voice/text assistants in our phones to desktop support chats to automated response on Facebook messenger.
Also, these days the bots are becoming more & more popular.
According to research, 40% of people who use a voice assistant started doing so from 2018.
Initially, bots came into external devices like computers and phones. Nevertheless, today, AI systems are found within wearables and home speakers. The prime reason for the success of Chatbots is AI.
Ø Moving to the clinical of tomorrow with conversational AI
Conversational AI offers an instinctual, collaborating, and patient-centric approach to amending the healthcare sector, which is currently fighting a chronic undersupply of health professionals/practitioners and mediocre care.
Seemingly, the experience provided by traditional voice recognition systems is disconnected and static.
With conversational AI solutions, the customer can interact with the Chatbots and direct them to the right path. Now, let us have a gaze at the key sectors/areas where conversational AI could potentially improve healthcare.
Easy access for better care
As we discussed at the commencement of this article, there is a shortage of doctors, which slanted the doctor-patient equation. Due to which the doctors need to treat the maximum number of patients in their scheduled time, which directly affects the standard of care.
On the other side of the coin, conversational AI offers access that invasive to a provider and gives the luxury of mind that their apprehensions will be retorted in a timely fashion.
This technology will help the healthcare providers to diagnose symptoms on a single go, and it will identify and schedules the appointment to the patients based on the need & urgency. Along with it, it collects the patient’s primary information to remove the chances of human errors.
AI applications for healthcare can help patients to feed the details of their conditions and, in return, get an accurate report of what they are suffering from and what needs to take care of without any delay and frustration.
Reforming care and minimizing doctors encumbrance
Conversational AI works well in treating remote patients. When a patient needs emergency care in such situations, conversational AI (Telemedicine Chatbots) is very much handy. It used to diagnose, treat patients, and provide clinical services virtually.
These Chatbots gives the instructions to be followed to safeguard patient until the help arrives. It also maximizes physician efficiency by removing the usage of sophisticated CRM tools while retrieving the complex information of the patient.
This virtual assistant also saves the patient medical history in the database, which helps the doctors to provide the right treatment and the right prescription at the right time. It also eliminates unnecessary check-ups even after complete recovery, which saves patients money & time and free doctors’ time for other patients.
Top benefits of using conversational AI in healthcare
Conversational AI can help healthcare companies and their patients equally by improving both customer service & process efficiency. The benefits include:
Empathetic
The virtual assistant can read the emotions of humans, thus help to deliver better customer service.
Scalable and efficient
These virtual assistants operate on a large scale to meet high demand at minimal viable prices/costs.
Consistent
Unlike real humans, these virtual assistants always have the right attitude, which enables them to deliver service that is more consistent and answers to patients.
Information library
The virtual assistants will hold the answer to thousands of questions from details of healthcare administration to more information about prescriptions.
Available 24/7
The virtual assistants are available 24/7 by which you can access any information whenever a customer requires it.
Advantages & disadvantages of AI in healthcare
As every coin has two sides, there will be pros and cons while using AI in healthcare.
Advantages
Low error rate compared to humans
24/7 access to services
Better management of the data/information
It easily & quickly identifies inefficiencies in a patient
Relives staff of info overload
Disadvantages
It requires a massive investment in the initial stage.
The AI technology cannot work outside of what it is developed for.
Challenge to get patients & staff to trust the technology.
As more and more companies in progress to adopt VoIP and other emerging technologies, features like AI become more comfortable to employ.
Leads & conversion
You might not believe, but the truth is customers are more likely to belive& trust voice assistants rather than a real human.
From the above image, you can know what customers prefer exactly. The beauty of Chatbot lies in its scalability.
With the help of conversational AI, customers can clear their healthcare-related queries in real-time without depending on the customer care executives.
Final thoughts
If you are planning to get started with conversational AI, then this is the right time. The technology is on its way to nurture an army of intelligent assistants & bots that will significantly maximize the delivery of advance care.
Therefore, revolution is not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
As technology improving continuously, we can see more significant leaps in what we can do.
As soon as you build a perfect strategy for using conversation AI in healthcare, the quicker you can fetch results.
Above are the reasons most of the top organizations around the globe are investing millions of dollars in this advanced technology.
When you augment customer point of contact, the highly developed set of technologies serves customers at most.
Are you looking to start using conversation AI in your business?
Contact us at https://nuacem.com
