Building a Healthcare Chatbot: Tips and Points to Consider

It is estimated that the global market of healthcare chatbots will grow by 14.5% between 2019 and 2026. More and more medical businesses recognize the potential of chatbots for building excellent customer relationships. It is especially relevant in terms of the ongoing consumerization of healthcare .

What makes medical chatbots so useful? To which aspects of chatbot development should you pay attention? We're here to respond to such questions.

Read our new material to know how communication bots can improve the quality of your medical services and get some tips on healthcare chatbot development .

Why Are Chatbots a Good Solution for Your Medical Business?

Estimates show that chatbot implementation can increase revenues by 25%. In healthcare, such conversational tools improve customer engagement and overall service efficiency. Let's outline some of the most valuable benefits of chatbots in healthcare:

Improved customer scaling, as communication software can handle much more conversations than human staff;
Timely medical advice, as chatbots in healthcare can instantly provide the users with relevant medical data;
Reduced staff expenses, as a conversational tool can replace many customer support agents;
Improved customer satisfaction, as clients can constantly stay in touch with your company via chatbot as a service for healthcare;
Process automation, as some communication bots facilitate automated invoicing and medical scheduling;
Improved internal communication, as healthcare chatbots can provide practitioners with useful work-related data.

Therefore, by implementing a chatbot for healthcare, you can make your medical business more efficient and profitable. Check the next chapter of our material for some specific advice on the implementation of chatbot in healthcare.

Building a Healthcare Chatbot: 5 Tips and Points to Consider

Creating an excellent chatbot for healthcare is not an easy task. You should be aware of many issues and implications. Here are some tips and points that, according to our technology expertise, are vital for building a successful healthcare chatbot.

1.Minimize vulnerability risks

Healthcare chatbots often work with private data or other protected health information (PHI). To build a HIPAA compliant chatbot, avoid most of the third-party texting platforms, such as Facebook Messenger. Instead, focus on implementing HIPAA compliant web development technologies. We recommend using the ones provided by AWS . In addition, implement secure APIs that will connect your HIPAA compliant chatbot to a fortified server to avoid potential information leaks. Also, make sure to secure your chatbots in healthcare with a well-established firewall that protects them from web threats. Finally, add such standard safeguards as user authorization, 2-step authentication, and end-to-end data encryption.

2.Decide Between Rule-based and an AI-driven Chatbot

Choosing the right chatbot technology in healthcare is crucial for your customer communication. Hence, anticipate everything in advance to make a well-thought decision. First of all, let's find out the difference between the two most common chatbot technology types.

A rule-based communication bot is governed by a decision tree, which maps out the conversation. Anticipate what a user might ask and prepare detailed answers to the questions while building such a tool. A rule-based chatbot in healthcare will provide users with all relevant information defined in a complex system of predetermined responses.

On the contrary to rule-based tools, an AI chatbot healthcare is not limited by any decision tree. Such software uses machine learning to understand the context and respond to the questions. The more you use these chatbots in healthcare - the more efficiently they generate the answers

Both rule-based and AI-driven chatbots in healthcare have their benefits. Check the table below to know the most significant ones.

Actually, there is no right answer to the question on which chatbot technology type to choose for your healthcare app. Many medical companies implement rule-based tools as more reliable and cost-efficient solutions. This helps them avoid unnecessary expenses on AI chatbot development services, which can bring some unpredictable results. However, everything depends on business needs and specific customer demands.

3.Employ the appropriate conversational style

Whether you make up phrases for a rule-based tool or create initial communication settings for an AI-driven conversation software, make its conversational style fit the users. Hence, anticipate and thoroughly research healthcare chatbot use cases. The bot should organically start the communication with an attractive opening message. Also, make sure that your medical chatbot chooses a polite conversational style. It is vital to ensure informative responses to the clients. Therefore, anticipate the questions and support your chatbots in healthcare with relevant data. The more information your medical chatbot can provide, the more satisfied are your clients.

4.Provide human backup

Even advanced chatbot technology in healthcare may face unpredictable questions that require human involvement. You should have at least one support agent providing chatbot backup in such cases. There is no need to make your medical chatbot redirect the users with challenging questions automatically. Instead, provide your clients with the "contact our support agent" option. Mind that it should become available only when your healthcare chatbot struggles to deliver relevant information to the clients. Otherwise, many users may choose this option from the start, which will make your healthcare chatbot irrelevant.

5.Go for customizability

There are many ready solutions and chatbot generators on the Internet. However, platform chatbot implementation in healthcare limits your flexibility. You can use conversational software generators only for creating communication bots with simple logic, which maybe not enough to ensure an excellent user experience. Choose custom chatbot development services to build solutions that fit the most specific needs of your clients.

Here are some of the most valuable benefits of a custom chatbot for healthcare.

Even though building a custom chatbot from scratch may be much more challenging than using a ready solution, it is very likely to pay off.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have a better understanding of healthcare chatbots and their essentials, it's just about time to employ the potential of such communication technologies. Mind that this task requires much technical expertise. If you feel insecure about your technological capacities, rely on software engineering experts offering chatbot development services.

Binariks is ready to facilitate your plans. We have experience in developing Angular-based chatbots tailored to diverse industries, including healthcare and fitness. You may find more information on our software engineering expertise in our portfolio .