Adding a New Dimension to Elderly Care and Healthcare with Voice Technology

Today’s healthcare systems are complex and radically different from what they used to be a decade ago. Several economical, situational, and technological factors have shaped the landscape of the healthcare industry. Aging and growing populations, the prevalence of chronic diseases, and exponential advances in innovative digital technologies have altered the way healthcare and eldercare are delivered. The 2019 Global Healthcare Outlook report published by Deloitte projects life expectancy to increase from 73.5 years in 2018 to 74.4 in 2022. The report also projects the global healthcare expense increase at an annual rate of 5.4% in 2018–2022.

Some of the major issues faced by the healthcare sector in 2019 are:

• Creating financial sustainability in an uncertain health economy
• Maintaining regulatory compliance in cybersecurity
• Adapting to changes in consumer needs, demands, and expectations
• Investing in digital innovation and transformation
• Using new care delivery models to improve access and affordability
• Recruiting, developing and retaining top talent

In addition to these challenges faced by the healthcare industry, a shortage of caretakers seems to be a perennial issue that plagues the industry. Is there a one-stop solution for addressing all or at least most of these issues? Digital technology holds the key to addressing most of the challenges faced by the healthcare industry.

Evolution of Healthcare Technology

The proliferation of digital innovations in healthcare is explosive, from wearable tracking devices to AI-based home health monitoring technology, it has the potential to reshape the healthcare landscape. The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to provide personalized care and seamless communication between healthcare systems. IoT is especially useful in addressing the issues faced by the elderly while living alone.

Forbes predicts that the Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare Applications will cross 1.7 billion by 2019. The report also mentions that the implementation of AI-based healthcare solutions will result in a 10–15% increase in productivity in the healthcare sector over the next 2–3 years.

Another prediction for 2019 is the emergence of voice applications in healthcare. Top players like Nuance, Orbita, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple, and many other upcoming companies are building Voice AI applications for healthcare industry use cases. 2019 will see more innovations in voice solutions as these technology giants compete to provide voice and chatbot solutions for healthcare.

In a nutshell, technology in healthcare provides a number of advantages in healthcare like improving the speed and accuracy of diagnosis and treatment, accelerating research and development of new drugs, improving overall patient experience, enhancing the quality of healthcare, improving the efficiency of training, and bringing in personalization into healthcare.

Efficient and Effective Healthcare with AI Voice Technology

A recent report by Accenture highlighted the explosive growth of AI in healthcare. As per the report, the AI Healthcare Market is poised to grow to 6.6 billion USB by 20121 at a CAGR of 40%. The top AI applications in healthcare mentioned in the report were robot-assisted surgery, virtual nursing voice assistants, administrative workflow assistance, dosage reduction error, clinical trial participant identifier, and automated image diagnosis. Virtual nursing assistants are available 24/7 for patient care, they can respond to queries, monitor patients, and quickly respond to any health query.

The rise in the use of voice assistants like Alexa and Google has reiterated the effectiveness of communicating through voice. The healthcare sector is no exception to the proliferation of voice technology. Voice AI is changing the healthcare industry as an interface and as an application by increasing the sensor and device interaction. Voice interfaces are becoming more useful and less cumbersome to use. Speech being one of the most effective forms of data input, voice technology in healthcare is an engaging virtual companion to patients. Voice-AI based 24-hour patient care is extremely useful for elderly care. Senior citizens who live alone require assistance in their everyday tasks like taking medicines on time, reminders for doctor’s appointments, and sometimes even for having food on time. Voice AI can be an engaging virtual companion that fulfills the need for companionship among the elderly. Dr. Versa from Winimy AI is an emotional companion panadol that can double up as a doctor and a caregiver.

Among other technology innovations that are improving the reach of healthcare are ‘Holographic Telepresence’ and ‘Telemedicine’. Efficient rural or remote healthcare is made possible with these technologies.

Use cases of Voice AI in healthcare

Several health apps are available for smartphone users. Most of these apps have a voice assistant for delivering medication alerts, health tips, educational material, and much more. Such voice assistants act as a virtual caregiver.

Another use of Voice AI is in the care of the elderly. The common health conditions that senior citizens suffer from are: Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Depression, and Anxiety. Voice Assistants can help senior citizens live more independently by playing the role of caregivers, reminders, and virtual companions. Sometimes, a companion is all the elderly requires; voice assistants are available 24/7 to the elderly for talking, responding to queries, and answering questions. The booking of a doctor’s appointments can also be done through voice AI technology.

Voice AI-based 24-hour patient care can also be used by the healthcare industry to address the resource shortage issue. Routine or repetitive tasks can be assigned to virtual assistants so that healthcare workers can focus on more complex issues.

Key takeaways

As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent and adoption to mainstream increases, healthcare organizations must make necessary changes in their underlying structure to leverage AI capabilities. Compliance challenges for Voice AI have been a major obstacle to mainstream adoption in healthcare. Developing voice interfaces based on target users and the context of usage helps companies build a voice interface that is easy and enjoyable to use. With voice AI becoming a part of our everyday experiences, it is only a matter of time when this technology will be adopted into mainstream healthcare systems. There are many companies like Winimy exploring the unlimited potential of voice AI and designing customer-centric solutions.

Winimy is a leading AI solutions provider with a wide range of applications in healthcare, concierge services, and hologram. To explore the potential of AI applications for your business reach out to us at versa@winimy.com.