Making medical appointments this month made me miss phone trees.

"A bit of research led me to discover that more and more health care providers are adopting AI answering services or AI receptionists. According to the companies selling these systems, AI receptionists could " improve the patient experience " by minimizing wait times and providing personalized responses. Some even contend that these systems will increase health care access."

"At least some observers are a bit more honest in saying that AI receptionists can " transform your practice into a profitable hub. " At least for the implementations I've had experience with, "customer experience" and usability seem to have taken a back seat to minimizing labor costs."

""The design should speak the users' language. Use words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user, rather than internal jargon.""

Two medical practices implemented AI answering services and AI receptionists that prioritized cost savings over patient usability. Vendors market AI receptionists as tools to minimize wait times, provide personalized responses, and increase health care access, with some marketing focusing on transforming practices into profitable hubs. Practical implementations showed degraded customer experience and usability, as systems favored automation and labor reduction rather than user-centered design. A notable mismatch emerged between system language and real-world patient needs, violating usability heuristics that require designs to use words, phrases, and concepts familiar to users instead of internal jargon.

Read at Medium