How AI Voice Technology Is Transforming Pharmaceutical Patient Support

The healthcare landscape is being reshaped by a powerful new tool: AI voice agents. These conversational companions are addressing one of healthcare's most persistent challenges – medication non-adherence, which affects 50% of patients with chronic conditions and costs the US healthcare system over $300 billion annually.

Unlike traditional digital solutions that require technical proficiency, AI voice agents leverage natural conversation to provide timely medication reminders, education, and encouragement. For elderly patients, the visually impaired, or those with limited digital literacy, these voice-first interactions remove barriers to consistent medication management. Platforms like Medisafe Via exemplify this approach, offering multimodal support through voice-guided tracking that enhances accessibility while maintaining human-centered care.

The benefits extend throughout the healthcare ecosystem. Physicians currently spend over 15 hours weekly on prior authorizations alone – a leading contributor to burnout. AI voice agents embedded in EHR platforms can automate intake processes, verify insurance, and support authorization workflows, allowing clinicians to focus on patient care rather than paperwork. Mayo Clinic has already demonstrated remarkable success, with their AI voice program serving 450,000+ patients and achieving an 80% response rate while enabling care teams to prioritize those truly needing human intervention.

For underserved populations facing language barriers or limited technology access, voice agents provide multilingual support without requiring smartphones. For pharmaceutical companies, these technologies offer new channels for delivering personalized, brand-specific messaging beyond traditional representatives or digital advertisements. The micro-interactions facilitated by voice agents compound over time, building trust and driving deeper engagement with treatments.

As we look ahead, voice interfaces will increasingly become the foundation of patient experiences – not replacing human connection, but elevating it by making healthcare more scalable, proactive, and patient-centered. Have you considered how voice automation might transform your patient support strategy? Subscribe to Postscripts for more insights at the intersection of pharma technology and patient impact.

PostScripts Rx is not intended to constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to influence prescribing decisions or any other medical or clinical decision-making. All medical and clinical judgment and decision-making, prescribing decisions, and all related considerations remain exclusively the responsibility of providers and patients.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Postscripts, a podcast exploring
what happens after the firstprescription.
We cover the latest innovationsin patient access, support,
digital tools, HCP engagementand pharma marketing that drive
better outcomes for patients.
This podcast is forinformational purposes only and
does not constitute any medicaladvice or influence or should be
used to influence any clinicaldecision-making.

(00:21):
Patients should always consulttheir healthcare professionals.
Welcome to the podcast.
My name is Brian Carr.
I'm the Senior Vice Presidentof Marketing at Medisafe,
although the opinions expressedhere are my own and not
necessarily those of Medisafe orany of its partners.
What's interesting and whatwe're talking about today is
using AI voice agents to reallyrevolutionize pharma and patient

(00:41):
experiences.
You may know that artificialintelligence and voice
technology are no longer thesefuturistic buzzwords.
They're really becomingfoundational components of a
rapidly involving healthcare andlife sciences ecosystem.
From patient support toaccelerating physician workflows
, ai voice agents are emergingas cost-effective, scalable

(01:01):
tools that significantly improveaccess, engagement and outcomes
.
In today's episode, we'rereally looking at five
transformative ways we canexpect AI voice agents to impact
patients, healthcare providersand pharma companies.
We'll follow that with realworld examples how the
technology is already making itsmark, including compelling data
already coming out from theMayo Clinic.

(01:23):
So one.
Let's talk about enhancingmedication adherence through
conversational support.
One of the most criticalchallenges in healthcare today
is medication, not adherence.
If you're listening to thispodcast, you know all the stats.
The World Health Organizationestimates that adherence among
patients with chronic diseasesaverages only 50%, even in

(01:44):
developed countries, and theconsequences are increased
hospitalizations, diseaseprogression and more than $300
billion in avoidable health carecosts each year in the US alone
and that comes from the NewEngland Health Institute data.
So enter AI voice agents.
So these platforms serve as ahuman-centric conversational

(02:05):
companions, providing timelyreminders, education,
encouragement to keep patientson their treatment journeys.
For pharma marketers andpatient engagement teams, these
AI voice agents offer a scalableway to sustain touch points
between visits, something appsor emails sometimes can struggle
to achieve.
For example, medisafe, we'velaunched our voice automation

(02:27):
platform called Medisafe Via.
This offers multimodal supportthrough voice-guided medication
tracking and education.
It really does enhanceaccessibility for patients who
may be even visually impaired orprefer voice-first interactions
due to age or lifestyleconstraints.
I'll put a link to the MetaSafevia in the notes show.

