Conversational AI

Conversational AI is growing in sophistication, where it can increasingly fill the gaps and help people who just need someone to talk to.

Loneliness is often caused or compounded by having reduced social interactions. Nothing is better than speaking to a friend or family member to ease the sense of loneliness. But that’s not always possible. Conversational AI is growing in sophistication, to the point where it can increasingly fill the gaps and help people who just need someone to talk to. Like Siri or Alexa, but tailored to offer long, open-ended conversations about various topics.

The healthcare industry is ready for multiple use cases of conversational AI. If applied appropriately, these systems can have a significant impact on our lives and the medical world. A few nations have already started using conversational AI on a large scale to bolster their healthcare services. 

Loneliness is a growing public health issue that substantially increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Artificial agents, such as robots, embodied conversational agents, and chatbots, present an innovation in care delivery and have been shown to reduce patient loneliness by providing social support. However, similar to a doctor and patient relationship, the quality of a patient’s relationship with an artificial agent can impact support effectiveness as well as care engagement. Incorporating mammalian attachment-building behavior in neural network processing as part of an agent’s capabilities may improve relationship quality and engagement between patients and artificial agents. 

With disinformation and confusion about COVID-19 on the rise, effective patient engagement is taking on an even greater role. Studies have shown that engaged patients show improved health outcomes and that effective tools can enhance service delivery. But it’s not always simply a question of communicating more. Communicating with impact is the real key and innovators and vendors are exploring the best ways to do so.  

Two such teams are mPulse Mobile and Magellan Rx Management, which recently collaborated to address social isolation and loneliness in nearly 1,800 people with chronic and specialty conditions across the United States. By using mPulse’s conversational AI platform, the companies say they were able to conduct dialogues via text messages with participants on a variety of health-related topics during 45 days. 

“This relationship blends conversational AI and expertise,” Chris Nicholson, CEO of mPulse Cell, stated in an interview with Healthcare IT Information. “It leverages a broad attainment of capabilities.” 

The vendors say they conducted two pilot programs regarding the risk that social isolation and loneliness bring to overall health. First, they surveyed individuals last fall, in the thick of COVID-19 and before vaccines were available in the United States. Then, they repeated the program over the summer.  

“We wanted to have a way to better reach our members who may be suffering from isolation,” said Dr. Caroline Carney, chief medical officer at Magellan, a pharmacy benefit manager. She noted that patients with HIV or rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, might be feeling particularly fearful at a time when COVID-19 could put them at elevated risk.