Nearly two-thirds (66%) of U.S. patients with sensitive health conditions feel more comfortable scheduling appointments with chatbots than with staff, according to the Talkdesk U.S. Consumer Healthcare Survey, conducted in August 2024 on online platform Pollfish. Talkdesk received responses from 1,000 men and women ages 18 and older.
The survey found that 62% of patients believe the support provided by their healthcare institutions has deteriorated or remained the same over the past year.
And 23% cited challenges dealing with multiple departments to accomplish something, like scheduling an appointment or insurance issues. Still, 51% of respondents believe AI will improve their patient experience within the next year:
- Three in five men were optimistic, compared to 44% of women.
- 60% of millennials had high expectations.
Patty Hayward is general manager of healthcare and life sciences at Talkdesk, a provider of a cloud-native, generative AI-powered customer experience platform. We interviewed her to dig deeper into the survey and the issues behind it.
Q. Your survey says that 66% of patients with sensitive health conditions feel more comfortable making appointments with chatbots than with staff. Why do you think that is?
A. It is important to remember that discussing a patient’s health issues is a job for healthcare professionals. However, for patients, these issues can be very personal. That is understandable, because there is nothing more personal than your health.
If people feel hesitant or embarrassed to talk about sensitive health issues, even with a healthcare professional or support staff, there could be many reasons for this. Often, it comes down to a fear of being judged. Our research found that half of respondents said they appreciate that AI chatbots don’t judge them. Another third of respondents said they appreciate that chatbots don’t rush them or make them feel stupid.
That’s why it’s important for healthcare providers and payers to give patients and members the option to interact with an AI chatbot when they reach out to customer service. It’s less awkward and intimidating, but they can still achieve their goals of scheduling an appointment with a clinician or setting up a conversation with their payer provider’s customer service representatives.
That said, the research also shows that four out of five patients would rather get medical advice from a real doctor, so they’re not ready for Dr. Bot. And it’s entirely possible we’ll never get to that point. Our data shows that a mix of human and AI is best for patients.
Q. 62% of US patients feel that the support provided by their healthcare providers has deteriorated or stagnated in the past year. What do you think AI can do to help address this situation?
A. Unfortunately, their complaints about deteriorating support are likely based in reality, as most healthcare organizations today are woefully understaffed. And that’s where AI can transform the customer experience—and the service agent experience.
By providing patients and members with self-help support options, providers and payers can alleviate the overwhelming workload that help desk agents typically work under. Additionally, AI can assist agents by providing them with relevant patient/member information in real time as they attempt to assist callers, facilitating the conversation.
Half of patients in our survey are optimistic that AI will improve their overall experience with healthcare providers and the healthcare system in the coming year, and expect greater administrative efficiencies. I think that’s a promising sign, and I believe healthcare consumers’ trust in AI will grow.
Q. 23% of US patients said they had difficulty dealing with multiple departments to accomplish something, such as scheduling an appointment or insurance issues. What role can AI play in helping these patients?
A. Our research shows that many patients are tired of navigating the complexity of our healthcare system. When nearly one in four of your customers are frustrated, it’s a threat to business and revenue stability.
Do you know what happens when someone is shuffled from one department to another and put on hold at every step? Some of these patients simply give up on making that appointment or having that conversation about coverage, which means they put off the treatment they may actually need.
AI can help by communicating with patients/members via voice or text to get the information needed to quickly direct them to the right department. AI can also enable the patient/member to get the information they need or book an appointment on their own, without having to communicate with an agent or other support staff.
Q. 51% of respondents believe AI will improve their patient experience within the next year. 60% of Millennials showed high expectations. Where do you think these patients get these high expectations? How do they know about AI and how do they conclude that AI will make things better?
A. Millennials are especially hopeful about AI because technology is almost always a part of their lives. They understand the value of emerging technologies and are not afraid of them. And they are hopeful about this particular technology because they use AI every day and see how it helps them in multiple ways.
Their smartphones, computers, televisions, appliances, and other devices are AI-enabled. And they use AI when they interact with online retailers, when they book travel plans, when they do online research, and when they do their jobs. They see AI doing useful things and they’re not going to try to kill it. You have to admit, that’s a compelling value proposition.
This level of comfort with AI is becoming increasingly true among consumers of all ages. Many Medicare patients are perfectly capable and willing to interact with an AI bot to schedule an appointment or refill a prescription.
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