(02:49):
But what's interesting there is,you may you're going to see
increased adoption of these AIvoice agents going forward.
I can envision a year from now.
You know you're going to bewaiting on the phone, maybe to
wait to talk to your insurancecompany or whatever.
Whatever company you're callingand they may be saying well,
you're a number 25 in line.
Do you want to opt in to talkto an automated voice agent

(03:10):
right now?
And I can imagine a lot ofpeople, rather than waiting 25
slots, will say, yeah, let metry it out.
Right, so you're going to see,because there's adoption and
opt-in boxes and approvals thatyou have to do before any AI
agent can be used to talk to youhere in the US.
So I can see the adoption.
You know it use to talk to youhere in the US.
So I can see the adoption youknow is definitely going to be
coming in the next six to 12months, I imagine.

(03:31):
But here's another good reasonis it's going to reduce
administrative burden for HCPsand clinics.
You see a study by the Americaneven the American Medical
Association, physicians nowspend more than 15 hours weekly
on prior authorization andnearly 90% report that it's the
administrative burden that is aleading source of burnout for
them.
But so you can imagine ifthere's AI voice agents that are
embedded into EHR platforms oreven virtual call systems.

(03:54):
They can assist by collectingpre-visit patient data,
verifying insurance, directingthe appointment scheduling and
even supporting priorauthorization workflows right
with insurance companies, so byautomating the intake and policy
verification.
These agents really these voiceautomated voice agents can
reduce the back and forthbetween the HCPs and payers and

(04:16):
patients, really allowingclinicians the time to focus
more on care delivery, not ondata gathering.
And already you're going to seesome infusion centers and
specialty clinics have begunusing voice assistants to
pre-stream the patients foreligibility or to confirm
treatment schedule.
Updates may even be hey, thisis the appointment where we're

(04:37):
going to have a blood draw.
Be ready for that.
Or we need you to bring in aurine sample.
You can do that all through avoice agent reaching out and
leaving messages or coming inand having a one you know,
conversational, directionalconversation with a patient,
even though it's an automatedvoice agent.
Also, you're going to seeimproving access and support for
underserved populations.
Language barriers, digitalliteracy and even mobility and

(05:01):
limitations can preventunderserved populations and
patients from really receivingquality care.
You've got AI voice agents,particularly those accessible by
phone.
They can bridge these gaps,particularly if they're doing
some of the automation and whatwe would call rote tasks.
They're not giving out medicaladvice or making medical
decisions.

(05:21):
They're taking care of some ofthat paperwork or checking in
with a patient.
Hey, did you make it to thepharmacy today?
No, I couldn't get a ride.
Do you need a Uber or Lyft oranother ride share?
Maybe that's the type of thingthat can be arranged all
automatically.
A voice agent, as opposed to youknow having to interact with a
doctor or a nurse and take uptheir time to arrange some

(05:41):
transportation.
So voice agents can interact inmultiple languages as well and
deliver personalized experienceswithout the need for high-tech
smartphones, and even functionoffline in some cases, right
Particularly where, if it'scalling the same patient we
literally have and you can seean example with Medisafe hey,
you know this is not a good timeto call.
Please don't call until afteryou know 6.30 at night, or even

(06:03):
call me between 6.30 and 7o'clock at night only.
Don't call me any other time.
You can actually instruct theagents, who will then obviously
take that into account next timethey do a call, all
automatically through AI.
You know, a Spanish-speakingpatient can engage with a voice
agent, understand side effects,receive follow-up care without
having to visit a clinic, or,you know, a portal.

(06:29):
So this technology ensuresequity, but it isn't just a
buzzword.
It really becomes part of thecare delivery infrastructure,
and pharma innovation teamsfocusing on inclusive access can
now integrate voice-drivensolutions into clinical trial,
recruitment, ongoing patientengagement strategies and even
onboarding in titrations.
Right, and you know, often we'lltalk to companies when they
know okay, week three is aparticularly challenging week
when people start thismedication.

(06:50):
You can do voice agents thatyou know, preempt that and say
by the way, you know, it's weektwo.
Often week three can be alittle bit more complex.
Reach out anytime you have anychallenges or questions to your
patient support team.
We're here at any time, right?
There's also one of the fourimpacts you're going to see is
continuous monitoring and datacollection for patient support.

(07:10):
Ai agents are offering thatdiscrete, low-maintenance way to
collect real-time feedback frompatients, especially those on
complex regimens or with chronicconditions.
Post-discharge follow-ups,symptom tracking, emotional
check-ins all can be enabledthrough natural spoken language
conversations that not onlyenhance the patient experiences,
it generates anonymizedinsights for manufacturers to

(07:31):
refine their patient supportprograms, identify adherence
trends, like I mentioned.
Second and third week may bedifficult and trigger
interventions.
So you imagine a rheumatoidarthritis patient, for example,
stating that they'reexperiencing new joint swelling,
and the voice agent triggers acare team alert or a cross-check
with a recent refill data, andthe care team can contact them

(07:53):
immediately and you have ahuman-to-human interaction, not
an AI-driven one.
Mayo Clinic piloted such a techand an innovative initiative
highlighted by MIT Sloan in 2023.
What they did is their AI voicebot program served over 450,000
patients with follow-up callsand achieved an amazing 80%

