Royal Philips announced a collaboration with USA-based MedChat to integrate MedChat’s live chat and AI-driven chatbot services into Philips Patient Navigation Manager, helping improve call centre efficiency and speed the time to resolve patient inquiries. With the combined offering, Philips now enables its customers in North America to create automated communication workflows that function seamlessly alongside patient access and call centre operations. Hospitals and outpatient cMlinics can also digitally navigate patients from the time an order is placed, to when it is scheduled and completed through follow-up.

Patient Navigation Manager automatically guides patients through their care journey using HIPAA-compliant SMS, email, and voice messages. With the new MedChat capabilities, patients now can perform complex tasks by linking directly with live agents using MedChat’s advanced chatbot services. Medchat’s natural language processing (NLP) reads and understands patients’ messages, while its machine learning algorithms adapt over time to provide the most relevant information. Its symptom checker and triage bot – now embedded within Patient Navigation Manager’s core communications technologies – evaluates 125,000 evidence-based references to diagnose patients and recommend the appropriate care setting.

“Philips continues to demonstrate our ongoing commitment and leadership in patient management and engagement with fully integrated solutions into our suite of smart connected imaging systems,” said Brent Berthy, General Manager of Precision Diagnosis Solutions at Philips. “By combining MedChat’s technology with Philips Patient Navigation Manager, we can help healthcare enterprises deliver streamlined diagnostic workflows that meet the quadruple aim of better patient outcomes, enhanced patient and staff experiences, and lower operational costs due to the elimination of burdensome manual outreach task.”

“Philips Patient Navigation Manager does a great job helping providers communicate with patients while improving outcomes, while MedChat helps make that HIPAA-compliant conversation two-way, real-time, and an enhanced experience,” said Matt Yagey, Founder and CEO at MedChat. “We are excited to bring our integrated solution to Philips customers and also see an enormous need for Patient Navigation Manager among our hundreds of customers.”