Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1545410
17 PATIENT & CAREGIVER EXPERIENCE 5 ways AI is reshaping the patient experience By Rick Evans, Senior Vice President of Patient Services and Chief Experience Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital E very day we are bombarded with information and speculation on what the advent of artificial intelligence means for healthcare. In this blizzard of information, it's sometimes difficult to separate fact from hype. However, in the healthcare patient and consumer experience space, there are some clear trends emerging: 1. AI is bringing new capabilities to healthcare that will help us better prevent and treat serious disease. At NewYork-Presbyterian, we are already harnessing the power of AI to identify conditions like structural heart disease earlier than ever before, using AI to analyze data from basic cardiac test results. This early diagnosis is literally lifesaving for patients. This is just one use case we are working on. Innovations in this space are happening daily, and the models of care we deliver will be transformed in the years ahead. 2. AI has transformed our ability to collect and understand the perceptions, needs and sentiments of our patients and families. When you focus on the actual work of understanding and improving the patient experience, AI is helping us to achieve levels of understanding that were theoretical just a few years ago. Patient experience has long been measured by data from patient surveys. These surveys still form the backbone of PX-related data being tracked in most organizations. However, patient experience leaders have long known that the richness of the patient experience is not contained merely in items from surveys. There is a wide array of "unstructured data" that come into our organizations every day. This includes comments on surveys, patient letters and reviews. There is an even bigger universe of feedback and insight contained in things like the conversations our patients and customers have with us when they call into our organizations. All of this feedback can now be collected, categorized and turned into actionable insights, leveraging AI. The depth of insight from this newer capability is transforming what we measure and what we work on. Much of this data is also available in real time, which is an advancement from the lag that occurs with traditional surveys. There is enormous potential here to understand and do better for the patients we serve and to move beyond a dependence on static, lagging metrics. The technology to collect and analyze this valuable data is now more available than ever and any credible strategy to measure and understand the patient experience should include this vital component. 3. AI is empowering patients with a wealth of information that was unimaginable just a few years ago. Many of us are familiar with asking "Dr. Google" questions about our symptoms and conditions. AI has become Dr. Google on steroids. A poll released last month by the Kaiser Family Foundation underscores this trend. According to the poll, a third of adults have used AI to get health information in the last year. The numbers are even higher for younger people. Of course, there are pluses and minuses with this dynamic. There are valid questions about the accuracy of information gathered via AI and concerns about how to help patients evaluate this information. However, information is power, particularly for patients. While we need to find ways to make this capability truly productive, it is something that should be embraced. Strategies to improve patient experience should factor this dynamic into our goals and interventions. 4. AI is turning the work of consumer access upside down. Consumer access to healthcare remains a major challenge for nearly every healthcare organization, in every market. Patients are bringing their expectations from their interactions with other industries to their healthcare experiences. While they still expect compassion and humanity, they also expect convenience and demand less friction. They want responsive access to information, their providers and appointments at their fingertips. Healthcare organizations are striving every day to meet these expectations. Agentic AI is further accelerating the pace of change with access work. The era of healthcare organizations transacting only on their websites is coming to an end. There is enormous promise here for healthcare consumers, but healthcare organizations need to pick up the pace to meet this moment. 5. The power of AI also comes with important cautions and questions. As I mentioned at the start of this column, AI comes with promise but also cautions. There are ethical considerations about how information is harvested and used. Healthcare is built on trust. Any use of AI must reinforce that trust, not undermine it. Information generated from AI is not always complete or accurate. If there were ever an industry where that matters, it's healthcare. We must safeguard accuracy so that the core expectations of healthcare — quality and safety — are never compromised. There is also pacing to be carefully thought through. Change in the AI space comes daily. How do we manage that pace in a way that works for our patients but also for our caregivers and team members in a way that maintains and enhances the experience for all? This means that our steps must be thoughtful and evidence-based. We can and should be bold, but also true to the core of our mission and what our patients expect of us, and what our colleagues need to work effectively every day. At its core, AI is a tool. This very powerful tool should be used, not to replace people, but to enhance the humanity of healthcare. It can and should be used to free up healthcare teams to have the human, empathetic interactions with patients and each other that we all yearn for. AI can and should be used to enhance the human experience for all within our walls. Organizations that embrace it and thoughtfully utilize it will be the leaders in the years ahead. n