(08:15):
response rate, and it reallyenabled the care teams to triage
only those really needing humanintervention, showing that AI
and staffing can coexist toimprove care.
And this is from a study fromthe Sloan Management Review in
2024.
And the fifth and final impactwe're seeing is driving scalable
personalization for pharmamarketers.
Right.
So AI voice agents really givepharma marketers and

(08:37):
commercialization teams that newchannel for delivering
personalized, brand-specificmessaging, but without the
limitations of physical reps orthe digital fatigue of display
ads and portals.
So you can imagine a voiceagent talking to a patient that
has opted in for moreinformation on this new
medication they've received.
Right so a voice agent caneducate a patient about
potential side effects of, say,an oncology therapy, and it can

(09:00):
prompt them about important labtests or sharing motivational
stories based on where they arein the treatment journey.
These what we callmicro-interactions, and
just-in-time interventions iswhat we call them at Medisafe.
They compound over time toreally build trust.
So when you see this naturallanguage understanding some
people call it NLU marketers canreally segment conversational

(09:21):
pathways based on intent,emotion and content preference.
This allows message tuning notjust by demographic, but also by
behavior.
Plus, it's all HIPAA compliantinfrastructure, you know, with a
HIPAA compliant infrastructurethat ensures privacy and data
protection from all of these.
And it's all opt-in.
So you can't have a situationin the United States where an AI

(09:44):
agent is calling you withoutyou having opt-in to receive
that.
But you can imagine a scenariohey, you've just been prescribed
this medication.
Would you want to have a callto check in on you or your
parents or your loved one, justto check symptoms and make sure
everyone's staying on track?
Right, you can see where peoplemight adopt that, especially if
they're hearing it and whenthey go through a call for the
first time, it really can be apleasant experience because it

(10:06):
is really very similar totalking to a human.
So these voice platforms theother thing is they can be
white-labeled or integrated intoa branded hub, find a farmer
and extend the tentacles deeperinto the patient journey,
maintain a compliance,meaningful engagement, all
approved through MLR, withcertain scripts and a pool of
data and responses that areapproved.
So where they go from here?

(10:28):
You know voice is the mostnatural human interface right.
So, as people becomecomfortable speaking to these
smart assistants, pharmaceuticalbrands, acps and patient
support programs have anopportunity to meet them right
here with empathy, answers andintelligence.

(10:51):
Ai voice agents are poised toreally become programmable
members of the care team,whether helping a liver patient
manage side effects or assistinga busy oncology nurse with
scheduling.
Voice is no longer auxiliary.
It's really becomingfoundational, fundamental
infrastructure.
It's both a technicalopportunity and a branding one
for pharma, because beingpresent in the moments of need,
conversationally andcontextually, will differentiate

(11:13):
those leading therapies andbrands and support teams from
the rest.
That's where tools like what wehave with Medisavia they really
are paving the way by addingvoice automation to medication
management, building adherenceinto everyday routines through
seamless interaction.
In closing, you know realizingthat potential of AI voice
agents is.
Let's just take a quick recapon those high potential areas

(11:36):
where they can deliver valueright now and really continue to
reshape health experience.
One medication adherence rightFor the conversational reminders
and support guiding patientsthrough the complex therapies.
Two, real administrativeefficiency.
You're seeing studies on thisalready from Mayo Clinic.
We're relieving HCPs, clinicsand infusion centers from

(11:56):
repetitive intake and schedulingtasks.
Health equity and access.
You know, reaching digitallyunderserved populations through
multilingual and device agnosticexperiences.
Four, the continuous datacollection, with privacy
protocols in place, reallylights up a new layer of
real-time, insight-drivenfeedback loops from patients to

(12:17):
care teams, and that helps all.
And finally, farmerpersonalization and brand
connection driving deeperengagement using conversational
marketing reminders andeducation at the brand level.
You know, and as the spaceinvolves AI, voice agents're
going to be increasinglyembedded not only into patient
journeys but into people'sjourneys.
You're going to be dealing withinsurance companies and banks,

(12:39):
and even pizza.
You know you're going to ordera pizza.
Do you know what you want on it?
That's a repetitive task youcould do through a voice agent
and order can go through.
There's not necessarily thatyou have to talk to a human at a
pizza chain.
That's making it right.
So they're not going to replacehuman interaction, but they'll
elevate it by making care morescalable, proactive and
patient-centered.

(13:00):
So for those of us in pharma,marketing, digital health or
patient services.
Now really is the time that weare really exploring how AI
could integrate into all thesestrategies.
Every spoken word could be astep forward to a healthier
tomorrow.
So I want to thank you forjoining us on our Postscripts
podcast this morning or thisafternoon, depending where you
are.
If you found it valuable,please follow or subscribe for

(13:22):
more insights at theintersection of pharma
technology and patient impact.
Until next time, this is Briantelling you to keep looking
forward.
The real work begins after thescript is written.