The healthcare sector constantly strives to provide top-notch health care services and quality treatment to meet the need for wellbeing and save many lives. An increase in population every year undoubtedly led to the dire need for faster and better healthcare services. Thus, medical professionals need to look out for technical help to survive and thrive in their field. In times of emergency, human staff may not be sufficient to address the queries of patients. Thus modern healthcare is making the best use of artificial intelligence to serve their patients.
Be it remote monitoring, cutting down costs, new treatment processes, or maintaining massive data of patients, the healthcare sector leaves no stone unturned to make the best use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. AI-powered chatbots turned out to be a boon for both medical organizations and patients to provide quality healthcare services.
For instance, patients suffering from autism were found to have a therapeutic impact while having a conversation with Alexa, Siri, and Cortana. Chatbots are already doing a fantastic job by showing extreme patience, politeness in their speech, and eliminating stereotyping (often done by humans). Thus they have the potential to replace humans for good. Automated conversations can mimic human interaction and thus enhance the experience of patients. Chatbots can be further trained to have more in-depth insights into human behavior with the help of sophisticated algorithms and thus enhancing customer experience.
Some of the major glitches experienced by patients while interacting with Healthcare organizations or hospitals are the absence of personalized attention, frequent delays, decline in patience while interacting with patients, or discord between online and offline experiences. These can be easily eliminated by making the best use of AI-powered chatbots.
Why WhatsApp business API for the Healthcare sector?
WhatsApp chat Bots have already gained traction in the Healthcare field after slowly picking up the trend and serving patients in their day-to-day consultations. With more than a billion active users and massive reach among people, WhatsApp undoubtedly earned fame as the most popular messaging app. Hospitals can leverage the immense power of WhatsApp to connect with their patients and serve them with lightning speed. Moreover, switching to Whatsapp is a cost-friendly method as it is coupled with its massive reach among customers i.e. patients.
Benefits of WhatsApp business API for Healthcare businesses
Reminders for upcoming appointments
Healthcare businesses had to lose a lot of money due to missed appointments. Thanks to Whatsapp, they can now set automated calls or messages in order to remind their patients about upcoming appointments. Going through a lot of paperwork and scheduling personal visits is finally eliminated as patients can check their WhatsApp messages for quick reminders. Besides, hospitals can generate returning customers by sharing updates to patients about upcoming appointments.
Impeccable team coordination
Hospital staff always have a hard time to make sure each medical equipment is available at all stages of treatment. As WhatsApp got all the necessary information or status of availability of each equipment such as oxygen cylinders or wheelchairs, it became easier for the staff to get information and resolve their queries.
Accessibility to patient health record
It is a herculean task for doctors or hospital staff to have access to the medical files of each patient. WhatsApp lets them have quick access to patient health records with ease. Healthcare businesses can now store massive medical data of patients by integrating WhatsApp business API with other third-party tools. Precious time of doctors is saved as they can focus on evaluating the patient’s condition without worrying about documentation work.
Notifications about lab reports
Maintaining a vast number of medical reports is a cumbersome process for both patients and doctors. Before testing in a diagnostic center, it can be overwhelming for patients to have a glance at prices and exact location. WhatsApp chatbots give instant information about price, update on medical reports, and comparison of prices too. It saves time and effort for both patients and medical staff.
Symptom evaluation
Patients can now explain their symptoms to chatbots through their mobile or any other device. Accordingly, the bot which is already fed with a massive database of medical problems can suggest a specialist or doctor as per symptoms. Thus patients do not need to dial a medical professional or support team to gain clarity. It also helps doctors to get a good number of leads and build trust with their patients.
Mental health counseling
In these challenging times, it is essential for patients to maintain good mental health. Unlike physical health, mental turmoil can occur at odd hours too. It may not be possible to get medical help due to complicated consultation formalities. Through proper training and NLP, timely and therapeutic conversations can be held with patients by training chatbots.
Faster response
Patients can now finally reach out to doctors or medical professionals without worrying about the time of day or their geographical location. WhatsApp makes it easier for doctors to share instant health reports or medical advice to their patients. Through faster and personalized responses, medical professionals can build trust among their patients and thus leading to an increase in their sales and their branding. Thanks to business verification and end-to-end encryption, the data of both parties is safe with WhatsApp business.
Answering FAQs
Since chatbots are already fed with customized answers to most frequently asked questions, medical staff can finally focus their time and energy on other important tasks. For instance, medical questions that include how long a person needs to recover or how to avail prescription can be answered with ease through two-way communication with WhatsApp business. Thus there is an improvement in patient experience and the ability of the support team to address queries of patients.
Timely health tips
The wellbeing of patients never ends with successful treatment. In fact, each patient needs to follow some strict health tips which include exercise, a balanced diet, and good hygiene. WhatsApp chatbots can be used to send timely health tips to patients and build trust with medical organizations.
Payment with a click of button
The conventional way of payment involves a personal visit to the hospital and waiting in a long queue which can be annoying during emergencies. Patients can now make the payment online while booking an appointment with the help of WhatsApp. Moreover, it is available for payment 24*7 which is not possible with human staff.
Remote consultation
Irrespective of any geographical location or time, any patient can get access to healthcare services through a click of a button on WhatsApp. WhatsApp chatbots are also available for mobile consultation to get customized tips or treatment which is an ideal and safe treatment in this pandemic. On the other hand, doctors can witness a huge number of customers for their services.
Helpful tool for research purposes
Healthcare experts from various organizations often come together to conduct a thorough study of similar disorders and diseases. Data available in WhatsApp can be used to find a suitable treatment for patients or track the pattern of diseases. It can also help them to conduct trials and suggest alternative treatment procedures.
Guidance for health insurance
The word “insurance” is enough to bring confusion among many people or patients. It often involves a huge number of queries, receipts, and documents to be managed by both parties. With WhatsApp API, each query of a patient can be addressed without any glitches. Besides, documents can be scanned or uploaded through chat with just a click of a button.
Chatbot-to-human handover
Chatbot addresses basic questions of patients and thus lets customer support to focus their time and effort on other critical issues. If an issue is too complex to handle, then it can be forwarded to the human support team. Thus customer service is enhanced significantly as valuable time for doctors or medical professionals is not spent on answering routine questions.
WHO which is one of the most renowned and trusted healthcare organisations switched to WhatsApp so that health tips or alerts can be shared with people. Users can send messages to a given number and get timely information about the spread of coronavirus, helpful tips, and awareness. Due to social distancing and safety issues, it may not be possible for patients to visit a doctor. Thus WhatsApp can be a savior to get faster treatment by staying safe at home. Virtual consultation can mimic real one with ease and it turns out to be a win-win situation for both medical organisations and patients.
The day is not far away when healthcare chatbots powered with complex artificial intelligence can look into encyclopedias or the internet to address queries related to healthcare. The way humans and computers interact will be reinvented through artificial intelligence. It is also a blessing for doctors as they can finally focus on the treatment of patients by showing immense patience for a speedy recovery. Be it the sharing of patient health records by a healthcare center with other doctors or a healthcare organization; communication plays a critical role in the faster and right diagnosis. Thus WhatsApp API can strengthen communication, streamline work, and ensure the wellbeing of patients at every stage of their treatment.
