What Are AI Chatbots in Healthcare: Types, Benefits, Examples

Posted in AI Healthcare

Healthcare delivery is shifting to digital-first solutions, and AI chatbots are becoming an integral part of that change. It is no longer basic Q&A anymore but an outlet for patients to manage their health, have reduced workload on providers, and smoothen routine administrative tasks. The numbers of AI chatbot in healthcare market support this claim. Valued at $184.6 million in 2021, is expected to grow to $431.47 million and potentially over $1.3 billion by 2028–2033, at an annual growth rate of 15–19%.

This surge is due to the increased demand for virtual care and the growing burden of chronic diseases. Let’s explore how AI chatbots are being used in healthcare today, the benefits they bring, and real-world examples of their impact.

What is the Purpose of a Chatbot in Healthcare?

An AI chatbot is a feature in solutions uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP) to simulate human-like conversations. 

AI chatbots in healtchare interact with patients and staff through text or voice, providing instant responses and assistance without the need for constant human intervention.

The main purpose of chatbots in healthcare industry is to support clinical workflows and reduce administrative burdens to improve patient engagement. They can dothe following tasks with ease: 

• Answer common questions
• Triage symptoms
• Schedule appointments
• Verify insurance
• Guide patients through treatment plans. 

For providers, chatbots free up valuable staff time, reduce repetitive manual tasks, and help deliver care more efficiently.

Types of AI Chatbots in Healthcare

• Rule-Based Chatbots: These bots follow pre-defined scripts and rules to provide answers to simple, repetitive questions and tasks, such as scheduling appointments or providing general information. 
• AI-Powered Chatbots: They use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning. These bots understand more complex queries, learn from interactions, and can provide more personalized responses. 
• Generative AI Chatbots: An advanced form of AI chatbots that can have more natural, human-like conversations, understand context better, and provide contextual answers. 
• Hybrid Chatbots: These AI chatbots in healthcare combine rule-based logic with AI capabilities, allowing them to handle routine tasks efficiently while also engaging in more complex interactions. 
• Informative Chatbots: These AI chatbots for healthcare are designed to provide information from a knowledge base or database, such as guiding users to resources or offering general health knowledge. 
• Conversational Chatbots: Conversational AI chatbot for healthcare is built for natural, human-like interactions to address patient concerns, provide emotional support, or facilitate health promotion through engaging dialogue. 
• Task-Based Chatbots: An AI chatbot in healthcare are built to perform one specific, predetermined task, such as screening for symptoms, scheduling an appointment, or providing medication reminders.

Use Cases of AI Chatbots in Healthcare

• Appointment Schedulers: These chatbots simplify the scheduling procedure and make it easy for patients to make appointments. These chatbots can manage appointments effectively and optimize scheduling thanks to Machine learning in the Healthcare industry.
• Medical Information Providers: Offering instant responses to medical queries, these chatbots enhance patient engagement. Examples of artificial intelligence in healthcare showcase how these chatbots provide accurate information while relieving healthcare professionals of repetitive tasks.
• Medication Management Assistants: Patients frequently struggle with drug adherence, according to medication management assistants. Patients are reminded to take their pills by medication management chatbots, ensuring they adhere to regimens efficiently.
• Diagnostic Chatbots: Leveraging medical databases and medical image analysis software, these chatbots assist in preliminary diagnosis. They help patients comprehend their symptoms and offer advice on how to seek medical care.
• After-Discharge Care: Patients may have queries or worries after leaving the hospital. Chatbots are employed to offer continuous support and direction.
• Chatbots for Mental Health: These chatbots offer counseling, resources, and aid for people struggling with emotional or psychological disorders, in response to the rising demand for mental health care.
• Assistance with Billing and Insurance: These chatbots aid with billing, payment processing, and insurance inquiries while managing the financial elements of healthcare.
• Language Translation Chatbots: Breaking language barriers, these chatbots facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers, ensuring everyone can access care.

