How Healthcare Organizations Can Leverage Messaging Apps to Enhance Patient Support and Communication

The benefits of messaging apps for healthcare organizations in improving communication and patient support.

I was struck reading the latest Digital 2023 Global Overview Report to see chat and messaging top the list of most used websites and apps.

In recent years, messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Instagram Direct have become increasingly popular. As a result of this shift toward private messaging, people are changing their interactions with each other online, and marketers are also taking advantage of this trend.

So why are people moving away from public feeds and towards private messaging?

I believe it’s primarily for privacy reasons. Many people prefer to have one-to-one conversations rather than broadcast their thoughts and activities online.

Messaging platforms also offer a more personalized experience. One-to-one conversations allow for a deeper connection and more intimate conversations. For healthcare, this shift towards private messaging opens up new opportunities for personalized audience engagement.

Real-time patient support

Healthcare messaging apps offer real-time patient support. Patients can use messaging apps to ask questions and report symptoms to healthcare professionals. Especially for minor health concerns that don’t require in-person care, this can provide patients with quick and convenient access to healthcare.

Additionally, messaging apps can reduce unnecessary in-person visits. Through messaging apps, patients can receive guidance on self-care and symptom management, reducing the need to visit healthcare facilities. Health care professionals can also monitor patients remotely with messaging apps, allowing them to provide support and intervene as needed.

Personalized communication

Personalized communication can make all the difference in patient engagement and satisfaction. A messaging app allows healthcare organizations to create messages tailored to a patient’s medical history and preferences. Sending health reminders is one way healthcare organizations can use personalized messaging. Reminders can be sent to patients regarding important health screenings, medication refills, and follow-up appointments. The scheduling of appointments can also be customized through messaging apps.

Automated patient support

Using chatbots, healthcare organizations can offer automated patient support for frequently asked questions and basic health inquiries. Patients can use chatbots to receive quick answers to common health questions, such as symptoms of common illnesses, medication instructions, and advice on when to seek medical attention. By providing automated support for these inquiries, chatbots can help patients access the information they need quickly and easily. This can also free up healthcare professionals’ time and resources to focus on more complex cases and improve patient access to care.

How can you achieve this?

Both human and chatbot interaction can work for messaging apps, depending on the complexity of the inquiries. Chatbots can provide automated responses to frequently asked questions and handle basic customer support issues, which can save time and resources while still providing a positive patient experience.

You can develop your chatbot using a chatbot builder platform, such as ManyChat, Chatfuel, or BotStar. These platforms allow you to create chatbots without coding skills, using drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built templates. Before creating a chatbot, it’s important to determine your goals and the specific tasks you want your chatbot to handle. This will help you determine the type of chatbot you need and the features it should have.

Once your chatbot is built, you need to train it to understand and respond to patient inquiries. This involves setting up rules and triggers for different types of inquiries and testing the chatbot’s responses to ensure accuracy. However, for more complex inquiries or issues, human interaction will be necessary to provide personalized support and resolve the issue. In these cases, organizations may use a hybrid approach that combines chatbot automation with human intervention, where chatbots handle simple queries and route more complex inquiries to human agents for resolution.

The use of chatbots could transform the healthcare industry by providing real-time patient support, personalized communication, and automated answers to frequently asked questions.The goal of course should be to use chatbots to supplement human intervention, not to replace it entirely. Providing high-quality, personalized care to patients requires the right balance of automation and human support.