With the growing rate of electronic health records in AI, physician burnout is becoming a major issue in the health systems in the US. It’s an issue that is about to get out of hand in the healthcare industry.
A recent medical advancements conducted by Athenahealth poll by Harris Poll found that almost half of American physicians have thought of leaving the field or taking on non-patient-facing responsibilities in health tech, and nearly all physicians reported feeling burned out regularly.
AI Medical Assistants Integrated with Electronic Health Records
More and more healthcare organizations and hospitals are placing bets on artificial intelligence (AI) developments as the potential of electronic health records, breaks out for physician ailments. In particular, providers are spending money on generative AI tools and AI medical scribes to help reduce the tedious administrative work that consumes a significant amount of physicians’ time. Health tech also promotes the advantages of these technologies for patients, saying that instead of having doctors type into a computer during exams, they can spend more time speaking with patients face-to-face.
Businesses such as Abridge, Suki, Nabla, and Microsoft’s Nuance leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and atmospheric voice technology to transform a patient-physician dialogue into a structured clinical draft, facilitating healthcare updates integrated into the patient’s medical file.
The same Athenahealth survey also revealed that doctors had high hopes for healthcare AI, 83% of them believing it may help lower administrative burdens, boost efficiency, and enhance electronic health record management.
Technology startup Suki is collaborating with Chicago-based Rush University System for Health to test its AI helper. Punit Soni, CEO and founder of speech AI tech company Suki said the experiment would begin with a “few hundred” physicians on the health trends before expanding the technology deployment to other clinicians.
Rush University Medical Centre, Rush University, Rush Copley Medical Centre, and Rush Oak Park Hospital are all part of the nonprofit health system. There is also a large provider network in health tech and a large number of outpatient care facilities.
Rush’s chief medical informatics officer, Bina Desai, M.D., stated in a statement that “after using other AI documentation solutions, Suki stood out to us for its depth of integration with Epic, ability to do more than documentation, and competitive cost.” “We are thrilled to welcome Suki into our network because we recognize the significant influence AI solutions can have on both patient care and our professionals. We are eager to observe how the electronic health record will increase involvement and lower burnout.
Soni claims that Suki can do more than just create background notes. It can also code, have dictation powers similar to those of Siri, and get data to provide answers to queries.
According to the business, it can assist clinicians in finishing notes 72% faster on average. In addition, it promises further advantages for health systems, including a noteworthy decrease in claim rejections (with a 48 percent drop in amended encounter rates) and chances to increase income and boost productivity.
To reduce the administrative strain on physicians, Soni, a former product manager at Google, created Suki in 2017. The company’s goal is to provide supportive and unobtrusive healthcare technology. He thinks the applications of generative AI in health tech—such as automating clinical documentation—are only the beginning.
The Mass General Brigham Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Fund (AIDIF), Union Square Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, and CVS Health Ventures are among the investors in this initiative.
In return, Suki has received $95 million from backers including Breyer Capital, Philips Ventures, Venrock, Flare Capital, and inHealth Ventures. According to Soni, the organization is strengthening its electronic health record and its relationships with business clients. According to him, Suki has partnerships with 250 health systems, physician practices, and clinics. Its Suki Assistant applies to 100 different medical specializations.
Dr. Matthew Keefer, chief medical informatics officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, stated in a statement that the hospital is dedicated to developing an innovative culture for the benefit of both patients and team members.
In a pediatric hospital, where parents often join patients in the exam room, patient-doctor interactions differ, therefore Nabla worked closely with CHLA’s clinical team to customize some capabilities. To better represent if certain facts were reported by the patient or their parents, the startup, for instance, modified the note templates, especially for CHLA’s pediatric setting.
In the examination room, Nabla Copilot can record various voices on health tech, such as the parent or guardian speaking for a patient who is a youngster. Additionally, Spanish and English are supported by Nabla Copilot.
The Mankato Clinic, Frontier Care, Opus EHR, NextGen EHR, and a growing list of other providers and EHR firms have adopted Nabla Copilot, which the startup debuted in March.
To integrate Nabla’s ambient AI assistant technology with Greenway Health’s EHR solutions, the health IT business formed a partnership with them to create Greenway Clinical Assist.
With $24 million raised, Nabla is expanding quickly in the ambient AI assistant market. Since Nabla Copilot’s introduction, the company claims that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has increased from $0 to $3 million, with a target of $15 million by the end of 2024.
Healthcare industry benchmark assessments are provided by KLAS Research, which states that provider clients gave both Abridge and Suki good performance ratings. Abridge received an overall score of 95.3 from a small subset of users (15 users from six organizations), while Suki’s technology received an overall score of 93.2 from 22 users from 15 organizations.
Final Note: Physicians Demand Transparency in Training Data in AI Health Tech
According to a recent Wolters Kluwer Health poll, attitudes towards emerging electronic health records in AI technology have quickly changed. According to 68% of physicians, their opinions on generative AI have evolved in the last year, and 40% of them stated they are prepared to implement it at the point of care this year.
Yet, doctors stated that openness is essential to fostering trust. When using the data to train the tools for clinical decision-making, the vast majority of doctors (91%) stated that they must be aware that the data was developed by doctors and medical professionals. The medical news also said almost the same proportion of doctors stated that they require vendors to provide clear information regarding the origins, creators, and sourcing methods of data.
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