Benefits of AI Chatbots in Healthcare 

• 24/7 Availability and Instant Responses: AI chatbots for healthcare are always available for patients to cater to their immidiate questions. This eliminates long wait times on the phone or the need to wait for office hours, which is crucial for time-sensitive health concerns.
• Better Access to Care: For people in remote or underserved areas, AI chatbots in healthcare can be a vital first point of contact, providing essential information and guidance without the need for a physical visit.
• High Patient Engagement and Education: Chatbot for healthcare system using artificial intelligence can provide personalized health information, reminders, and educational resources. This helps patients become more involved in their own care and better understand their health conditions and treatment plans.
• Medication Adherence: Chatbots in healthcare can send timely and personalized reminders to patients to take their medication. This is a major challenge in healthcare. This can lead to better health outcomes and a reduction in hospital readmissions.
• Anonymity: An AI healthcare chatbot can tackle sensitive or embarrassing health topics. the anonymity of a chatbot can make patients more comfortable disclosing information that they might be hesitant to share with a human.
• Appointment management: The entire process of scheduling, rescheduling, and canceling appointments is streamlined. They can also send automated reminders, which significantly reduces no-show rates.
• Medication reminders: Ai chatbots in healthcare are highly effective at improving medication adherence by sending timely and personalized reminders to patients about when to take their pills, what dosage, and any potential side effects.
• Checking symptoms: Using algorithms and medical databases, chatbots in healthcare industry can support a preliminary symptom assessment. They help patients understand their symptoms and provide guidance on the next steps, such as whether to seek immediate medical care or manage symptoms at home.
• Providing medical assistance: These AI chatbots in healthcare system can offer immediate symptom checking, triage, and general health information. They serve as a frontline form of medical assistance, helping patients navigate the healthcare system and find the right level of care.
• Health education: AI chatbots for healthcare are a powerful tool for improving health literacy. They provide patients with accurate and up-to-date information on various health conditions, preventive care, and lifestyle recommendations.
• Anonymity: For sensitive or personal health issues, the anonymous nature of AI chatbots in healthcare can make patients more comfortable discussing their concerns than they might be with a human.
• Enhanced accessibility: They help break down barriers to care and can be used by patients who have difficulty with traditional communication methods. Language translation features can facilitate communication between patients and providers who don’t speak the same language.
• Mental health: Digital assistants are providing a new avenue for mental health support, offering 24/7 access to resources, counseling, and therapeutic techniques to help manage stress, anxiety, and depression.
• Cost reduction / Cost savings: By automating routine tasks, chatbots can significantly reduce labor costs for healthcare organizations. They also help reduce costs by lowering no-show rates and potentially decreasing unnecessary in-person visits.
• Collecting data / Enhanced data collection: These AI chatbots in healthcare systems are excellent at collecting real-time patient data. Through interactive conversations, they can gather information about symptoms, health histories, and feedback on services.
• Data privacy: The chatbot for healthcare system using artificial intelligence systems can be designed with robust security measures to protect sensitive patient information. Techniques like encryption and differential privacy help to ensure that patient data remains secure and private in compliance with regulations like HIPAA.
• Hospital admin: Administrative systems can handle a wide range of tasks, from answering common questions about hospital hours and parking to providing information on billing and insurance. This frees up human staff to focus on more critical tasks.
• Insurance claims: They can guide patients through the complex process of filing insurance claims, collecting necessary information, and providing updates on the status of a claim. This automates and speeds up a typically time-consuming process.
• Patient feedback: An AI chatbot for healthcare can be used to collect valuable patient feedback through automated surveys after an interaction or appointment, allowing organizations to gain insights into patient satisfaction.
• Collecting patient information: AI chatbots can be used to collect pre-appointment information and patient histories in a streamlined, automated way, reducing wait times and administrative burden at the front desk.
• Automate data deployment: Systems can automatically send out information, such as appointment reminders, medication refill notifications, and educational content, ensuring that patients receive timely and relevant data without manual intervention.
• Connecting with existing healthcare systems: Chatbots in healthcare can be integrated with existing healthcare systems, such as Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and scheduling systems, through secure APIs. This allows them to access and synchronize real-time data for more accurate and personalized responses.
• Disease management: An AI healthcare chatbot can act as digital companions for patients with chronic illnesses, helping them manage their conditions by tracking vital health data, sending tailored health tips, and alerting providers to any concerning changes in their health.

AI-Powered CBT App for Mental Health Support By Folio3 Digital Health 

Consider AI-Powered CBT App for Mental Health Support a case study where the use of AI chatbots boosted patient engagement and resulted in cost savings, to demonstrate the practical impact of these technologies. This exemplifies how AI chatbots are useful healthcare solutions rather than merely theoretical concepts.

Folio3 Digital Health built an AI-driven mental health solution that reads mood and delivers personalized support along with thorough assessment. The chatbot can check and decipher emotional state, recommends the correct CBT or self-care guide, and adjusts it in real-time for a responsive mental wellness experience.

How to Create a Successful AI Chatbot for Healthcare Applications

These AI-powered chatbots in healthcare are not only capable of streamlining administrative processes but also enhancing patient engagement and healthcare outcomes. To harness the benefits of AI in healthcare and develop a successful solution, several key steps and considerations must be taken into account.

