According to a report from Accenture, patients are increasingly switching providers, and at least a portion say it’s because of the digital experience. In fact, the report goes on to show that digital engagement is a strong predictor of loyalty. Increasingly, patients say they are less likely to stay with a provider who doesn’t provide a good digital experience, and a bad digital experience effects how they feel about their entire healthcare interaction. In other words, great care or bedside manner doesn’t mean a patient will stay if the rest of their experience doesn’t meet their needs.

Patients demand convenient healthcare access akin to online services. A robust digital front door, integrating online scheduling, telehealth, patient portals, symptom checkers, and payment management, is crucial. It offers a competitive edge by enhancing accessibility, patient loyalty, brand perception, market reach, revenue, and leveraging data for insights, ensuring health systems meet modern expectations and stay competitive. Modern patients rightly demand that healthcare access be as straightforward as ordering a meal online or hailing a ride, which is still far from the norm.

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What is the digital front door? Digital front door describes a set of interactive and transaction-ready capabilities to enable digital interactions between patients and health systems throughout the care journey, from pre-service to follow-up and payment. When leveraged appropriately, a digital front door strategy can improve patient experiences, drive access, and reduce (or eliminate) reliance on paper-based workflows and manual processes.

Conversational AI is an advanced technology that allows machines to understand, process, and respond to human language in a way that is both contextually relevant and interactive. Within the healthcare sector, this technology is increasingly deployed to automate routine tasks and deliver a more robust and personalized patient experience. Conversational AI leverages a combination of machine learning, natural language processing, and occasionally deep learning to interpret and respond to user inputs, with a conversational user interface that mimics human interaction. Digital health companies deploy conversational AI through chatbots, voice assistants, messaging apps, or any other type of platform where natural language interactions occur.