Combating Patient Loneliness Through Conversational AI

Leaders at mPulse and Magellan Rx Management discuss their recent pilots aimed at addressing social isolation and keeping patients engaged. With disinformation and confusion about COVID-19 on the rise, effective patient engagement is taking on an even greater role. Studies have shown that engaged patients show improved health outcomes and that effective tools can enhance service delivery. But it's not always simply a question of communicating more. Communicating with impact is the real key – and innovators and vendors are exploring the best ways to do so.  

Two such teams are mPulse Mobile and Magellan Rx Management, which recently collaborated to address social isolation and loneliness in nearly 1,800 people with chronic and specialty conditions across the United States. By using mPulse's conversational artificial intelligence platform, the companies say they were able to conduct dialogues via text messages with participants on a variety of health-related topics during a 45-day period. "This relationship blends conversational AI and technology," Chris Nicholson, CEO of mPulse Mobile, said in an interview with Healthcare IT News. "It leverages a broad reach of capabilities." The vendors say they conducted two pilot programs regarding the risk that social isolation and loneliness bring to overall health.  First, they surveyed individuals during the fall of 2020, in the thick of COVID-19 and before vaccines were available in the United States. Then, they repeated the program the following summer.