Normally when you hear the term ‘Digital Transformation’, it’s easy to find plenty of related articles on banking, insurance, business process outsourcing (BPO), and transportation. It’s a much less common term for the healthcare industry.
But when the global pandemic hit, hospitals, out of necessity, needed to add healthcare capacity via increased efficiency and cost reduction methods. Now, revenue recovery is at the forefront of your hospital’s objectives, but how do you improve operational efficiency without adding headcount?
Enter in artificial intelligence. Creating digital navigation for patients that integrates with your processes and EHR streamlines patient triage; it’s a digital front door.
New customer acquisition
By developing an AI virtual assistant, you remove barriers to engagement by removing the complexity. Instead of customers or patients having to search or, worse yet, call to get answers to their questions, they simply free type their query into the chatbot.
New customers can be triaged to the best point of care, oftentimes under 1 minute.
Roughly 1/3 of people who engage with an AI virtual assistant are new to your health system.
Increase patient satisfaction and loyalty
Your current customers or patients will also appreciate the ease to which appointments can be scheduled, or questions answered even during non-business hours. They can access care from wherever they are, anytime, knowing your virtual assistant is always available to help.
Boost use of hospital-owned healthcare services
By implementing an AI virtual assistant, helpful resources and information that might not be easily discovered now are instantly accessible and available for patients. The AI virtual assistant sits on websites and mobile apps and provides relevant information during the chat based on patient questions. Your call center will benefit because many of the calls received can be automatically handled with the virtual assistant, reducing up to 50% of call center traffic.
Provide personalized communication and care
The idea of self-service is more important than hospitals realize. According to an Accenture survey, 77% of patients report booking, changing, or canceling appointments online anytime or anywhere is important. Another example of value-add for patients is increasing the ease of navigating to other existing online resources (that may be difficult to find due to the hospital’s complex website or multiple websites.) Some hospitals are now able to provide on-demand telehealth visits if requested by the patient.
Better utilization of care sites (EDs, clinics, telemedicine)
With an AI virtual assistant, simple inquiries and requests are automated, and easily handled and resolved. And for instances where a virtual engagement requires escalation, the customer or patient can be triaged to the most appropriate form of care. This solution allows hospitals to scale during times of high-volume, such as COVID-19 vaccine screening and scheduling.
The greatest benefit of the digital front door is your providers and contact center staff can focus on complex needs and benefit from reduced contributors to burnout.
Want to learn how a digital front door can improve patient engagement and loyalty for your health system? Watch GYANT Co-founder and CEO, Stefan Behrens and David Fletcher, AVP of Telehealth, at Geisinger, discuss how a digital front door can reach more patients in less time, reduce call center strain, and improve and staff efficiency.
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