If your hospital website is up and running and meeting all best practices —having correct information for search engines, being mobile-friendly and with content that positions your facility as an authority source for the local community of medical topics of interest—then it’s time to look to the next frontier. You can use both apps and artificial intelligence to improve communications in health care, both with your patients and the health care providers that serve them.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a significant step forward in that you can use chatbots to answer basic patient questions on your website. You can use those friendly little boxes that pop up on a website to ask “What can I help you with?” and have them programmed to provide basic information.
Think about how much time office staff will save and how much more convenient it will be for patients, if you can deliver basic information without the hassle of a phone call.
AI won’t eliminate the need for some level of human monitoring. A field as sensitive as health care is going to be more restricted in the types of answers a chatbot can deliver. But it can relieve some of the burden from your staff.
Communication apps are another example. The loved ones of patients who go into surgery can receive updates on how the procedure is progressing through a simple update texted into the app from surgery. The family gets needed information and the surgical team doesn’t have to break momentum and leave the operating table. Similar apps can enable rapid exchanges of reports between providers that require them.
HIPPA regulations make security vital. Secure messaging is an absolute necessity for your apps and AI. A website built on a strong foundation is best suited to push your hospital to the next level of communications in health care.