Other than patient care, there are many things that medical practices have to focus on such as – managing patient files and information, accepting new patients, and maintaining electronic medical record (EMR) standards. Along with providing error-free document management and medical data entry services, professional business process outsourcing companies provide the services of virtual medical assistants (MVAs) to help healthcare organizations collect demographic data, insurance details, patient health history, data mining and analysis of all the records. This AI-powered tool can also be used by patients to get answers for their health-related queries. Physicians can use them to update electronic health records and access the required data. With such an efficient tool, physicians can focus more on patients rather than administrative tasks.
According to a report from Markets and Markets, the global virtual healthcare assistants’ market is projected to reach USD 1,729 million by 2024 from USD 391 million in 2019, growing at a CAGR of 34.6%.
The major factors that are driving the growth of this market include:
- growing number of smartphone users
- increasing use of healthcare applications
- growing demand for quality healthcare delivery, and
- rising prevalence of chronic disorders
However, factors that are expected to restrain the market growth to a certain extent during the forecast period 2019-2024 are – the lack of structured data in the healthcare industry and concerns regarding data privacy.
The report is segmented on the basis of product, user interface, end user, and region.
By product, the market is divided into smart speakers and chatbots. The smart speakers segment is expected to account for the largest share of the healthcare virtual assistants market during the forecast period. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the increasing consumer preference for technologically advanced products. Smart speakers are multifunctional, fast, varied, and reliable solutions. These not only save time but also provide increased comfort and convenience.
By user interface, the market is divided into Automatic Speech Recognition, Text-based, Text-to-speech, and Others. The automatic speech recognition segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, due to its increasing use of smart speakers.
End Users of the market are healthcare providers, patients, healthcare payers and others.
By Region, the market is divided into North America (US, Canada), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. North America is expected to dominate the healthcare virtual assistants market, followed by Europe and the Asia Pacific. The large share of North America in the global market can be attributed to the growing aging population and shrinking healthcare workforce in North American countries, increasing demand for digital health systems, the well-developed IT ecosystem in countries such as the US and Canada, widespread availability of data centers, and significant presence of major technology and product developers in the region.
The market in the APAC is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Growth in the Asia Pacific market is primarily driven by the rising aging population, high penetration of smartphones, technological advancements, the growing use of remote monitoring devices, and increasing healthcare costs. Emerging economies such as China, India, and Latin America offer significant growth opportunities.
Prominent players in the healthcare virtual assistants market are Nuance Communications Inc. (US), Microsoft (US), Amazon (US), Infermedica (Poland), Sensly (US), eGain Corporation (US), Kognito Solutions LLC (US), Verint Systems Inc. (US), HealthTap Inc. (US), and Babylon Healthcare Services Ltd (UK).
Virtual assistants are professionally trained and will provide high-quality back office outsourcing services such as medical data entry services, medical records indexing, physician credentialing, medical coding, claim submission and more for healthcare providers.
