Latest / Off the Chart: A Business of Medicine Podcast / S1 Ep192: The calls your practice isn't answering, with Amol Nirgudkar of Patient Prism
Transcript
- Todd Shryock 0:01 I'm here with Amal Nergoodker, co-founder and CEO, Patient Prism, to talk about how to improve patient communications and satisfaction. Amal, thanks for joining me. Speaker 1 0:13 Thank you for having me, Todd. Todd Shryock 0:15 So let's start with the problem. How frustrated are patients with their doctors' offices right now, and and what's driving some of that frustration? Speaker 1 0:26 I think it's access, right? We have to make sure that patients want what they want when they want it. Nobody wants to call a doctor for entertainment purposes. They're calling a doctor because they want to be seen for the problem that they have, and they don't necessarily want to wait to be seen, and so if there is one problem that somebody says, "What's the biggest problem? I think it's access. It's access, availability, and access when patient wants it. We want what we want now in healthcare. We definitely want it even yesterday, right? I have a I have a toothache. I need to see a doctor now. I I I need to get my teeth whitened. I need to see a doctor now. I have a mole on my on my forehead or or skin, and I want to see a doctor now. I don't want to wait nine weeks to see a dermatologist, and that's the that's the biggest challenge, is is getting through. Well, getting through is a challenge. Number one challenge is, are they even going to answer my phone? Second, if I if I call them, if I they answer, are they going to give me an appointment? And when I need it, I'm going to take time off, all that stuff. Those two things, right? Access is the big thing, accessing the people in the first place, and then on top of that, when you meet with them, are they actually going to give you an appointment when it's convenient to you? Todd Shryock 1:45 So, how does this affect practices? Are they losing business? Are they getting negative reviews? What what's the bottom line for them? Speaker 1 1:53 I think what what's happening with practices that patients either are giving up, which means you're losing the business, To either your competitor sometimes, or or the patient just gets frustrated unless it's kind of a life-threatening thing, right? But but you're losing the business. You're losing the business on missed calls because you're not picking the phone. 25 to 30% of calls in healthcare not even picked up during business hours. So that's your losing business. You're providing a worse patient experience because that's not how you treat a patient or a customer by not answering their phone calls. And and sometimes these voicemails not even returned in a day or two or three. Sometimes they're not even returned. So yes, we are losing customers. We're losing business, but we're losing the opportunity to serve the patient, and that's even more important. Healthcare, right? We are here to serve in healthcare. We're not here. Yes, money is a side effect. Health is the the main thing that we're going after, and and and and and so that's that definitely there. The other thing they're losing is many healthcare organizations have now engaged in direct-to-consumer marketing, spending money on Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Microsoft Ads, social media, Instagram, and and that marketing dollars are being. If you're spending marketing dollars to drive these patients to college, and you don't pick up the phone, you're losing that marketing dollars. You don't have an appointment, and they go somewhere else, you've lost that marketing. So not only you're not making money, but you're losing your marketing spend because you don't have any access. Todd Shryock 3:28 And for the patient, are are you seeing patients that just give up and don't get treatment because of this? Speaker 1 3:34 I think I think I think if you need something, you're gonna call the next person, right? You're gonna call the next person that showed up on your Google search or whatever ChatGPT search, they're they're going everywhere because again, patients today, once they have decided to call a doctor of any kind, they want a service to be provided to them. So they they they they usually Google or now they use whatever large language model, Anthrop Claude, or ChatGPT. They find the doctor not available. Next, nobody answers the phone. Next, and they have just gone on. The patients are they're they're seeking care, but they're just trying to find it anywhere they can find. That's that's really most likely outcome. Todd Shryock 4:18 Why hasn't this been fixed? Why why is this continuing to be a problem in healthcare? Speaker 1 4:24 I think post pandemic, I think we had a lot of upheaval in the in the job market, and you know, one of the thing was that we number one, we don't have enough providers in the United States of America to serve the patient population, we have. We have. We always have this supply-demand problem, right? We have not enough supply. There's tons of demand, lots of demand, not enough supply. We don't graduate enough doctors, enough nurses, enough