Healthcare organizations are using newfangled digital tools and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to rethink how they interact with patients, connect with communities and enhance life-saving missions. But because many of these organizations are registered as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, they share common ailments that afflict the nonprofit sector as a whole: growing demand and shrinking budgets. These elaborate, highly personal healthcare ecosystems require performance at scale, and digital engagement is proving to be the way to reach more patients, escalate operational productivity and improve patient satisfaction.
Insights from Twilio 2024 State of Nonprofit Digital Engagement Reportwhich involved more than 1,400 nonprofit employees and 1,500 nonprofit end-users, found that healthcare nonprofits continue to employ digital communications at unprecedented levels, with 7 in 10 organizations expecting that patient engagement will be digitally driven next year. This enthusiasm is tempered by ongoing divergences in perceptions between providers and patients, particularly around AI transparency and personalization.
The findings in this report identified areas of strength and opportunity that healthcare leaders should consider as we enter 2025.
Strength: Artificial intelligence is the key to improving patient interactions
It’s effortless to see why almost all healthcare organizations (93%) believe AI will improve patient engagement, and the majority (59%) of patients agree. The three most frequently reported uses of AI in healthcare include analyzing data to better understand patients’ unique needs, transcribing patient visits/calls, and automating responses to common patient questions. Artificial intelligence enables providers to improve response times, reduce missed appointments and improve patient satisfaction, all of which have a huge impact on the reputation and revenue of these organizations.
As healthcare organizations need to achieve more with less, artificial intelligence is increasingly seen as an imperative tool for maximizing restricted time and resources. In fact, roughly half (51%) of these healthcare organizations have already integrated AI into their digital communications, outpacing similar adoption rates (47%) for private consumer brands.
Opportunity: Trust through transparency is an ongoing process
For all its transformative potential, implementing AI carries risks, and healthcare organizations are particularly concerned about the privacy and security of patient data. It’s tough to imagine another industry where customer data is as sensitive as personal health information, and patients rightly have providers under the microscope over how they handle their data. Every company, public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit, has privacy and data security concerns around AI, so it’s no surprise that it’s also a top AI adoption issue among nonprofits in the care industry health.
Interestingly, most organizations (88%) believe they provide transparency to patients about how their data is used for AI, but only 1 in 4 patients agree. This clear disconnect presents a significant opportunity for AI vendors to change their policies and clarify how they disclose those policies to their audiences.
Organizations should provide patients with clear visibility into the lifecycle of their data, from how it is collected, shared and stored, to where it is used and how it is protected. For example, Twilio introduced “AI Nutrition Facts“, a way for a company to clearly communicate with its customers and end-users how their data is being used in a clear and familiar way. The saying “trust is hard to earn and easy to lose” is especially true in this untamed frontier of artificial intelligence, but transparency builds trust, and trust helps develop loyalty.
Strength: The availability of talented programmers is constantly… expanding
To scale digital engagement and properly integrate AI, healthcare organizations need skilled developers who can create, maintain and optimize these solutions. Nonprofits cited lack of technical knowledge as one of their main concerns with implementing AI.
Twilio’s 2022 report found an alarming talent gap that persisted in the broader nonprofit sector, but a 2024 study shows significant progress has been made in addressing the problem. Nearly 7 in 10 (67%) healthcare nonprofits currently employ more than 10 developers, and 65% say they have enough or even a surplus of programming talent. More lend a hand is on the way; 92% of surveyed organizations plan to hire at least one programmer this year.
Despite this optimism, 1 in 5 organizations still report developer shortages, and almost all (96%) admit they will continue to need external developer support. For budget-conscious and talent-strapped providers, there continues to be extensive employ of pro bono contributions from volunteer developers to lend a hand them achieve digital milestones and maintain systems.
Opportunity: Engagement is no longer a one-size-fits-all solution
Whether it’s interacting with your favorite retailer, coffee shop or healthcare facility, personalization is now in demand, especially for younger digital natives like Millennials and Gen Z who demand tailored services and communications. With budget constraints, changing patient preferences, and deeply fragmented data ecosystems making it tough to create correct, holistic patient personas or “golden records,” healthcare has the lowest levels of personalization of all nonprofit sectors. Only about 6% of nonprofit healthcare organizations say they always personalize communications, even though 66% of patients say it is very critical.
Patients expect more from their care than simply adding their name to a quick text message or email reminder about their appointment. With AI helping to review and analyze pieces of patient data such as demographics, unique interests and previous visits, healthcare nonprofits can and should quickly personalize communications at scale. This could look like a text message recommending specific vaccinations before a patient goes on a tropical vacation, or an email providing tips on low-sugar alternatives during the holiday season for a patient with diabetes. Given that only 1 in 3 organizations rate their patient engagement as “excellent,” individualization can lend a hand avoid generic messages and ensure that patients truly feel seen, valued and understood.
This is a great example Cleveland Clinicwhich recently invested in a comprehensive system that will redefine communication and patient care through more personalized interactions. The system, which integrates all aspects of doctor-patient interaction, from appointment reminders to satisfaction surveys, handles almost two million messages per month. This improved the clinic’s communication processes, reduced the number of missed appointments and helped the organization achieve its mission of providing the highest standards of patient care.
Digital engagement is a journey, not a destination. By investing in technologies such as artificial intelligence, developing technology talent, embracing a culture of transparency and prioritizing personalization, healthcare organizations can ensure that their digital communications are effective.