May 2020 Health Analytics Community Meeting - Virtual agent for COVID-19 in BC

Hello all,

Thanks again to Leanne Thain and Andy French on presenting yesterday. Following is the link to their presentation: infocentral.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/resources/docs/health-analytics/3325-2020-05-28-bc-moh-covid-19-digital-assistant-infoway

Finnie

Hello all,

Andy French from CGI and a co-presenter will present on May 28, 2020 at 2:00-3:00 PM EST the virtual agent (chat bot) implemented in BC in response to COVID-19. For connection detail, please follow the link: infocentral.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/news-events/event-calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2020/05/28/3124/1305/health-analytics-monthly-community-meeting

Following are additional details about the presentation:

The COVID-19 pandemic has the public and healthcare workers seeking reliable and up to date information from government sources (BC CDC, the Ministry of Health and health authorities). At the peak of the crisis, Ministry and health authority web sites were experiencing unprecedented traffic flow. The BC Nurse-line (811) was experiencing over 6,000 calls per day, with many frustrated citizens unable to get through due to trunk lines being full.

Recognizing that an immediate solution was needed, the MoH, PHSA and CGI collaborated to stand up a virtual agent (chat bot). A chatbot uses automated rules, natural-language processing, and machine learning to simulate and process human conversation (written or spoken), allowing humans to interact with digital devices as if they were communicating with a real person, at unlimited scale.
The first stage of the virtual agent was released in the form of a text chat bot on the BCCDC website to help people get direct responses to commonly asked questions. The impact was immediate, with the chatbot handling over 1 million questions in the first month. The chat bot quickly become the go-to resource for the public to get the latest on the COVID-19 response. It also provided a new channel to understand what is top of mind for the public. Initially focused on health information about COVID-19, the bot quickly was expanded to address many related implications, such as availability of parks and public spaces, closures of businesses, and government financial assistance programs.

This session will provide an overview of the initiative, the underlying platform and next steps the MoH and PHSA have planned for using virtual agents.