From groceries delivered to our doorstep to a voice-activated doorbell, technological advances allow for greater convenience in almost every aspect of our lives. Our health care experience should be the same.
What if filling your prescription or finding a doctor could be done using your voice assistant? This could soon be reality with the development of voice activated tools for home health assistance and information.
As UnitedHealthcare works to create one seamless experience, voice technology may be one of the next steps to improve the customer journey. Voice assistant systems that allow you to turn on music, order food, or have questions answered with voice cues, are likely already in your home or on your mobile device, — or they will be soon. By 2022, smart speakers are expected to be in 55% of U.S. households, so many members will have the ability to use voice-assistant tools to access health care information.
In collaboration with Keck Medicine of USC, patients are testing out a voice activated capability that will allow them to find doctors, urgent care facilities and check symptoms using a health care directory.
The capability will launch on multiple platforms and in Spanish.
While still in its early stages, this is just one of the tools that could create more access and improve the experience for patients. Others include:
- PreCheck MyScript, which allows providers to see whether the patient’s benefit plan covers a specific medication, details exact out-of-pocket costs and offers less expensive alternatives when available.
- Agent Virtual Assistant, which uses artificial intelligence to provide health advocates with the answers they need to provide members in a more effective way.
- Virtual Visits, which allows you to chat with a doctor 24/7 from your mobile device, tablet or computer.
- UnitedHealthcare App, which gives you quicker access to your health plan details.
All of these innovations are working to replicate the way consumers interact with many other industries – digitally. Making the health care system easier to navigate means expanding the digital experience to deliver personalized information, in a simpler way, through the channels we interact with every day.