5 ways to optimize AI for stellar patient experience
Patients and clinicians alike need to understand and appreciate the benefits this emerging technology can provide.
Although artificial intelligence is a ubiquitous topic, the use of AI in healthcare is still in the early stages of application.
Many providers are taking a proceed-with-caution approach, especially for clinical care use cases. In a May 2024 study from MGMA, only 28 percent of medical groups reported using AI technology, while the majority haven’t yet crossed the threshold.
For those early adopters, the application of AI, machine learning, natural language processing and other emerging technologies is already proving useful in enhancing patient experience. Two themes have emerged as interesting and impactful drivers of the use of AI: patient access and engagement, and augmentation of patient-provider encounters.
Too often, however, shiny new objects can be a distraction and take an organization off course from delivering on a long-term strategy. And though AI is here to stay, it’s also changing by the minute. Because of this, there are a few principles to keep in mind when considering the use of AI for patient experience.
Don’t complicate the delivery of patient care
First and most important is to think about how technology can support and improve the experience that will be delivered. Make it easy for the patient and the provider.
In an interview with Healthcare IT News, consulting firm Chartis expressed that what patients desire is simple. “They want an experience that is accessible, responsive and personalized to them and their needs. AI … [can] help minimize friction and the associated patient frustrations along the patient journey.”
For example, web-based chatbots, or virtual assistants, are effective uses of AI that simplify patient engagement and enable 24/7 communication. With AI-assisted chatbots, patients can easily find information on common questions such as changing appointment times, making payments or which surgical counselor to contact. Providers can deliver curated content directly at the time of patient request. This type of application streamlines patient access, giving them a path to get the answers they need without having to wait on the phone or until the office is open.
Put human interaction first
How many times have you been in an appointment and the clinician is typing away on a laptop as you talk? While the notes are a necessary part of care, the experience lacks a human touch.
CNBC reported the use of medical generative AI was one of the hottest topics at HIMSS24, “promising to bring back an age-old healthcare practice: face-to-face conversations with patients.”
Providers have begun to adopt natural language processing and ambient listening tools that document notes, such as medical and family history, health issues, allergies and the like, during patient intake. These tools record, process and input data into the patient chart, while also listening for banter or discussion that doesn’t belong in the record.
Using AI in this way leaves the provider free to focus and listen. The more providers can engage their patients face to face, to have more intimate, connected and trusting discussions, the more it promotes deeper and more informative conversations. The experience becomes more natural and can lead to improved outcomes. The Association of Health Care Journalists reports that, with the use of ambient listening tools, “patients reported their visits where much more engaging … because they felt the doctor understood what they were saying.”
Let patient experience drive innovation
Rather than letting the technology itself drive an implementation, consider first the experience of users. Executives should talk to providers and patients to understand what they are looking for. Those expectations should drive innovation, rather than the tool itself.
Technology, on its own, is generally not the solution. Rather, a combination of technology, process and people is what drives the most impactful change.
In several medical practice use cases, researchers at Nextech found that analyzing data from chatbots or virtual assistants helped providers find opportunities for improvement in patient experience. Practices can monitor trends in the interaction between patients and the virtual assistant to modify and enhance practice operations and workflow. For example, if they notice patients are repeatedly asking the same types of questions, it gives the practice guidance to understand if they must modify post-op, discharge or other communication processes.
Think about efficiency of providers and the practice
In addition to enabling more engaged patient-provider interactions, a 2022 study showed that ambient listening and medical scribe tools can be associated with physician wellness. Such tools reduced the amount of time clinicians spend working in the EHR system by more than one hour for every eight hours of patient encounter time.
While these results are encouraging, think and plan carefully so adoption of AI or other similar technologies aims to make the provider more efficient.
Right now, for example, we’ve found the accuracy of ambient listening tools to be about 92 percent. This means the clinician needs to spend more time reviewing the notes to review and make any corrections. During this learning curve, until the output from AI tools becomes more precise, there’s a transition period before optimal efficiency can be reached. And though the use of the technology is helpful in that it enables the physician to be more focused with the patient, there is room for ongoing refinement and improvement.
Apply an agile methodology to adopt new functionality
Using an agile mindset when implementing new technologies enables an organization to monitor and adapt quickly.
This is critical for several reasons. It enables an organization to accommodate ever-changing patient expectations, and to focus on constant improvement to deliver a positive experience. And it enables an organization to innovate in a more cost-effective way, iterating quickly rather than investing in years of development.
When considering or applying AI methodologies in healthcare, we recommend a patient-first approach. These principles will help any organization thinking about applying AI to keep patient experience at the forefront of decision making.
It’s simply not possible for every healthcare organization to know everything about emerging technologies and how they can be applied to delivering stellar patient care. They should find and work with key partners. Culture fit and strategic alignment are critical to developing an AI-assisted infrastructure that supports a positive patient experience.
Jason Handza, MD, is chief medical officer of Nextech.