Using AI for Better Patient Intake & Digital Front Door

Being a healthcare provider, I bet you don’t know about ‘PAJAMA TIME!’

Yes, there is a special term called pajama time, which is defined as time spent on the EHR systems between 5:30 pm and 7 am on weeknights or anytime on the weekends. And interestingly, the average pajama time per visit ranges from 1.7 to 13.1 minutes across clinics.

That’s huge, but that’s something on the provider’s side, whereas on the patient’s side, this leads to more waiting time or, in simple words, more time disconnected from their physician. For instance, a study suggests that an average patient spends 18 minutes waiting and 12 minutes on the intake paperwork.

Roughly, this time accounts for almost 30 minutes of their time. These aspects of patient care lead to more dissatisfaction and frustration. This has given rise to a new trend in healthcare where more and more patients are choosing self-service options to meet their healthcare needs. 

Interestingly, this particular trend in patient behavior has led to a 52% increase in the adoption rate in patient portals or some sort of digital front door. However, there were still inefficiencies in this system, which is why, to give patients more control and convenience, digital front door voice AI or patient check-in AI models have come.

But is using AI for better patient intake with healthcare front desk automation can solve this problem?

Well, yes, and in fact, it can even lead to frictionless patient experiences. Let’s see how in this blog below!

The Digital Front Door Revolution: Why It Matters Now

There are certain reasons why healthcare practices need to adopt digital front doors to elevate patient experience. Starting with the patient’s perspective, these people are the same people who experience a self-controlling or controlling experience in accessing services from industries such as banking or, commuting, etc.

And since most of the healthcare practices still use traditional means, they want to be in control of their healthcare care journey. 

On the other hand, from a practice’s perspective, it is more convenient, don’t you think? You see, the staff shortages and administrative burdens are already hitting an all-time high. In this chaos, having a scalable practice management solution can be your calm in chaos.

Also, with intake chatbot for clinics and healthcare front desk automation, you can place your practice as a superior practice that provides delightful patient experiences. This might give you a competitive advantage, and the chances of reducing no-shows, improving resource utilization, and patient satisfaction increase significantly.

And that is the reason why digital front-door voice AI matters the most.

Voice AI: The Natural Interface for Healthcare

One of the best use cases of patient check-in AI is voice-enabled registration. Since the languages we speak are one of the most natural ways of communication, including it in your practice’s system can change the change of patient registration and other aspects. Let’s see some of the applications and the benefits of voice-enabled registration:

1. Natural Language Processing in Healthcare: Over the years, NPL modules have become much smarter, and digital front-door voice AI is at the forefront of it. For instance, these modules are now able to understand medical terminology, analyze symptoms, and identify patient communication patterns. These processes not only give a sense of convenience to patients but also automate healthcare front desk aspects, improving efficiency.

2. Accessibility & Inclusivity: With voice-enabled registration and interfaces, serving a wide range of patients becomes much easier. From serving the patient population with disabilities to removing language barriers in the process, a lot of things become convenient, providing them a delightful and very personalized experience.

3. Multilingual Capabilities: On average, 78% of Americans speak only one language. However, serving the rest with ease, NPL modules in kiosk-free intake can help in addressing a wide population speaking different languages. Moreover, the best part is that it can be done in real time and inspire culturally appropriate communications.

4. Hands-Free Convenience: Last but not least, digital front door voice AI gives you an opportunity to maintain personal connection and empathy without being physically present.

Streamlined Operations: Eliminating Wait Times & Manual Entry

Earlier in the introduction, we spoke about digital front-door voice AI streamlining operations and reducing the burden on healthcare providers and administrative staff, right? Here, you must be wondering how kiosk-free intake makes it possible. Well, let’s find that out below:

1. Pre-Visit Automation: Before the patient-provider consultation, there are a lot of things that need to be taken care of. These things might include appointment confirmations, pre-registration, basic health questionnaire completion, etc. This is where the 12 minutes in documentation goes. However, with patient check-in AI, these things can be done prior with more convenience and allow your practice for kiosk-free intake of patients.

2. Real-Time Capacity Management: Healthcare front desk automation can be of great use to bring in dynamic scheduling and predict wait time to improve patient flow. For example, with no-code front-desk workflows, in case there is an appointment rescheduling, the system would automatically adjust the patient list, making it more convenient for everyone.

3. Automated Data Validation: Along with that, AI systems can be effectively used to verify insurance, update patient demographics, and flag potential issues before any kind of clinical encounter. 

4. Staff Productivity Enhancement: All the use cases we’ve discussed above take care of most of the formalities that are required prior to patient-provider encounters. This frees up most of the time of front desk staff, and they can focus on patient support and contribute to better patient care practices rather than sticking to data entry.

Intelligent Triage: GenAI for Better Care Coordination

In an emergency situation, finding the right balance between care delivery and patient consultation becomes extremely difficult. This is due to the high patient population and limited resources. In such cases, GenAI patient triage can be of excellent use; let’s see how:

1. Symptom Assessment Accuracy: The first use case is the ability of the GenAI solution to analyze patient-reported symptoms and medical history in real time to provide a preliminary assessment. This can help the practice to prioritize which patients to consult first based on the severity of their medical condition.

2. Care Urgency Determination: It is a known fact now that AI systems are excellent at recognizing patterns and reporting. Applying the same logic to your healthcare system with GenAI patient triage, the appropriate routing of patients to necessary aspects of care can be made possible. For instance, if a patient requires urgent care, then after analyzing, they can be routed to an urgent care facility, the same for routine check-ups and specialist referrals, etc.

3. Clinical Decision Support: Another use case of GenAI patient triage, or rather an extension of it, can be seen in clinical decision support. Meaning, these modules can provide healthcare providers with AI-generated insights and recommendations before patient encounters after analyzing data. This can improve patient-provider relationships extensively and can contribute to improving patient satisfaction rates significantly.

4. Continuity of Care Integration: Another extension of this can also be seen in maintaining care continuity. For instance, if the GenAI patient triage module is integrated with existing systems, then determining existing care plans can be extremely easy and safe.

Seamless EHR Integration: Connecting the Dots

Despite the lucrative benefits of digital front-door voice AI, if your system is not integrated and well-connected, then connecting the dots can be difficult, if not impossible. But why is integration, especially with EHR integration, extremely important? Well, let’s find out:

1. Real-Time Data Synchronization: If you have an integration with the EHR systems, then the information filled in by the patient can be directly updated in the EHR system during digital intake. This enables real-time data synchronization between systems, making it much easier for data to flow, and that too in real-time.

2. Workflow Automation: If the data flow is automated and streamlined, then workflow will also be automated and streamlined. This can be used in triggering appropriate clinical protocols and care pathways based on the intake data and AI assessment.

Some of the considerations for EHR integration that you must keep in mind while EHR integration is following the interoperability standards. This includes FHIR compliances and interoperability standards with major EHR systems, including Epic, Cerner, and AllScripts.

Also, if you have a custom workflow design, then a no-code front-door workflow solution can be a solution. This would allow practices to customize intake processes without much technical expertise, making things much easier.

Frequently Asked Questions