Healthcare Chatbots: Benefits, Use Cases, and Top Tools

Furthermore, these chatbots play a vital role in addressing public health concerns like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. By offering symptom checkers and reliable information about the virus, they help alleviate anxiety among individuals and ensure appropriate actions are taken based on symptoms exhibited. However, when it comes to embarrassing sexual symptoms, participants were much more willing to consult with a chatbot than for other categories of symptoms. Our research at the Psychology and Communication Technology (PaCT) Lab at Northumbria University explored people’s perceptions of medical chatbots using a nationally representative online sample of 402 UK adults.

The overall risk of bias was rated as high for all studies because 5 studies were assessed as high risk in at least one domain, while the remaining study had some concerns in two domains. Multimedia Appendix 7 shows the reviewers’ judgments about each “risk of bias” domain for each included RCT. They apply methods from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and various other therapy approaches in their interactions with users.

Our Experience in Healthcare Chatbot Development

This predicament can lead to missed opportunities for early treatment, ultimately impacting overall health and well-being. By facilitating preliminary conversations about embarrassing and stigmatized symptoms, medical chatbots can play a pivotal role in influencing whether or not someone seeks medical guidance. As this review focused on the effectiveness and safety of chatbots, we excluded many studies that assessed the usability and acceptance of chatbots in mental health. Given that usability and acceptance of technology are considered important factors for their successful implementation, the evidence regarding those outcomes should be summarized through systematic reviews. Of the 2 RCTs measuring the safety of chatbots, both concluded that chatbots are safe for use in mental health, as no adverse events or harm were reported when chatbots were used to treat users with depression and acrophobia.

These conditions frequently trigger public misconceptions, discriminatory attitudes, and feelings of societal stigmatization. Participants reported that while consultations with doctors were perceived as more accurate, reassuring, trustworthy, and useful, chatbot consultations were considered easier and more convenient. First, the titles and abstracts of all retrieved studies were screened independently by two reviewers (AA, MA).

Chatbots can facilitate interactions with those who are reluctant to seek mental health advice due to stigmatization [5] and allow more conversational flexibility [16]. Chatbots are now equipped with advanced conversational AI capabilities to understand complex questions, engage in natural dialogue, and build rapport with users. They leverage data analytics to provide personalized health insights and recommendations customized to individual needs and preferences. This allows them to take on even more complex responsibilities, such as recognizing symptoms and even making diagnoses. Using healthcare chatbots for appointment management is a transformative approach that significantly reduces the incessant ringing of phone lines in medical facilities.

Schedule Appointments and Set Reminders

As we dive into the world of healthcare chatbots, we will explore how they are not just fulfilling the demand for immediate, digital healthcare interactions but also significantly contributing to the improvement of the overall healthcare industry. Many health professionals and experts have emphasised that chatbots are not sufficiently mature to be able to technically diagnose patient conditions or replace health professional assessments (Palanica et al. 2019). Although some applications can provide assistance in terms of real-time information on prognosis and treatment effectiveness in some areas of health care, health experts have been concerned about patient safety (McGreevey et al. 2020). A pandemic can accelerate the digitalisation of health care, but not all consequences are necessarily predictable or positive from the perspectives of patients and professionals.

To discover how Yellow.ai can revolutionize your healthcare services with a bespoke chatbot, book a demo today and take the first step towards an AI-powered healthcare future. While 1 study was conducted in the United States [30], the other study was conducted in the United Kingdom [38]. The former study concluded that the chatbot was safe because users did not report any harm, distress, adverse events, or worsening of depressive symptoms resulting from using the chatbot during the study [30]. Similarly, Freeman et al [38] concluded that the chatbot was safe because no serious adverse events (eg, suicide attempts, death, serious violent incidents) or discomfort caused by the chatbot were reported.

Buoy Health was built by a team of doctors and AI developers through the Harvard Innovation Laboratory. Trained on clinical data from more than 18,000 medical articles and journals, Buoy’s chatbot for medical diagnosis provides users with their likely diagnoses and accurate answers to their health questions. Do medical chatbots powered by AI technologies cause significant paradigm shifts in healthcare? As advancements in AI are ever evolving and ameliorating, chatbots will inevitably perform a range of complex activities and become an indispensable part of many industries, mainly, healthcare. You have probably heard of this platform, for it boasts of catering to almost 13 million users as of 2023.

These chatbots are variously called dialog agents, conversational agents, interactive agents, virtual agents, virtual humans or virtual assistants (Abd-Alrazaq et al. 2020; Palanica et al. 2019). For instance, in the case of a digital health tool called Buoy or the chatbot platform Omaolo, users enter their symptoms and receive recommendations for care options. Both chatbots have algorithms that calculate input data and become increasingly smarter when people use the respective platforms. The increasing use of bots in health care—and AI in general—can be attributed to, for example, advances in machine learning (ML) and increases in text-based interaction (e.g. messaging, social media, etc.) (Nordheim et al. 2019, p. 5). However, in general, AI applications such as chatbots function as tools for ensuring that available information in the evidence base is properly considered.

