Nuance: Virtual assistants to 'drastically' change U.S. healthcare by 2018

A new survey published by Nuance on Wednesday points towards some major changes in healthcare in the United States in the next five years, courtesy of virtual assistants.

Specifically, approximately 80 percent of doctors in the United States are said to have affirmed that the virtual assistant technology already being put to use by consumers will "drastically change how they interact and use electronic health records (EHRs) and other healthcare apps" by 2018.

The expected benefits are to increase efficiency in accessing these records as well as time spent on patients, especially with the help of mobile channels.

According to the report, roughly 65 percent of doctors asserted a virtual assistant should be "more accurate" and offer "timely information to support care or alert them to missing information in records."

Additionally, 73 percent said they predict virtual assistants to enable "improved healthcare and patient engagement by helping to coordinate care between multiple caregivers."

For reference, the study is based upon the responses of more than 10,000 physicians nationwide.

Being that Nuance is a provider of virtual assistant and voice recognition technology, this is all well and good for its business.

Highlighting its healthcare unit, which produced the report, the Massachusetts company cited that more than 500 global developers are already using Nuance technology specifically for emerging healthcare technologies.