Nearly two-thirds (66%) of U.S. patients with sensitive health conditions feel more comfortable scheduling appointments with chatbots than with human patients, according to the Talkdesk U.S. Consumer Healthcare Survey, conducted in August 2024 on the online platform Pollfish. Talkdesk received responses from 1,000 men and women ages 18 and older.
The survey found that 62% of patients believe that the quality of support provided by healthcare organizations has deteriorated or remained the same over the past year.
And 23% cited challenges stemming from having to work with multiple departments to accomplish something like scheduling an appointment or insurance issues. However, 51% of respondents believe AI will improve the patient experience over the next year:
- Three in five men expressed optimism, while the figure for women was 44%.
- 60% of Millennials had high hopes.
Patty Hayward is the general manager of healthcare and life sciences at Talkdesk, a provider of a cloud-native, generative AI-powered customer service platform. We spoke with her to delve deeper into the survey and the issues surrounding it.
Q. Your study found that 66% of patients with sensitive health conditions feel more comfortable scheduling appointments with chatbots than with human patients. Why is that?
AND. It’s essential to remember that discussing a patient’s health concerns is the job of healthcare professionals. However, for patients, these concerns can be very personal. Which is understandable, because there are few things more personal than your health.
When people feel hesitant or embarrassed to talk about sensitive health issues, even with a healthcare professional or support staff, there may be many reasons. Often, it ultimately comes down to fear of being judged. Our research shows that half of respondents said they appreciate that AI chatbots don’t judge them. Another third said they appreciate that chatbots don’t rush them or make them feel stupid.
That’s why it’s essential for provider and payer organizations to give patients and members the ability to communicate with an AI chatbot when they contact customer service. It’s less inconvenient and threatening, but they can still achieve their goals by making an appointment with a doctor or arranging a conversation with their payer’s customer service staff.
After all, the study also shows that four out of five patients would prefer to get medical advice from a real doctor, so they are not yet ready for Dr. Bot. And it is very likely that we will never get there. Our data shows that a combination of human and AI is best for patients.
Q. 62% of US patients feel that the support provided by their healthcare organization has worsened or remained stagnant in the past year. What do you think AI can do to facilitate?
AND. Unfortunately, their complaints about failing support likely have some basis in reality, as most healthcare organizations are now woefully understaffed. And that’s where AI can transform the customer experience—and the service agent experience.
By offering patients and members self-help options, providers and payers can reduce the crushing workload that support agents typically work under. Additionally, AI can assist agents by providing them with relevant patient/member information in real time as they try to facilitate callers, making the conversation easier.
Half of the patients in our study are hopeful that AI will improve their overall experience with healthcare providers and the healthcare system in the next year and anticipate greater administrative efficiencies. I think that’s a promising sign and I believe that healthcare consumers’ trust in AI will raise.
Q. Twenty-three percent of U.S. patients reported challenges with having to work across multiple departments to accomplish something like scheduling an appointment or getting insurance. What role can AI play in helping these patients?
AND. Our research clearly shows that many patients are fed up with having to navigate the complexities of our healthcare system. When nearly one in four of your customers are frustrated, it puts your business stability and revenue at risk.
You know what happens when someone is shuffled from one department to another and waits at every turn? Some of these patients simply give up trying to get an appointment or talk about coverage, which means they delay treatment they may really need.
AI can facilitate by interacting with patients/members via voice or text to get the information they need to quickly direct them to the right department. AI can also enable a patient/member to get the information they need or make an appointment without having to interact with an agent or other support staff.
Q. 51% of respondents believe AI will improve their patient experience in the next year. 60% of Millennials showed high hopes. Where do you think these patients get their high hopes from? How do they know about AI and how do they come to the conclusion that AI will improve things?
AND. Millennials are particularly hopeful about AI because technology has almost always been a part of their lives. They understand the value of emerging technologies and are not afraid of them. And they are hopeful about this particular technology because they apply AI every day and see how it helps them in so many ways.
Their smartphones, computers, TVs, appliances, and more are all equipped with AI. And they apply it when they interact with online retailers, when they book travel plans, when they conduct online research, and when they do their jobs. They see the AI doing useful things and it’s not going to try to kill them. That’s a compelling value proposition, to be sure.
This level of comfort with AI is increasingly being embraced by consumers of all ages. Many Medicare patients are fully capable and willing to interact with an AI bot to make an appointment or refill a prescription.