Preparing for the Future of AI Chatbots in Healthcare

Updated on June 22, 2023
Medicine doctor hand working with modern computer interface as medical network concept

ChatGPT may have passed the medical board exam a month ago, but it isn’t ready to be a doctor yet. The question the healthcare industry now asks is how will generative AI and chatbot change the healthcare landscape? And how soon will it happen? 

To answer these questions, Software Advice conducted a 2023 Medical Chatbots Survey of doctors, therapists, and practice owners/founders who currently use live chatbots on their websites. Here’s what we learned:  

  • A quarter of doctors are already using AI-powered chatbots, with the most popular application being appointment scheduling (72%)
  • 68% of practices report a positive ROI for their current chatbots, and 55% of those who use these tools for patient self-scheduling are saving themselves time
  • 77% of doctors believe AI chatbots will develop to the point of safely treating patients within the next 10 years 

How doctors are using chatbots today

Our survey found that most practices currently hosting chatbots on their websites are using chatbots that combine artificial intelligence (AI) and rule-based procedures, with another 25% using chatbots that are entirely powered by AI. 

The most common uses for chatbots today are administrative tasks designed to intercept common patient inquiries and resolve them without having to involve a human administrator. The most common task is scheduling patient appointments, followed by fielding prescription refill requests, providing medical histories, and sending appointment reminders. 

Somewhat surprisingly, 46% of practices in our survey are already using their chatbots to assess patient symptoms and help with triage. While this is an incredibly promising area for future development, current iterations of these tools are limited in this capacity. For example, rule-based chatbots will only be able to process and sort the most commonly seen symptoms for conditions like the flu. While chatbots cannot exactly be held liable in the event of a misdiagnosis, providers risk malpractice complaints (or even litigation) if their chatbots cause damage to patients due to a lack of human oversight. 

For now, it’s safer to stick with less risky administrative tasks when deploying a chatbot in a healthcare setting. However, that’s incredibly likely to change relatively soon. 

How doctors will use chatbots tomorrow

As chatbots continue to grow smarter and more able to accurately diagnose complex illnesses, doctors will implement these tools for triage more and more. Chatbots will be used much more reliably to assess symptoms, sort patients according to urgency of their conditions, and even provide diagnoses.

Over a third (37%) of doctors in our survey believe chatbots will develop to the point of safely being able to treat patients within the next five years. Another 40% think that will happen within the next 10 years, and only six percent say they don’t believe it will ever happen. 

Within the next 10 years, it is incredibly likely we will reach a point where chatbots are able to diagnose common illnesses, generate treatment plans, and prescribe medications—all without requiring the patient to actually speak to a human doctor. 

How doctors should prepare for the future

Bearing all the current predictions for AI chatbots in mind, we have to come back to the present to consider how ChatGPT is changing the current healthcare landscape, and how providers can begin to prepare for some of these inevitable changes today.    

It’s not unreasonable for healthcare providers to be worried about chatbots taking their jobs, but that’s unlikely to happen. Not in such a clearcut way, at least. 

Instead, it’s likely that tools such as ChatGPT will eventually take over many of the responsibilities of healthcare providers. This should be welcome news, considering the rampant burnout and employee turnover in the medical community. 

So, how can you start preparing for the future of AI chatbots today? By taking advantage of the chatbots that are already available to healthcare providers. It’s proven that these tools save users time and make medical offices more efficient. 

In addition, by immersing yourself in this technology right now, you are much more likely to be aware of developments as they happen. You’ll position yourself at the forefront of AI chatbot innovation, and be a lot more prepared to implement those updates as they become available. 

Lisa Morris
Lisa Morris
Associate Principal Medical Analyst at Software Advice

Lisa Morris is an associate principal medical analyst at Software Advice, a company that simplifies software buying. Through one-on-one conversations and trusted insights, industry-specific advisors guide buyers to top software options in as little as 15 minutes.