• Establish Stated Objectives: Start by specifying the precise goals for your healthcare AI chatbot. Choose the main use case, such as enhancing patient involvement, assisting with diagnostics, or managing administrative duties.
• Recognize Regulatory Compliance: It’s critical to make sure that your chatbot conforms with healthcare rules, such as HIPAA in the United States, given the sensitive nature of healthcare data. Privacy and data security must come first.
• Data Gathering and Integration: Compile pertinent healthcare data from reliable sources and incorporate it into the knowledge base of your chatbot. The cornerstone for reliable information and insights will be this data.
• Develop Natural Language Understanding: Implement robust natural language processing (NLP) capabilities to enable your chatbot to understand and respond to user queries in a conversational and human-like manner.
• Design User-Friendly Interfaces: Make user-friendly interfaces that are simple to interact with for both patients and medical professionals. Make sure the chatbot’s interface matches the branding of the healthcare organization.
• Individualization and Customization: Tailor the chatbot’s responses to each patient’s specific requirements. Utilise AI systems to tailor interactions and recommendations based on the preferences and medical history of the patient.
• Continuous Learning and Improvement: Use machine learning methods to help the chatbot continuously learn from its interactions and get better at responding to users. This guarantees that it is always current with the best medical practices and information.
• User Testing and Input: To obtain input and improve the functionality and usability of the chatbot, thoroughly test it with patients and healthcare professionals.
• Track and Analyse Performance: Track and analyze the chatbot’s performance regularly to see how it affects patient care. Metrics to track include user engagement, response precision, and patient happiness

Potential Challenges and Risks When using AI chatbot Technology in Healthcare

While AI chatbot technology has many advantages for the healthcare industry, some hazards and drawbacks need to be properly examined and managed:

• Privacy Concerns:  Sensitive patient data is handled by AI chatbots in the healthcare industry. Patients’ personal and medical information may be exposed due to data breaches caused by inadequate security measures. To protect patient privacy, it’s essential to build reliable encryption and authentication procedures.
• Misdiagnosis and Liability: While AI chatbots can help with diagnosis, they shouldn’t take the place of trained medical personnel. Using chatbots only for medical advice increases the risk of misdiagnosis, which might hurt patients and expose healthcare providers to liability.
• Limited Understanding and Empathy: Chatbots lack human empathy and may find it difficult to comprehend subtle communication cues or complex patient emotions. Patients may find chatbot conversations annoying or impersonal, which could negatively affect their entire experience.
• Technical concerns and downtime: Patients may not have access to vital information or support if chatbot services are disrupted by technical problems. Healthcare organizations need backup procedures in place to guarantee care continuity should things go wrong.
• Information Inaccuracy: Chatbots rely on the data they were trained on, and if this data is biased or out-of-date, it may produce incorrect recommendations and responses. To reduce this danger, regular updates and meticulous data vetting are crucial.
• Maintenance and Updates: Keeping AI chatbots up to date with the latest medical knowledge and technology can be resource-intensive. Neglecting updates can lead to outdated and potentially harmful advice.
• User Training: Patients and healthcare staff need proper training to effectively use AI chatbots. Inadequate training can lead to misunderstandings, errors, and frustration.

Examples of Successful AI Chatbots in Healthcare Today

The list of best healthcare chatbots include the following:

• Ada Health: This solution is one of the most well-known AI symptom checkers that uses a conversational interface to ask a series of questions about their symptoms. It then provides a list of potential conditions and recommendations on whether to self-care or see a doctor. 
• Babylon Health: Similar to Ada, Babylon Health features a symptom-checking AI chatbot that analyzes a patient’s symptoms against a large medical database to provide a preliminary diagnosis and next steps.
• Ubie: This AI-powered chatbot was developed by doctors and its symptom checker uses a short, 3-minute questionnaire to provide a report on possible causes for symptoms. It also helps users find doctors and other healthcare services.
• NHS 111 Online: The UK’s National Health Service uses an AI-powered symptom checker as part of its NHS 111 Online service, guiding users on whether they need to seek medical attention.
• Woebot: This is a clinically validated mental health chatbot that uses AI to provide emotional support and therapeutic techniques based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Research has shown it can help users manage stress, anxiety, and depression.
• Wysa: This AI chatbot offers emotional support and self-help tools grounded in CBT, mindfulness, and meditation. It has been used by individuals, employers, and even national health services to help users manage their mental well-being.
• Ginger: Now part of Headspace Health, Ginger offers AI-powered chat support combined with real human mental health coaches. It provides a hybrid approach, using AI for initial support and escalating to a human when needed.
• Northwell Health: As one of the largest healthcare providers in New York, Northwell Health implemented an AI system that reduced its call center volume by 50%. The system handles appointment scheduling, rescheduling, and cancellations, freeing up staff for more complex tasks.
• Boston Children’s Hospital (KidsMD): This hospital developed a system called KidsMD to help parents schedule appointments. The bot asks questions about a child’s symptoms and recommends whether an appointment is necessary, streamlining the intake process.
• EliseAI: This company provides ai-powered chatbots in healthcare with voice and text feature for healthcare providers to automate non-clinical tasks. Its system handles appointment scheduling, reminders, billing inquiries, and patient follow-ups, operating 24/7.
• Veradigm: This company offers an AI-powered predictive scheduler that uses analytics to predict demand and ensure appointment slots are filled efficiently. It helps to streamline workflows and reduce the administrative burden on staff.

