Solving Healthcare’s Quagmires with Conversational AI.
Conversational AI is emerging as a vital player in the AI healthcare field as the pandemic highlights issues with misinformation, efficiency and mental health.
For the last couple of years AI has been touted as a possible solution for the endemic inefficiency that plagues the healthcare industry. In the United States approximately a third of government spending on healthcare goes to administrative costs.
The current global pandemic has accelerated this process by further exposing the frailties of the healthcare industry. In particular, the pandemic has stressed the need for better processes to help medical staff deal with unprecedented surges in demand and further reiterated that the only thing that spreads faster than a virus in the modern world is misinformation and panic.
Emphasis on these issues has led many to proclaim that the future of AI in healthcare is Conversational.
Conversational AI is perfectly equipped to aid in solving these crucial problems. By implementing an advanced digital workforce, healthcare providers, both public and private, can reduce the strain and stress on their current staff so that they have more time to do what humans do best, provide care.
Dealing with Surges in Demand
Medical triage is a concept that has been researched refined and implemented by medical professionals throughout the modern era. The concept is simple but particularly crucial in times of disaster where resources can often be spread thin. In most advanced countries triage practice involves taking patients through a variety of questions and physical examinations and placing them into groups based on the urgency of their condition (usually denoted by colours). By doing this medical staff are able to take a utilitarian approach that maximises the efficiency of the resources available.
Conversational AI is perfectly aligned to aid in this triage process. By using advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and linking to appropriate back end applications, virtual medical agents take patients through carefully curated conversations that allow them to be directed to the appropriate place. This can take place 24/7 from the patients home allowing patients to go directly where they need to go from the first time, reducing unnecessary waiting times and improving the patient experience. By automating the first stage of the triage process, medical staff can focus on the later more critical stages where their focus and expertise is much more required.
Tackling Misinformation
From its onset the Covid — 19 pandemic has induced a state of mass hysteria and chaos. The failure of governments and relevant health authorities to coherently communicate with the wider community at the start of the pandemic allowed misinformation to flourish and left many patients confused as to what to do and where to go. Conversational AI offers a great solution to this issue, the rapid deployability of next generation CAI software such as Mesh AI makes them perfect for when time is scarce. Within a matter of hours, new conversations are curated to offer people an alternative source of information on demand.
This centralisation of truth within a virtual agent allows individuals to ask someone (considering how human the Ai can sound this is appropriate) much needed questions and receive a personalised and relevant answer whenever they want, offering a great alternative to often timely and inaccurate manual searches. The value of Conversational AI in tackling this use case was exemplified by multiple governments choice to implement chatbots on social media, such as the Australian governments WhatsApp chatbot that allowed people to get much needed information on the platform of their choice.
AI and Well Being
Healthcare is seemingly a perfect vertical for the implementation of conversational AI and this shouldn’t come as a surprise. In fact, conversational AI has been intimately linked to health and well-being from the very earliest iterations of the technology a few decades ago. One of the first proper Conversational agents was a simple bot designed to be a personal therapist. From those humble beginnings conversational AI is continuing to grow into the mental health space, where the true value of this technology is yet to be completely utilised.
One study by New York School of Medicine found that Ai tools can be used to diagnose patients with PTSD through their voice with 89% accuracy. Conversational AI use cases in the mental health space have the capability to not only revolutionise the way we diagnose patients but treat them as well. The implementation and use of AI therapists allow mental health support to be accessible at any time and any place, which is vital in ensuring that everyone can access support. Furthermore, early empirical evidence suggests that many patients may actually prefer speaking to a virtual therapist as they feel more comfortable not being judged by another human.
The pandemic has turned into a gateway for the adoption of AI across healthcare. A study by Accenture predicts that the vertical could be worth up to $150 Billion USD a year in the coming years. It is clear that the status quo is ripe for disruption, however, the nature of healthcare means that special consideration needs to be considered when implementing these solutions. By involving current medical professionals in the process of creating their digital counterparts we can create a more efficient and robust healthcare sector for all of us. Conversational AI is increasingly proving its utility as a technology beyond novelty. Without a doubt the healthcare industry of tomorrow will benefit immensely from the correct implementation of AI.
