Generative AI (GenAI) is gaining momentum in healthcare and ambient clinical documentation technology is one of its clearest, most compelling use cases to date.
This was a major theme in a panel discussion at Becker's 9th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Meeting, led by Guru Sundar, vice president of marketing at Abridge, featuring three other leaders:
- Alicia Jacobs, MD, medical director, wellbeing informatics, UVM Health (Burlington, Vt.)
- Kristin Jacob, MD, medical director, physician and APP fulfillment office, Corewell Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Sachin Shah, MD, associate professor, medicine & pediatrics and chief medical information officer, University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences
Three takeaways:
- Ambient clinical documentation reduces clinician burnout. Burnout-inducing administrative burden keeps rising for healthcare providers. Many organizations have launched initiatives to tackle this challenge and the integration of ambient documentation technology into clinical practice has been a critical component of those efforts.
"The remarkable thing about [ambient] technology is its capacity to make a huge impact not only on clinician wellness, but also on patient experience, productivity and access," Dr. Shah said.
- After piloting Abridge, organizations have seen patient experience and provider satisfaction improve. Survey results from the University of Chicago showed better patient experience metrics associated with providers being more attentive to patients and involving them more in shared decision-making.
At Corewell Health, an Abridge pilot resulted in an 85% increase in provider job satisfaction linked to the technology's capability to reduce manual notetaking, including by producing patient visit summaries. "This has been one of the most instrumental changes in providers' careers to help them move closer to the work-life balance they're looking for," Dr. Jacob said.
- Vendor willingness to implement provider feedback is key to successful deployment. When choosing an ambient clinical documentation vendor, ensuring that the vendor is capable and willing to integrate feedback from a pilot phase into future iterations is crucial.
"The type of support you get from your vendor is really important — it will show you what their values are," Dr. Jacobs said. "Being able to give feedback on [Abridge's note-taking function] and then see how things change has been very meaningful."