Columbia, Md.-based MedStar Health has been on a years-long journey to reduce the documentation burden for its clinicians and has recently inked an expanded partnership with AI-powered voice assistant platform Suki AI in order to do so.
At MedStar Health, documentation has long been identified as an area "ripe for disruption," Jeff Collins, vice president of the MedStar Institute for Innovation Business Innovation Lab told Becker's. The health system has been exploring potential solutions to streamline documentation processes as early as 2019.
"We knew we needed something that could scale," Mr. Collins said. "We couldn't have a solution that only worked for a subset of our providers."
After conducting thorough market research and evaluating multiple solutions, MedStar Health identified Suki's software-first approach as the best fit for its needs. Through this partnership, thousands of MedStar Health clinicians across specialties such as primary care, cardiology, gastroenterology and urgent care will soon have access to Suki's AI-powered platform. The technology automates note-taking, responds to voice commands, simplifies medical coding and retrieves key information from patients' EHRs to answer clinical questions.
According to Mr. Collins, early feedback from clinicians using the Suki platform has been largely positive, with many expressing relief at the reduction in administrative tasks.
"We've had a lot of providers who are eager to try new solutions," he said. "The majority are excited about the efficiency gains, though some variability in adoption is natural."
Mr. Collins noted that the rollout was designed to be as organic as possible, focusing on making the technology available without mandating its use. MedStar Health has also included education and marketing efforts to encourage further adoption of the platform.
As MedStar Health looks to the future, Mr. Collins said he is optimistic about the continued evolution of the organization's partnership with Suki AI.
"We’ve built a lot of confidence in Suki’s team and technology, and we’re excited to take this to the next level of scale," he said.
MedStar Health plans to continue scaling the deployment of Suki across additional service lines, including pediatrics. The health system is also exploring its potential application in the inpatient setting and for non-provider clinical staff, such as nurses.