By Kristen Jacobsen, VP of OmniChannel Engagement, RevSpring
LinkedIn: Kristen Jacobsen
LinkedIn: RevSpring
While some patients feel anxious or resistant to engaging with AI tools, such as virtual agents, others are quite open to it. Understanding when and how to implement AI in healthcare matters because mistakes come with serious consequences for the health of your patients and the financial health of your organization. Yet when it’s implemented carefully, AI tools have the potential to reduce staff burden and improve the patient experience.
AI Appeals When It Increases Convenience
New research finds that openness to virtual agents is impacted by how long patients must wait to get their questions addressed by a human. The AI Patient Engagement Pulse, commissioned by RevSpring and conducted by YouGov, surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. patients. Many patients said they prefer using their healthcare provider’s AI tools, such as chatbots and automated phone systems, for common tasks when faced with long phone wait times or if AI could provide faster service than speaking with a staff member by phone. Other survey findings:
- Preference for AI to Speed Up Service: One in five patients prefer using AI to speaking to a human by phone for routine tasks like checking balances due, if it resulted in faster services, while nearly one in three (32%) are at least open to the technology (meaning they would either prefer AI or have no preference). Patients more inclined to prefer AI include those ages 35-54 (25%), those with a four-year education (30%), and those earning $80,000 or more per year (27%).
- A Third of Patients Favor AI over Long Phone Wait Times: If patients believed the wait to speak with a staff member on the phone was too long, one third prefer to use AI to resolve financial questions (e.g., estimated costs, payment options) and appointment-related questions (e.g., scheduling or preparation). In contrast, two thirds of patients prefer to call back when the wait time might be shorter.
- Willingness to Wait for Human Interaction: Most patients are willing to wait 3-5 minutes on the phone to speak with a staff member about financial and appointment-related concerns, with 37% and 38%, respectively, indicating this timeframe.
Getting AI Right Takes Careful Implementation
Most everyone has experienced using AI, such as chat bots or voice agents, and getting wrong answers because the tool misunderstood your request. This is a frustrating waste of time that usually puts you back in the queue waiting for a live agent—and it’s definitely not a glowing recommendation for building consumer acceptance of this technology.
But the stakes are higher than that in healthcare. Giving the wrong answer could negatively impact someone’s physical or financial health. Even if a patient does not experience actual harm, your brand identity—and possibly your bottom line—is damaged from such negative experiences.
What’s the best and smartest way to drive the highest return on applications for AI?
Use AI to make things you’re already automating better. For example, a rigid call workflow can be altered to make it more flexible when addressing patient questions, assuming the AI tool has access to enough patient data to provide accurate answers.
In other words, intentional use of AI means making sure it can satisfy the needs of patients by not only giving them answers faster but also correctly. Access to extensive amounts of data empowers AI tools to flexibly pull information to fit a wide variety of inquiries. Limited data results in partial or incorrect responses—and frustrated patients.
AI Isn’t For Everyone
AI isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution as patient preferences vary and the technology may not be suitable for everyone. It’s critical for healthcare providers to use patient data to tailor their AI strategies. Advanced analytics already are used by many healthcare organizations to optimize patient engagement across various channels.
This same approach—using intelligence derived from analytics—is key to successfully implementing AI in healthcare. By understanding individual patient behaviors and preferences, even when not explicitly stated, providers can offer the right technologies to the right patients, creating personalized experiences that build trust and improve outcomes.
There’s no doubt that AI is transforming how we engage in healthcare. The key to making it work positively is to use AI to enhance what you’re already doing, while always keeping a quality human experience top of mind. Good practices must be followed to prevent patient frustration:
- Making sure patients know when they’re interacting with technology (if it presents with a human voice).
- Designing a seamless handoff from technology to human agents when AI is not able to discern the correct answer.
- Ensuring information already provided to a bot is communicated to the human agent without the patient repeating it all.
People Still Matter
As adoption grows, the percentage of patients willing to use AI to self-serve will increase. Rather than unleashing AI on patients, standing back and watching what happens, it’s far more prudent to keep staff engaged to help perfect the intelligence as part of the existing service workflow. This approach helps staff become smarter about each patient, reducing the amount of time necessary to answer questions in the most empathetic way possible. In an industry focused on care, that’s a sure way to build satisfaction, trust and loyalty.