Q&A: AI chatbot helps make colonoscopy prep ‘a little less painful’ for patients
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AI has already made its mark in gastroenterology as a tool for detecting gastrointestinal lesions, adenomas and inflammatory bowel disease. However, its next phase of evolution might seem the most unlikely: Aiding colonoscopy preparation.
A “conversational AI” chatbot created by Memora Health enables patients to receive text messages rather than taking home paperwork on preparations for colonoscopies or other gastrointestinal procedures. The Memora chatbot is equipped not only to help patients understand the procedure and provide step-by-step instructions for bowel preparation, but also to respond in real-time to patient questions regarding their care.
“Memora leverages AI to digitize and automate clinician workflows, making care teams more efficient on a daily basis,” Jamie Colbert, MD, MBA, chief medical officer at Memora Health, told Healio. “Our platform uses AI to automate basic clinical tasks for health care teams while proactively guiding patients through their care plans. Rather than sending patients home from a doctor’s visit with only paperwork, Memora’s conversational AI can instantly address patient questions about their treatment, medications and side effects.”
He continued, “When necessary, Memora’s platform can identify complex issues and intelligently triage them to their doctor or clinical care team for more support.”
In this Healio interview, Colbert further details how the platform works and how it is being used to boost prep completion and adherence to colonoscopies and other GI procedures.
Healio: What is the platform’s goal regarding prep for GI procedures?
Colbert: Very few people are excited at the prospect of getting a colonoscopy, but it’s an important preventive procedure, so we want to do everything we can to fill those appointment slots with people who are prepared and knowledgeable about what to expect.
By digitizing best-in-class prep procedures from paper into dynamic text-based journeys, our goal is to give patients a constant source for accurate answers and reminders surrounding prep for any GI procedure. In turn, this will ensure patients complete the proper steps ahead of their procedures and feel fully comfortable and supported throughout the entire process.
Healio: How can Memora improve patient care?
Colbert: The high rates of cancellations and no-shows surrounding GI procedures are largely due to the fact that the prep is typically a worse patient experience than the procedure itself. The necessary liquids, powders and extended bathroom time aren’t appealing to patients. Memora’s platform can make the process easier.
The intelligent chat tool removes several obstacles from the process, including last-minute phone calls to doctors; frantic, late-night Google searches when you have a question after hours; or getting partially through your prep only to realize a step was missed and you’re going to have to go through this all over again.
With proactive information, immediate answers to patient questions and a direct connection to the care team when necessary, our colonoscopy prep care program at one health system has a net promoter score above 90 — which is world-class and shows that we’re making a traditionally uncomfortable process a little less painful.
Healio: How has Memora been used to improve colonoscopy procedures?
Colbert: Colonoscopy prep is difficult for many people, so much so that one in four people don’t adhere properly to it, which often results in canceling or skipping appointments. By simplifying prep and supporting patients with ongoing, real-time dialogue, Memora limits no-shows and ensures that these essential procedures are done properly. In one health system, Memora helped 97% of patients complete their prep as directed, helping ensure procedures could go on as planned.
Healio: Thus far, how has Memora benefited health care systems and physicians?
Colbert: Gastroenterologists are already busy, but their workload increased immensely in 2021 when colorectal cancer screening guidelines shifted from starting at age 50 years to 45 years, causing an influx of appointments. In fact, half of gastroenterologists feel burned out, and the field can expect to be short more than 1,600 physicians in 2025.
By utilizing Memora, clinical care teams have a reliable, always-on team member to help ensure colonoscopy prep goes smoothly. Clinicians who’ve utilized the tool learn quickly that they can trust it to handle these routine parts of the process. After just 6 weeks of use with a large integrated delivery network, Memora’s tool helped address 73% of patient messages without any care team intervention.
Healio: Can Memora be used in other areas of GI apart from colonoscopies?
Colbert: Along with colonoscopy prep, our AI platform can be used to support many different patient journeys within gastroenterology. Anything from general digestive health to irritable bowel syndrome to more complex conditions such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis are areas where patients have many questions and would benefit from a virtual assistant to guide them through their care.
Memora can proactively educate, send timely instructions prior to procedures, as well as leverage our conversational AI to immediately respond to patient questions or concerns with clinician-curated content.
Healio: Anything else that may be of interest?
Colbert: One of the challenges across all areas of health care today is that there never are enough staff to do all of the patient outreach and monitoring that clinicians would like to do. Everything from a simple phone call to check-in with a patient who recently started a new medication, to more comprehensive screening for social determinants of health barriers, these tasks typically require human resources and can be inefficient to do over the phone or in clinic.
With Memora, clinical teams find that they are able to now collect more data on their patients and schedule additional touchpoints and check-ins with patients — none of which would be able to occur without Memora because of a lack of staff bandwidth.
Reference:
- An AI-backed ally for patients and care teams. https://www.memorahealth.com/. Accessed June 24, 2024.
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