A Duke University Health System leader told Becker's that ambient AI is the most "impactful" technology in his three decades in healthcare.
Duke recently rolled out Abridge, an ambient listening tool for clinicians, to roughly 5,000 providers across the health system.
"I've been in this business 30 years, and nothing has come close to being this impactful, this quickly, at the right time," Eric Poon, MD, chief health information officer of Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Health System, told Becker's at the HIMSS conference in Las Vegas.
But to get there, Duke — and the industry as a whole — had to try out a lot of technologies that didn't work.
"With AI, you need to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince or princess," Dr. Poon said. "You have to let go of frogs that aren't royalty material."
Or, to use another analogy, not all plants become "bouquets," he said. But he noted that ambient AI can meet pressing healthcare needs, including reducing costs and burnout. The technology uses a smartphone app to ambiently record patient visits and draft a clinical note for the EHR.
AI has to work in a "real-world environment" not just a pitch meeting, Dr. Poon said, and be backed by evidence and able to solve problems. "How do we fail fast and get value when resources are really tight?" he said.
"I was telling junior staffers at Abridge, 'You are working for a prince or princess. There may not come another one for a while,'" Dr. Poon said. "They've iterated quickly. They've been bold at pushing the envelope. There seems to be some clinical intelligence in the notes. They pull together facts that are pertinent to the issue. There is pattern recognition: 'Burgers go with fries.'"
Since the launch, he said, staffers have been "coming out of the woodwork" asking to use the platform, which Duke may expand to occupational and physical therapists, for instance. The health system also offers the tool to residents who have been in training for at least six months.
Duke has been at the forefront of healthcare AI, with governance initiatives including being a founding member of both the Coalition for Health AI and Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network, and also works closely with Microsoft.
The health system also has AI tools for revenue cycle, clinical documentation improvement, chart abstraction and summarization, and patient portal messages.
"The pace of change is accelerating, partly because of the rightful excitement around AI and generative AI and the significant investments from companies large and small," Dr. Poon said. "The pace of change is going to continue to accelerate, because these companies, not only are they innovating quickly themselves, but they are making tools to make it easier for others to innovate."