Does AI make clinicians more efficient? Not really, study says

Artificial intelligence-powered ambient documentation does not make clinicians more efficient but may improve work-life balance, a new study found.

Here are five things to know, according to the November study in NEJM AI:

1. The study compared 112 primary care clinicians using the DAX Copilot from Microsoft's Nuance in mid-2023 at Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health to a control group of 103 clinicians not using the tool. The app ambiently records patient encounters before drafting a note for the EHR.

2. The researchers did not find any statistically significant difference in EHR use and financial metrics between the two groups. However, they found small decreases in documentation time for family medicine clinicians, low-volume clinicians and highly active DAX users.

3. "AI-powered ambient clinical documentation software has been promoted as a promising strategy to alleviate the documentation burden faced by outpatient clinicians. However, our findings suggest that the tool did not make clinicians as a group more efficient," the authors concluded. "Future studies can further investigate the utility of DAX for clinician subgroups and alternative implementations with improved clinical adoption."

4. In a separate qualitative study, clinicians reported that DAX "eased their cognitive burden, saved time on documentation, and allowed them to have more personal time," the researchers wrote. "Even though 'time saved' may not be captured with objective EHR use metrics, the clinicians' reflections on improved work-life balance are noteworthy and demonstrate the potential for such tools to mitigate clinician burnout."

5. The study's authors were affiliated with Atrium Health and Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Wake Forest funded the research.

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