Healthcare and other organizations are increasing using automation, specifically AI automation, to expedite a wide range of processes and interactions. That can be a very good thing, for organizational efficiencies and for patient experiences.
But these interactions don’t always work the way they’re intended—or the way healthcare organizations think they work.
Consider this common experience. You go to your provider’s website, and you’re offered a chat option. “How can we help you?” You type in your question and wait. Thirty seconds later, a response: “Hi. My name is Sue. How can I help you?”
What? You already told them. Now you’re irritated.
I’ve learned to copy my explanation before I hit send when interacting with online customer service options, whether for healthcare or other needs. I know they’re going to ask me the same thing. If not once, twice. And I don’t want to waste my time.
Most of your patients—and prospective patients—don’t either. Yet, sadly, that’s exactly what many are doing.
The Gap Between Promise and Delivery
Healthcare organizations are spending billions of dollars automating their “digital front doors.” They’re offering things like: AI-powered chatbots. Online scheduling. Wayfinding kiosks. Patient portals. Remote monitoring.
On paper, it looks like progress. But reality doesn’t always match intent. Patients are getting stuck. Frustrated. Abandoned by automation that was supposed to make things easier.
“You promised me human-centered care. But when I need help, I get a bot that doesn’t understand my question.”
That gap erodes trust.
You’re automating to save time. To be more efficient. To reduce manual work. But if your systems aren’t working effectively, aren’t talking to each other, and aren’t meeting user needs, you’re just automating confusion.
The Question Nobody’s Asking
Here’s what healthcare organizations aren’t paying attention to: When you automate touchpoints along the patient journey, are you monitoring them closely?
- Are you looking for keywords that trigger escalation to a human?
- Are you planning for what happens when the bot can’t solve the problem?
If you’re not, you’re setting patients up for frustration. And you’re setting your staff up for service recovery challenges with people who are already upset.
Keeping Your Promise
Healthcare organizations promise human-centered care. Patient-centered care.
But when a patient gets stuck in a chatbot loop, when a kiosk rejects their registration, when they get scary diagnostic news through a portal with no human support—you’re not delivering on that promise.
You’re delivering a bot. And that bot is creating frustration, confusion, and distrust.
This is a key point in time. As we start to lean on AI more, we’ve got to make sure that we’re elevating the human experience, not diminishing it.
There’s a lot of success out there with AI in healthcare. But there are still difficulties.
And if you don’t plan for and execute the successful human element, you’re going to be losing out.
Share Your Experiences With Us!
Have you been stuck in a chatbot loop trying to get help? Have you had a kiosk reject you? Have you gotten medical information through a portal before anyone explained it to you?
Share your AI experience in the comments—it doesn’t have to be healthcare-related. When has automation helped you? When has it made things worse?
Then join me for a webinar on April 8. Don’t Automate a Bad Experience: Why Human Skills Are Your Highest ROI Investment in an AI World – We’ll map out the patient journey, identify where AI is being used, and discuss how to design effective handoffs between AI and humans.
Because you can automate processes. But you can’t automate caring.
Tags: employeeengagement, HealthcareLeadership, OrganizationCulture, PatientExperience