physical therapists. We just don't graduate them. So that's that's the fundamental problem. We don't have enough medical. Right, dental schools or whatever that is. That's the one. Second is that we. I think. I think one of the challenges that healthcare has always thought about the front office, the receptionist, or the call center agents as people who just take orders, and and and but but not somebody who delivers the patient the the first line of like trust, right? And and so they they're they're really taught as order takers. So if they don't see something, they it's almost like the patient's coming in the way of of doing their jobs, and and and and and and so some of the lowest paid positions are in healthcare are at the front, and and and so there's there's training there is and and there's not a lot of people entering that either so there's just there's a shortage of people over there too. Labor costs have gone up. Everything has gone up since the pandemic. Today we're high-time labor costs. We can't afford to hire all these people either to answer all these calls. So that's where you know technology. I think is going to help with that, but but I think fundamentally the first thing we have to answer every phone call, or every inquiry, whether it might be an online scheduled inquiry, it might be a form fill, whatever that is, it needs to be answered, and in a reasonable amount of time. Hopefully, on the phone, we need to pick it up within three rings, and those those are kind of the things. And we have a we don't have enough supply of doctors, and then we don't have enough people to answer the phones at the front, and and and they they don't they don't make as much money either. So that's also a challenge of people more entering that space. Todd Shryock 6:34 So how can AI help solve these issues for medical practices? Speaker 1 6:40 I think there is multiple ways, right? One is online scheduling is not AI, but it's available, making it avail easier for patients to book an appointment online, right? Go on their phone, look at appointment slots, pick a slot, done, no human friction. That can avoid that can get get that going, but sometimes healthcare conversations are very complex, which you can't just book online. It's not like a haircut, which I don't care. I can book a haircut online. I know what it's going to be. It's not a big deal. In healthcare converse, sometimes there's insurance nuances. There's out of network. There's Medicare, Medicaid, all kinds of stuff, right? And and so sometimes you need to have a conversation. So there are today. We have multiple companies across the country offering what they call is the voice receptionists or voice agents that are answering the phone calls 24/7. They don't have to take a break, and and and and and they are they're providing information in some cases. In some cases, they're also booking the appointment. Those agents are good today. They're not great. They will become great one day. But today, I think that's the first step: is to at least do the overflow, at least do the weekends, and at least get the AI voice agents to answer those phone calls on on on times when where where we can't pick up the phone, or it's a weekend or after hours, and we let the AI take it over. I think that's the first good step in in making sure that every phone call is answered. Todd Shryock 8:12 What kind of return on investment? I mean, these things probably aren't cheap. Like, is it worth the investment to make these changes, Speaker 1 8:23 100% The cost of compute in AI is coming down every year, so actually, it's the best time to implement an AI solution in the practice because all it does-it's like depending on what what specialty you're in, right? Average patient could be anywhere from $250 per visit to 5000 a visit. So it depends, right? And you know, any of these AI receptionist services are anywhere between five to $800 a month. Sometimes they are $1,000. So all you need is one extra patient booked, right? Sometimes, sometimes it's have maybe two patients, so it does. There is ROI there, right? There's 100% ROI there, so I think every organization across healthcare should be thinking about these things, not as a end-all, be-all solution, but at least as a way to to stop the bleeding, or or at least stop the patient from leaving a voicemail. Because nobody leaves one, right? Nobody leaves one. They just hang up and go somewhere else. So at least, even if the the AI receptionist does not book the appointment, at least they can take a nice message and then elevate that message to a human to call back at a at a good cadence. That everybody should be doing that today, because you know the agents are good. They're good. They're not great. They're. I think they're at B minus probably at best today. They look really good on paper because the demos look really amazing. Because everybody can make the demos look amazing. I mean, yes, I'm an AI company and we. We we we don't do that, but but but there's lots of people that looks amazing. Oh my God, AI can solve everything. Not yet. One day, who knows? All of us will be sitting home and the robots will be doing