By quickly assessing symptoms and medical history, they can prioritize patient cases and guide them to the appropriate level of care. This efficient sorting helps in managing patient flow, especially in busy clinics and hospitals, ensuring that critical cases get timely attention and resources are optimally utilized. Issues of data privacy and the potential for chatbots to generate false information underscore the need for a careful approach when deploying chatbots into healthcare. Early negative experiences with medical chatbots could damage trust, limiting the public’s willingness to engage. Recent findings demonstrate that ChatGPT is already capable of delivering highly relevant and interpretable responses to medical queries. They may also help streamline healthcare services, reducing some of the current pressures on staff.

This chatbot solution for healthcare helps patients get all the details they need about a cancer-related topic in one place. It also assists healthcare providers by serving info to cancer patients and their families. Conversational chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU), applications of AI that enable machines to understand human language and intent. Conversational chatbots are built to be contextual tools that respond based on the user’s intent. However, there are different levels of maturity to a conversational chatbot – not all of them offer the same depth of conversation. The advantages of chatbots in healthcare are enormous – and all stakeholders share the benefits.

Although still in its early stages, chatbots will not only improve care delivery, but they will also lead to significant healthcare cost savings and improved patient care outcomes in the near future. The healthcare industry incorporates chatbots in its ecosystem to streamline communication between patients and healthcare professionals, prevent unnecessary expenses and offer a smooth, around-the-clock helping station. Once again, answering these and many other questions concerning the backend of your software requires a certain level of expertise. Make sure you have access to professional healthcare chatbot development services and related IT outsourcing experts.

The automatic prescription refill is another great option as the patient does not have to go to a doctor in person and fill in lengthy forms. The bot collects all needed information, sends it to a doctor, and notifies the patient once the refill is ready to be collected. Risk of bias graph for quasiexperiements, showing the review authors’ judgments about each risk of bias item.

Another point to consider is whether your medical AI chatbot will be integrated with existing software systems and applications like EHR, telemedicine platforms, etc. These are the tech measures, policies, and procedures that protect and control access to electronic health data. Furthermore, this rule requires that workforce members only have access to PHI as appropriate for their roles and job functions.

Chatbots have begun to use more advanced natural language processing, which allows them to understand people’s questions and answer them in more detail and naturally. They have become experts in meeting certain needs, like helping with long-term health conditions, giving support for mental health, or helping people remember to take their medicine. Participants who took part in the survey were sampled from a large database of physicians who have previously agreed to take part in market research. The survey was administered by Sermo [28], a private social media network for licensed physicians, who randomly selected registered physicians within their panel across the United States. The Sermo research network comprises over 400,000 registered physicians in the United States, representing roughly 40% of the US physician population [19].

Capacity is an AI-powered support automation platform that provides an all-in-one solution for automating support and business processes. It connects your entire tech stack to answer questions, automate repetitive support tasks, and build solutions to any business challenge. As a result of patient self-diagnoses, physicians may have difficulty convincing patients of their potential preliminary misjudgement.

However, this evidence is not sufficient to conclude that chatbots are safe, given the high risk of bias in the 2 studies. Of 1048 citations retrieved, we identified 12 studies examining the effect of using chatbots on 8 outcomes. Weak evidence demonstrated that chatbots were effective in improving depression, distress, stress, and acrophobia. In contrast, according to similar benefits of chatbots in healthcare evidence, there was no statistically significant effect of using chatbots on subjective psychological wellbeing. Results were conflicting regarding the effect of chatbots on the severity of anxiety and positive and negative affect. Only two studies assessed the safety of chatbots and concluded that they are safe in mental health, as no adverse events or harms were reported.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, WHO employed a WhatsApp chatbot to reach and assist people across all demographics to beat the threat of the virus. The doctors can then use all this information to analyze the patient and make accurate reports. Understanding what emotional intelligence looks like and the steps needed to improve it could light a path to a more emotionally adept world. FNumbers do not add up as some studies used more than one tool to assess a single outcome and several studies have more than one outcome. AFor simplicity, as there were exactly 100 participants in the study, only percentages have been reported, unless otherwise stated.

Wysa AI Coach also employs evidence-based techniques like CBT, DBT, meditation, breathing, yoga, motivational interviewing, and micro-actions to help patients build mental resilience skills. To understand the role and significance of chatbots in healthcare, let’s look at some numbers. According to the report by Zipdo, the global healthcare chatbot market is expected to reach approximately $498.5 million by 2026. In addition, 64% of patients agree to use a chatbot for information on their insurance and 60% of medical professionals would like to use chatbots to save their working time. They can handle a large volume of interactions simultaneously, ensuring that all patients receive timely assistance. This capability is crucial during health crises or peak times when healthcare systems are under immense pressure.

