- Some Mexican entrepreneurial sisters created a startup that helps doctors automate communication with their patients.
- It works as a virtual assistant to address the concerns of patients from doctors, dentists, nutritionists, psychologists and other health professionals.
- Thus, patients can communicate via WhatsApp with the bot that helps them clarify doubts or make appointments.
Within any medical office, personnel from different areas are always required. From the administrative to the cleaning is of great importance to offer a comprehensive service to patients. Although the truth is that with the support of technology there are some functions that can be simplified and streamlined. For this purpose There is a new virtual assistant and the most innovative thing is that it was developed by a Mexican doctor.
Today, 45% of doctors in Mexico perform virtual consultations. While 68% use their smartphone in their professional practice and 79% communicate with patients by instant messaging, according to data from the Mexican Foundation for Health (FUNSALUD).
In this line, WhatsApp It has become a recurring tool among health professionals due to its practicality and immediacy. However, its use to meet a high demand for consultations can overwhelm the activities of doctors and make them lose their focus.
Who created the project?
The sisters Graciela and Maricela Carrillo They are two Mexican entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity in this scenario. In the case of Maricela, being a doctor, she knew what it was like to deal daily with constant messages from patients on WhatsApp. For this reason, her sister Graciela, an engineer with experience in technology companies, proposed to solve it with a bot that would answer the most common questions from patients. That was the birth of ClinicBoxa startup that seeks to optimize the way in which health professionals attend to messages from their patients.
This solution works as a virtual assistant to address the concerns of patients from doctors, dentists, nutritionists, psychologists and other health professionals. To implement it, the professional answers a short questionnaire about the most common conversations with their patients. With this base, a chatbot connected to your service calendar is created.
Thus, patients can communicate via WhatsApp with the bot that helps them clarify doubts or make appointments. The professional only responds directly to the messages in case of real need and through a platform dedicated to it, thus freeing up their personal WhatsApp.
In this way, the health professional can reduce from more than 30 messages answered per day to an average of 5 messages and reduce the investment per scheduled appointment from 5 dollars to 50 cents. Additionally, the time it takes to convert a message to an appointment can be reduced by up to six times.
“The chatbot is just part of a comprehensive solution that helps professionals run their business at every stage. From the first approach of the patient to the post consultation follow-up. Health professionals are also entrepreneurs and ClinicBox is the partner they always wanted, the one that helps them manage their business and perform repetitive and boring tasks so they can focus on what only they know and can do: care for their patients. ”, comments Graciela Carrillo, CEO and co-founder of ClinicBox.
History and development of this new virtual assistant
After its foundation in April 2022, the startup has begun to raise pre-seed capital with the participation and support of the accelerator and global investment company Techstars. Maricela and Graciela were selected to be part of the first Techstars Miami cohort.
It is a program promoted by the leading global financial services firm JP Morganwhere they received personalized mentoring and the opportunity to do networking with other members of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In the end, after Demo Day, they performed their pitch to potential investors with support from the accelerator.
“We want to take advantage of technology to make health professionals happier, give them back the time they spend today managing communication with their patients, so they can use it as they see fit. So that they stop being slaves to their WhatsApp!” concludes Maricela Carrillo, COO of ClinicBox.
ClinicBox it now has a beta version and a waiting list of more than 500 health professionals that continues to grow. They are currently testing a pilot in two health centers in Mexico and plan to be present in at least 100 private clinics by early 2023.
Also read:
DocTop24, the first virtual voice assistant designed for doctors
Amazon will use its virtual assistant Alexa to offer medical advice
Google Coach, the medical assistant that will revolutionize health?