Using Conversational AI to Increase MyChart Signups and Decrease Call Volume in Northeast Florida.
increase in new MyChart sign-ups
decrease in call center volume
more sign-ups in first quarter than original goal
Founded in 1955, Baptist Health serves families throughout Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia with high-quality care for every stage of life.
Ranked as the “most preferred” health care provider in the Jacksonville area, Baptist Health serves the region through a comprehensive system of care that includes six hospitals, including the region’s only children’s hospital, more than 200 primary care and specialty physician practices, children’s specialty clinics, home health care, behavioral health, occupational health, rehabilitation services and urgent care.
Following the installation of Epic and MyChart, Baptist Health Jacksonville needed an efficient way to communicate how users could access their new patient portal, My Baptist Chart, a MyChart product. They proactively approached the Loyal team, requesting new, specific service lines and dialogs in the health system’s chatbot, so users could find My Baptist Chart sign-up information easily, without resorting to a phone call.
In fact, patients prefer easy access to their health information and provider through digital means, such as a platform, app, text message, or other omni-channel methods vs. a phone call.
For example, a 2019 survey found that three quarters of patients surveyed said physicians who integrate mobile technology are able to provide a faster and more convenient experience. With mutual team efforts from both Baptist Health Jacksonville and Loyal, dialog changes and service-line additions were implemented, and click-to-call volume decreased by 16%–meaning that only 2% of chatbot conversations became phone calls.
The Baptist Health Jacksonville team signed a license with Epic a little over two years ago, the beginning of a system-wide effort to make their consumers’ experiences simpler by offering a patient-focused digital front door. The patient portal in use prior to Epic didn’t sync with the new EHR, so BHJ implemented a new portal, My Baptist Chart, a MyChart product.
According to KLAS, provider organizations noted that lack of interoperability, data silos, poor integration and scalability of solutions are major pain points that can lead to staff burnout and talent retention challenges. Interoperability issues can stem from years of company acquisitions, service-line-based investments, and major technological advances, so instead of integrating information across health systems, combined data is misaligned, creating historic and systemic issues. Initially, the issue of communicating the change to patients, accustomed to using the former portal, was a concern.
Ensuring patients knew how to access the new MyChart portal, My Baptist Chart was necessary to make the change successful and serve part of the overall goal: making the patient experience more seamless, start to finish.
The migration to Epic meant Baptist Health would be able to offer patients more self-service opportunities, part of a bigger plan to pave the way for more access to self-service options.
Baptist Health approached Loyal with a possible solution using their existing chatbot. Both the Loyal and Baptist teams determined the best solution was implementing new dialogs and connecting more service lines to help users navigate through to the sign-up section seamlessly. Once signed up through their chatbot encounters, consumers were able to access records, search for directions and provider information, and make appointments online–which meant fewer click-to-calls.
Chatbot and new dialogue
The data from the new My Baptist Chart chat interactions show that My Baptist Chart sign-ups drastically increased and gives every indication that Baptist Health’s consumers:
Wanted to access self-service opportunities via the new portal
Were happy to utilize chat instead of the call center for the information they needed
Were more inclined to sign up for and utilize the new My Baptist Chart option, as patient portal sign-ups drastically increased
Not only did call center volume decrease by 16%, but signups for My Baptist Chart increased by 93% total during the first quarter. Original goals for sign-ups was a 30% increase by the end of the first quarter, and a 50% increase by the end of the year. But within the first quarter alone, sign-up goals were 63% higher than the goal, and in that same 3-month time period, exceeded the end-of-year goals by 43%.
Improving the patient experience through more access to digital, self-service options
Click-to-call via conversational AI volume went down, as questions and portal sign-ups went through chat instead, saving the health system money
The Baptist Health team can now walk through a consumer’s digital journey and pinpoint areas that need improvement
The data available through the chatbot and My Baptist Chart help to give the health system access to the whole patient experience, from every interaction, without relying on click-to-call data
The Baptist Health team is planning to expand the chatbot with more content specific to My Baptist Chart, while the Loyal team monitors the conversations and continues to identify areas of consumer interest. Loyal sees more opportunities for the Baptist Health team, including providing an authenticated experience for users who log into the My Baptist Chart portal to assist with lab results, appointments, prescription refills, and much more.
Loyal is the leading end-to-end digital healthcare platform that unifies care touchpoints for patients and providers alike.