Hospitals roll out chatbots, looking to reclaim their role in patients’ health conversations – statnews.com

Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
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By Katie Palmer
April 13, 2026
Health Tech Correspondent
Katie Palmer
Katie Palmer covers telehealth, clinical artificial intelligence, and the health data economy — with an emphasis on the impacts of digital health care for patients, providers, and businesses. You can reach Katie on Signal at palmer.01.
Every day, more than 40 million people ask ChatGPT about health care, according to OpenAI. They’re asking questions about diet, exercise, insurance — and in some cases, serious symptoms that would typically get discussed on a 911 call or in a doctor’s office.
For some health systems, that’s creating an imperative. A small number of hospitals are trying to recapture some of those clinical conversations from commercial large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. They’re implementing their own patient-facing chatbots, ones that draw directly from their existing medical records and can funnel patients toward care in their own system. 
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Hartford HealthCare this week will launch PatientGPT, a chatbot engineered by clinical AI company K Health, to its patients in Connecticut. Two health systems — California-based Sutter Health and Reid Health, serving Indiana and Ohio — have announced pilot versions of Emmie, the chatbot built by medical record mammoth Epic. The list is likely to grow rapidly.
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Katie Palmer
Health Tech Correspondent
Katie Palmer covers telehealth, clinical artificial intelligence, and the health data economy — with an emphasis on the impacts of digital health care for patients, providers, and businesses. You can reach Katie on Signal at palmer.01.
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