Laboratorio Clínico Laser Relies on Conversely to Help Fight Covid in Panama

Laboratorio Clínico Laser Relies on Conversely to Help Fight Covid in Panama

Subtitle: Laser uses an automated chatbot and smart form developed by Conversely to give patients the ability to book Covid appointments online.

Executive Summary: A key component of Laboratorio Clínico Laser’s plans to begin operating in November 2021 was enabling patients to book their own appointments. They looked to Conversely because Conversely had the resources and tools available to develop a fully automated solution in a matter of days. The resulting chatbot and smart form application are integrated with a central calendar and Laser’s own databases and allowed Laser to grow automated bookings by over 250% month over month.

About Laboratorio Clínico Laser

Laboratorio Clínico Laser, located in Obarrio, Panama, was formed by leaders with more than 20 years of experience in clinical diagnosis. While Laser began operations in early November 2021 focused on providing minimally invasive Covid testing with quick and highly accurate results, its mission is to be a leading clinical laboratory in diagnostic innovation with a commitment to delivering excellence and meeting the needs of its customers.

Laser’s Objective

In alignment with their mission statement, it was important that Laser leverage technology to provide excellent service in innovative ways from the beginning. Given the transmission speed of the virus, Laser had a small window of opportunity to demonstrate its capabilities and respond quickly to customer demand for Covid testing. Having a large staff to set appointments was not part of their operating model, and they knew that a technical solution was the best approach. Although it is not common for Panamanians to book appointments online, Laser believed they could appeal to both tech-savvy and reluctant tech users with a well designed automated booking process. Laser needed the application to be available within a condensed amount of time and support a wide range of potential clients across a variety of channels. 

The Conversely Solution

Conversely was uniquely positioned to meet Laser’s aggressive timelines. With experienced developers and capabilities already in place to support omnichannel customer engagement, Conversely was able to leverage their resources and library of tools to provide Laser with a solution in three short weeks. The result is a fully automated chatbot that allows patients to make Covid test appointments directly on the Laser website. The chatbot interacts with patients to request their information, book their Covid test, and give them the option to pay online. Behind the scenes, the application links directly to Laser’s Microsoft 365 Calendar to provide real-time availability and confirmation of appointment times, integrates with banking systems to manage patients’ payments, and securely stores the collected information on Laser’s lab platform.

The base application has continued to expand to create an even better patient experience with additional functionality. 

• To manage increasingly complex questions needed to serve the patient, Conversely built a smart form as an alternative to the chatbot. 
• To enable home testing for those patients who choose not to leave their homes, Conversely integrated Google Maps into the automated conversation so that patients could identify their location to the testing teams. 
• To handle the multiple levels of pricing discounts, Conversely updated the application to calculate patient-specific pricing and apply discounts provided to travelers booked on Copa Airlines flights.
• To support Laser’s work directly with organizations that require a large number of appointments, Conversely created a bulk load feature to book large blocks of time. 

Laser’s Results

In the two months since going live, Laser has seen significant growth in the number of automated appointments for COVID testing - a 250% increase between November and December 2001 - with expectations for this trend to continue. The ease and confidence with which patients can make valid and error-free appointments sets the groundwork to establish Laser as a sophisticated provider of quality service. The trust Laser gains now will pave the way for continued patient adoption of automated capabilities as Laser grows their innovative use of technology.

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Laser and Conversely continue to expand the chat and smart form capabilities beyond the website by supporting interactions through WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, while keeping calendars and databases centralized and in sync. By increasing access to the application and making their testing more widely available to a larger number of patients, Laser can achieve its mission and do its part to help manage the worldwide pandemic.