This free AI-enabled chatbot allows you to input your symptoms and get the most likely diagnoses. Trained with machine learning models that enable the app to give accurate or near-accurate diagnoses, YourMd provides useful health tips and information about your symptoms as well as verified evidence-based solutions. Although prescriptive chatbots are conversational by design, they are built not just to answer questions or provide direction, but to offer therapeutic solutions.

These chatbots engage users in therapeutic conversations, helping them cope with anxiety, depression, and stress. The accessibility and anonymity of these chatbots make them a valuable tool for individuals hesitant to seek traditional therapy. Healthcare chatbots revolutionize patient interaction by providing a platform for continuous and personalized communication.

The findings indicated that most of the currently available chatbots were not generally used or heard of by physicians. Healthcare chatbots applications make medical advice and information more accessible to wider populations, including those in remote or underserved areas. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. They help bridge the gap between healthcare providers and patients, ensuring that reliable healthcare guidance is just a chat away. The World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of digital health tools like chatbots in extending healthcare services to hard-to-reach populations, highlighting their role in improving healthcare accessibility globally.

• Furthermore, the Security Rule allows flexibility in the type of encryption that covered entities may use.
• From generic tips to research-backed cures, Healthily gives patients control over improving their health while sitting at home.
• The insights we’ll share in this post come directly from our experience in healthcare software development and reflect our knowledge of the algorithms commonly used in chatbots.
• Before chatbots, we had text messages that provided a convenient interface for communicating with friends, loved ones, and business partners.

America and the Soviets were both keen (in their own ways) on find ways to automatise and streamline their societies (including decision-making). Mathematical or statistical probability in medical diagnosis has become one of the principal targets, with the consequence that AI is expected to improve diagnostics in the long run. Hacking (1975) has reminded us of the dual nature between statistical probability and epistemic probability. Statistical probability is concerned with ‘stochastic laws of chance processes’, while epistemic probability gauges ‘reasonable degrees of belief in propositions quite devoid of statistical background’ (p. 12). Epistemic probability concerns our possession of knowledge, or information, meaning how much support is given by all the available evidence. From those who have a coronavirus symptom scare to those with other complaints, AI-driven chatbots may become part of hospitals’ plans to meet patients’ needs during the lockdown.

Since such tools avoid the need for patients to come in for an appointment just to have their questions answered, they can prevent wastage of time for both patients and healthcare providers while providing useful information in a timely fashion. A total of 30% (30/100) of participants indicated Chat PG that they had direct personal experience with the use of chatbots for health-related issues. Physicians were also given a list of currently available health care chatbots, to examine their familiarity with some of the interfaces that could be potentially accessed by patients.

Chatbot becomes a vital point of communication and information gathering at unforeseeable times like a pandemic as it limits human interaction while still retaining patient engagement. Patients appreciate that using a healthcare chatbot saves time and money, as they don’t have to commute all the way to the doctor’s clinic or the hospital. And if there is a short gap in a conversation, the chatbot cannot pick up the thread where it fell, instead having to start all over again. This may not be possible or agreeable for all users, and may be counterproductive for patients with mental illness. Medical (social) chatbots can interact with patients who are prone to anxiety, depression and loneliness, allowing them to share their emotional issues without fear of being judged, and providing good advice as well as simple company. Chatbots called virtual assistants or virtual humans can handle the initial contact with patients, asking and answering the routine questions that inevitably come up.

For tasks like appointment scheduling or medication refills, the chatbot may directly integrate with relevant systems to complete the action. Chatbots must be designed with the user in mind, providing patients a seamless and intuitive experience. Healthcare providers can overcome this challenge by working with experienced UX designers and testing chatbots with diverse patients to ensure that they meet their needs and expectations.

Cost-Effectiveness for Healthcare Organizations

These virtual health assistants are revolutionizing patient care by providing 24/7 assistance, significantly enhancing the healthcare experience. When customers interact with businesses or navigate through websites, they want quick responses to queries and an agent to interact with in real time. Inarguably, this is one of the critical factors that influence customer satisfaction and a company’s brand image (including healthcare organizations, naturally).

Establishing secure, regulation-compliant communication channels is vital in alleviating privacy apprehensions and ensuring trust in AI-assisted healthcare services. There are three primary use cases for the utilization of chatbot technology in healthcare – informative, conversational, and prescriptive. These chatbots vary in their conversational style, the depth of communication, and the type of solutions they provide.

