In the wake of the ongoing fight against the coronavirus, AI may be moving to center stage in healthcare faster than anyone ever expected, but stakeholders should remember that for all the potential efficiencies, patients must be comfortable with the range of new technologies.

That’s according to Nagi Prabhu, chief product officer at Solutionreach, a patient relationship management provider, who spoke during a recent HIMSS20 Virtual Webinar on AI and patient experience.

Yes, Prabhu said, people are ready to trust automation in many of their daily interactions, but the “human touch” remains key when it comes to healthcare.

“There's an expectation that there's an interaction happening between the patient and provider, but the tools and services and resources that are available on the provider side are insufficient," Prabhu explained. “And that's what causing this big disconnect between what patients are seeing and wanting, compared to other industries where they have experienced it. You have got to be careful in terms of where you apply that AI, particularly in healthcare, because it must be in use cases that enrich human interaction. Human interaction is not replaceable.”

To be sure, Prabhu added, there are many straightforward uses for AI currently possible – in scheduling and patient feedback, for example – but even these situations require the right balance.

"If you push the automation too far, from zero automation ... to 100% automation, there's going to be a disconnect because these tools aren't perfect," he said. "There needs to be a good balancing.”

Echoing Prabhu’s concerns, Kevin Pawl, senior director of patient access at Boston Children's Hospital, explained how his organization carefully approaches the development of AI strategies when it comes to patient interactions.

"We've analyzed why patients and families call Boston Children's – over 2 million phone calls to our call centers each year – and about half are for non-scheduling matters," Pawl said during the virtual session. "Could we take our most valuable resource, our staff, and have them work on those most critical tasks? And could we use AI and automation to improve that experience and really have the right people in the right place at the right time?”

Among the concerns Pawl said providers need to take into consideration when developing AI programs are hurdles such as patients' fear of change and broader system interoperability and security, as well as “the value of walking providers and patients alike through each step of any new experience, and how the workflows and preferences of these individuals will shape their adoption of the new tools.”

In short, he said, organizations should “err on the side of caution” as they evaluate what programs to use and where to use them.