A new report from Juniper Research has found that annual cost savings derived from the adoption of chatbots in healthcare will reach $3.6 billion (€3.04 billion) globally by 2022, up from an estimated $2.8 million (€2.36 million) in 2017. This growth will average 320% per annum, as AI (artificial intelligence) powered chatbots will drive improved customer experiences for patients.- iot-now
Glancing at the future expert believe medical chatbots would play a significant role in shaping the
healthcare industry. Indeed, while the world is facing the problem of information overload, you need
help in segregating the right and wrong data, and bots could help you with that.
Chatbot in the making
Eliza, the first program that could communicate between humans and machine was developed in
1966 at MIT. Later with programs passing the Turing test, the bots were officially considered to be
used across e-commerce, messaging, healthcare or enterprise apps.
A chatbot is an artificial intelligence program that could interact, respond, advice, assist and
converse with humans, mimic a two-way communication between two individuals. While the initial
phase of chatbot implementation was with scheduling an appointment and answering fundamental
questions like what’s the date? We are now witnessing an expansion in its services with recommending, referring, diagnosis, and even treating patients.
Medical Chatbots reshaping Healthcare Industry
Chatbots that interact with the patient on a daily basis could help in lowering the cost of treatment
and enhancing the patient engagement with the hospital/doctor.
Accessible Anytime Anywhere
Chatbots that are embedded to a mobile app could be accessed from anywhere anytime. You do not
need to download them explicitly and no need for registration/activation. Being a built-in app with
the hospital/health organization, it keeps all your data in one place, that in the case could also be
shared with the doctor.
The app could also be a savior to a patient with mental illness or depression who need continuous
assistant and support.
Chatbot as Alarm or an SOS
Integration of chatbot with health care system could help in raising the alarm in case some life-
threatening symptoms found or discussed by the patient. Just for example – a person who complains
about the chest pain and does not respond to messages within a stipulated time, an emergency call
could be made to the health care to send help or could also inform the patient near ones.
Chatbots adds the personal touch
With a busy life for each, it is hard for people to be available 24*7. Medical chatbot could add that
personal touch to a patient’s life.
For a person with a visual disability, computer vision could be altered, for people with speech
problems, chatbots with NLP technology could be beneficial. Or for people who need constant
chattering, bots could be ideal to keep them entertained.
Chatbots are Scalable
The beauty of bots is its omni-channel nature, they could be embedded within a mobile app or could
work with voice assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. They work seamlessly with third
parties and integrate with various APIs.
A bot can place a call, advise you on first aid, analyze your medical history and even send
notifications to your doctor.
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