The insights we’ll share are grounded on our 10-year experience and reflect our expertise in healthcare software development. Chatbots are a cost-effective alternative to hiring additional healthcare professionals, reducing costs. By automating routine tasks, AI bots can free up resources to be used in other areas of healthcare.

This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of physicians regarding the use of health care chatbots, including their benefits, challenges, and risks to patients. Chatbots can streamline the process of connecting patients with telehealth professionals by scheduling calls or setting up video or voice consultations. They are adept at recognizing the limits of their assistance, enabling a seamless handoff to a human healthcare professional or representative when necessary, thus ensuring a smooth and satisfactory patient experience.

Further, they should undertake more studies in developing countries and recruit large, clinical samples given the lack of such evidence, as found in the current review. The intervention of interest in this review was restricted to chatbots that work within standalone software or via a web browser (but not robotics, https://chat.openai.com/ serious games, SMS, nor telephones). Accordingly, this review cannot comment on the effectiveness of chatbots that involve human-generated content or those that use alternative modes of delivery. It was necessary to apply those restrictions because these features are not part of ordinary chatbots.

Such probabilities have been called diagnostic probabilities (Wulff et al. 1986), a form of epistemic probability. In practice, however, clinicians make diagnoses in a more complex manner, which they are rarely able to analyse logically (Banerjee et al. 2009). Unlike artificial systems, experienced doctors recognise the fact that diagnoses and prognoses are always marked by varying degrees of uncertainty. They are aware that some diagnoses may turn out to be wrong or that some of their treatments may not lead to the cures expected.

Patients can naturally interact with the bot using text or voice to find medical services and providers, schedule an appointment, check their eligibility, and troubleshoot common issues using FAQ for fast and accurate resolution. Once the fastest-growing health app in Europe, Ada Health has attracted more than 1.5 million users, who use it as a standard diagnostic tool to provide a detailed assessment of their health based on the symptoms they input. The world witnessed its first psychotherapist chatbot in 1966 when Joseph Weizenbaum created ELIZA, a natural language processing program. It used pattern matching and substitution methodology to give responses, but limited communication abilities led to its downfall. Healthily is an AI-enabled health-tech platform that offers patients personalized health information through a chatbot.

Therefore, new solutions are needed to compensate for the deficiency of resources and promote patient self-care [4]. Distance can impede the reach of traditional mental health services to populations in remote areas in both high-income and low-income countries. Technology-based treatment, such as mobile apps, can overcome most of these barriers and engage hard-to-reach populations [11]. A World Health Organization survey of 15,000 apps revealed that 29% focus on mental health diagnosis or support [10].

Doctors can receive regular automatic updates on the symptoms of their patients’ chronic conditions. Livongo streamlines diabetes management through rapid assessments and unlimited access to testing strips. Cara Care provides personalized care for individuals dealing with chronic gastrointestinal issues. The process of filing insurance inquiries and claims is standardized and takes a lot of time to complete. The solution provides information about insurance coverage, benefits, and claims information, allowing users to track and handle their health insurance-related needs conveniently. Hospitals can use chatbots for follow-up interactions, ensuring adherence to treatment plans and minimizing readmissions.

That happens with chatbots that strive to help on all fronts and lack access to consolidated, specialized databases. Now that we’ve gone over all the details that go into designing and developing a successful chatbot, you’re fully equipped to handle this challenging task. We’re app developers in Miami and California, feel free to reach out if you need more in-depth research into what’s already available on the off-the-shelf software market or if you are unsure how to add AI capabilities to your healthcare chatbot. In the wake of stay-at-home orders issued in many countries and the cancellation of elective procedures and consultations, users and healthcare professionals can meet only in a virtual office. Recently, Google Cloud launched an AI chatbot called Rapid Response Virtual Agent Program to provide information to users and answer their questions about coronavirus symptoms.

The idea of a digital personal assistant is tempting, but a healthcare chatbot goes a mile beyond that. From patient care to intelligent use of finances, its benefits are wide-ranging and make it a top priority in the Healthcare industry. You can maximize the contribution of healthcare chatbots to your organization’s workflow by entrusting their development to qualified and certified IT specialists with top-notch expertise in the niche. If you want to keep abreast of the current trends in the industry, you should launch your chatbot as soon as possible.

As we’ll read further, a healthcare chatbot might seem like a simple addition, but it can substantially impact and benefit many sectors of your institution. This would save physical resources, manpower, money and effort while accomplishing screening efficiently. The chatbots can make recommendations for care options once the users enter their symptoms. You can set up your chatbot to streamline and facilitate health insurance claims management. It will not only answer all their questions concerning their insurance plan, coverage, and available medical services but also guide people step-by-step through the entire process – from submitting a claim to receiving a disbursement. Enabling the chatbot to send messages other than dry reminders can add a tinge of human touch to your interactions with customers.