Kakao Healthcare's Hospital Chatbot Service 'CareChat' Surpasses 200,000 Members

Kakao Healthcare announced on the 31st that the number of members of CareChat, a concierge service for university hospitals and general hospitals based on KakaoTalk channels and chatbots, has exceeded 200,000.

Image of Kakao Healthcare's 'CareChat' service [Photo by Kakao Healthcare]

Kakao Healthcare's CareChat was introduced starting with Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital in August last year, followed by Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Hanyang University Seoul Hospital, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, and Bundang Seoul National University Hospital.

CareChat is a service that allows patients to handle various tasks through conversations with a chatbot by simply adding the hospital channel they visit on KakaoTalk, without the need to install a separate application (app). It offers various functions such as appointment booking and changes, outpatient registration, queue waiting, location guidance, and electronic medical questionnaires. Previously, these tasks had to be handled through hospital call centers, offline reception desks, or separate hospital apps, but now they can be processed using chatbots on KakaoTalk, greatly improving accessibility and convenience.

In particular, starting this month, the CareChat service has also incorporated a digital patient card feature. The digital patient card service, first introduced at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital, can be issued through the KakaoTalk Wallet and is expected to be used for patient identification, hospital entry, and hospital kiosk tasks by utilizing non-face-to-face QR authentication functions. Furthermore, by the second half of this year, the service scope will be expanded to include outpatient services such as medical bill payment including automatic payment, parking fee settlement, issuance of certificates, and medication information, as well as inpatient services such as admission reservation, bed assignment, and issuance of guardian entry QR codes.

Hwang Hee, CEO of Kakao Healthcare, said, “We will soon apply generative AI to CareChat, the digital front door (hospital-related services other than medical treatment), to further enhance the accessibility and convenience of hospitals for the public. We are continuously expanding the service targeting university hospitals and general hospitals, and through collaboration with small and medium-sized enterprises and startups, we will create a representative win-win model.”