The need for these types of services is rapidly growing in the United States. There is a significant provider shortage that is being exacerbated by two coinciding trends: an aging population who need more care, and an aging workforce nearing retirement. Together these are driving high burnout rates in both oncologists and the front-line care teams who support them.
A 2023 survey revealed that 59% of oncologists reported symptoms of burnout, a significant increase from 34% in 2013.
- ASCO projects a shortage of over 2,200 oncologists by the end of 2025, which will be especially acute in more rural areas, where the percentage of practicing oncologists has declined from 11.2% in 2021 to 10% in 2023.
The team had started using a third-party chatbot to help address these challenges. Through a chat experience, more patients could benefit from quicker access to relevant information while care teams would be able to prioritize patient needs.
While the first version proved valuable, the care team wanted to uplevel the chatbot’s capabilities and bring the solution in house.
PivotX was initially engaged to understand the role that the existing chatbot was playing for both cancer patients and the caregiving teams. By taking a human-centric data-as-a-product approach, the team identified multiple additional needs and capabilities that, along with partners, were designed into an upgraded chat experience. Enhancements included a more robust natural language conversation flow for patients delivered through SMS RCS (Rich Communication Services) leveraging Microsoft Azure CLU, which enables:
A guided pathway to identifying symptoms based on responses and severity signals
- More personalized interactions based on context (e.g., day, time of day), initial input and awareness based on previous conversations
- A wider range of content such as images, videos and interactive elements, delivered based on the clinical pathway identified during the chat
Additional enhancement included chat summarization for care providers and patients, so each future interaction is based on the latest information. The summarization capabilities were activated using Azure OpenAI Services.
These
enhancements worked hand in hand to improve patient care and practitioner
effectiveness. The enhanced natural language experience has helped guide
patients to more accurately describe what their exact issues are, so the
information provided is more useful. The summarization capability has saved valuable
time when assessing a patient’s status to determine when direct intervention is
needed, helping care givers prioritize the most acute cases for quicker action.
One
example is how the chatbot can now provide more detailed and accurate
information about diet. Cancer patients often have questions about their diet due
to therapy-related nausea or reactions to specific foods. In the past a nurse
practitioner had to read an entire chat before following up manually via email
with relevant diet articles and information.
Today,
chat interactions prompt more detailed responses about current conditions and
patient history. These responses enable the chatbot to directly provide
information on what the patient can eat and what they should avoid, along with
links to relevant articles so the patient can immediately revise their diet.
Closing
this timing gap can have a huge positive impact on patient outcomes. Nutrition
plays a vital role in cancer patient success, helping them withstand the
immediate effects of chemotherapy and keeping their strength up during a
treatment cycle. Now through the enhanced version of the chatbot, more patients
can get the information they need right away, and the nurse practitioners can
follow up with patients to assess progress at regular intervals.
This
level of information and interaction fits the client’s vision of how it wants
to use AI, which is a human + technology experience. The chatbot is not replacing
nurse practitioner interactions. Instead, it is creating the conditions for
greater impact while scaling the organization’s ability to serve more patients
more effectively, spending valuable practitioner time on the most acute cases
and needs.