Check Out Folio3 Digital Health’s Brain health Assessment App with AI Chatbot!

At Folio3 Digital Health, we specialize in building HIPAA-compliant healthcare solutions that put security, scalability, as top priorities. Our mental and brain health solution Neuroworld is an AI-powered, gamified assessment platform that blends real-time mood tracking, adaptive CBT, and intelligent symptom monitoring. AI chatbots guide habit formation and supports consistent, coordinated mental health care.

Alongside this, we deliver custom healthcare platforms designed for hospitals, clinics, and individual practitioners. These platforms not only connect patients and providers securely but also ensure seamless interoperability through integration with EHR/EMR systems and compliance with standards like HL7 and FHIR. 

Closing Note 

AI chatbots in healthcare are practical tools that deliver measurable value in healthcare with their ability to reduce administrative overhead, assist in clinical workflow. They improve patient engagement, making chatbots not only a convenience but a necessity. As adoption grows, the real differentiator will be how well these solutions integrate with existing systems, comply with standards like HIPAA, HL7, and FHIR, and adapt to the specific needs of each healthcare organization. 

The future of healthcare chatbots is not about replacing human interaction but about extending the reach of providers, enabling them to deliver care that is faster, more efficient, and more personalized. For healthcare leaders, the opportunity lies in viewing AI chatbots not as a standalone tool, but as a strategic investment in healthcare.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do AI chatbots help reduce operational costs in healthcare? 

AI chatbots in healthcare reduce operational costs via routine task automation. They handle appointment scheduling and billing inquiries, which frees up staff time and reduces the need for additional personnel. Furthermore, they decrease missed appointments and unnecessary emergency room visits, which are major sources of lost revenue.

How can AI chatbots be used for employee onboarding in healthcare? 

They can be used to answer new hires’ frequently asked questions about company policies and benefits. This automates the initial information-sharing process, allowing HR staff to focus on more strategic tasks.

How do AI chatbots support crisis management in healthcare settings? 

They provide immediate, 24/7 support during crises by offering basic medical guidance and mental health resources to a large number of people simultaneously.

How do AI chatbots support staff training in healthcare organizations? 

AI chatbots in healthcare can provide real-time guidance and information to staff, acting as a resource for continuous learning and helping new or less experienced personnel make informed decisions.

What are actionable ways to leverage AI chatbots for lead generation in healthcare? 

These AI chatbots engage website visitors in real-time, answer common questions, and collect patient information. This helps convert potential patients into leads by providing instant, personalized interaction and guiding them toward scheduling an appointment.

How can AI chatbots automate post-discharge follow-up in healthcare?

By automatically send personalized messages to patients to check on their recovery, track symptoms, and provide medication reminders. 

How can AI chatbots be used for patient triage in healthcare? 

These tools can do so with the help of preliminary symptom assessment by asking patients a series of structured questions. Based on the responses, they can recommend whether to seek emergency care, schedule a regular appointment, or manage symptoms at home.

How do AI chatbots assist with insurance verification in healthcare? 

They can automatically collect and verify a patient’s insurance details by integrating with existing systems. This reduces manual data entry and errors, streamlining the administrative process.

Are there any disadvantages of AI Chatbots in healthcare?

Yes, there are some drawbacks to using AI chatbots in the healthcare industry, including privacy concerns, a lack of empathy, technical difficulties, and moral dilemmas.

What are the 3 basic types of medical chatbots?

Medical chatbots in healthcare are divided into three types:

• Informational chatbots
• Symptom checker chatbots
• Medication management chatbots

Informational chatbots provide medical information, symptom checker chatbots assess symptoms, and medication management chatbots assist patients in managing their medications.

What is the difference between AI and chatbots?

Chatbots automate communication and customer service, while conversational AI aims for natural, human-like interactions, leading to increased adoption of conversational AI by companies

About the Author