everything. But I don't think that day has come yet. God knows when it'll come or if it'll come. But we don't know. Todd Shryock 10:17 So this isn't a case of fire your front office staff and replace them with AI. This is a case of use the AI to help your front office staff be better. Speaker 1 10:29 100% I mean, that's the point of AI, in my opinion, is to alleviate the humans and letting them do what they do best. Right. I think if we can allow the front offices to spend more time with the patients in checking out and and giving them a good experience as they check in and check out, right? That's more relevant for them than being on the phone with an insurance company or a patients. They still have to certain point, right? We always need humans to build relationship with other humans, but the AI can do the mundane, or the AI can take over when the humans can't, and I think that's the right model in my view as an AI company for the last 11 years. That's what I think AI's role is. At some point, if it just gets like ridiculously amazing, maybe that's the. But that time, I don't. I think it's far away. Todd Shryock 11:17 Do patients do they push back against AI? Are they okay talking to AI agents? Speaker 1 11:22 You know, we don't know yet. But I think, I think, given the state of technology today, I don't think we're there yet to ensure the same level of patient satisfaction as a human-to-human conversation Can do, but but with a caveat, there are certain types of appointments that can be handled by AI. I have a routine physical, okay, no problem. AI tells me what it is, great. Okay, so there there are certain things we can abstract away. If I'm in a dental business and I have a hygiene appointment every six months. I know what the slots are. I know what my availability is, and the AI can offer that. So, in lower acuity areas where there is not a lot of thinking required, where you're an existing patient, where you have established relationship with someone, it's it's it's very good experience. In some higher acuity problems, where there is complexity around insurance and benefits and coverage and deductibles and copays, sometimes sometimes it can get frustrating for a patient because they they really want and it's expensive thing, right? Healthcare is expensive. Most bankruptcies in America happen because they can't afford healthcare, and so so yeah, I think I I'm I'm I'm I'm a full embracer of AI. I love what it's doing, but a step by step approach. I think lower acuity first, and get get the patient scheduled. Then for higher acuity, if you can't answer the phone, then at least take a good message, give them the right information about the practice, the doctor, insurances, give them a good patient experience, and then elevate that to a human to to do follow-ups again. So there, there is AI can do a do a lot of good things right now. Todd Shryock 13:16 What else do doctors need to know or be thinking about this topic? Speaker 1 13:22 Well, depending on what specialty you're in, right? I think the AI at the front office for AI voice stuff-it's great. Agentic scheduling, basically having chat bots on your website to answer questions, having a text agent to answer questions, so on your website now, like text us if you have any questions, and AI is talking to them back and forth. So that's that's that's a very good thing. There is now depending on what specialty you're in. If you need to look at X-rays in your specialty, then then then there is great radiology AI that looks at X-rays and diagnosis and finds things in dentistry. That's a big thing in radiology. Otherwise, it's a huge thing. So that's something you need to adopt in revenue cycle management in in in healthcare. AI is helping with filing the right claims, reducing denials, in in in making sure all the attachments are properly done, so there's a lot of AI opportunity in in revenue cycle to collect amount of collect the billings you're doing, fill them out accurately, get paid on time. So there's AI there. There's AI in marketing that that that that that's that is deployed now. Not that the doctors can do anything about it, but their agency partner has to leverage AI to acquire new patients. There's AI everywhere, but but I think a lot of it's just depending on what what you're doing. I think that my advice to doctors is is pick one thing that that's broken. Fix that, see see the ROI, and then go to the next one, and then see what's broken, and go fix that. Don't just buy AI because everything sounds really cool right now. That you know, Elon's send these optimus robots everywhere, and they're going to do everything. I mean, it sounds exciting, but the challenge, the bigger challenge in AI for doctors is not buying the technology; it's using the technology, and in getting people to use it. That's where AI is going to fail you if you don't do anything with it, and that that's that's the bigger challenge. Todd Shryock 15:36 Very good, Amal. Thanks for joining me. Speaker 1 15:39 This was good, right? Todd Shryock 15:40 Yeah. Oh, good. That Speaker 1 15:41 was good. Okay. All right. That was easy. Transcribed by https://otter.ai