This afternoon, I had an appointment with my gastroenterologist. He’s always been a “cutting edge” kind of guy so the first thing he said to me was his office had become an AI, artificial intelligence, office. He went on to explain that the huge stand he just rolled into the exam room contained the keyboard and monitor of his electronic medical record system. He further explained that this system had capabilities I never dreamed were possible.
Added to his regular Electronic Medical Record system (EMR) was an AI program that miraculously produced an office visit note and summary of recommendations automatically from the words he spoke and the conversation we had. He didn’t have to key in anything. He didn’t have to dictate anything into a microphone. The whole note was converted from spoken words into a written note and list, and it did it as we were talking. It was amazing.
The program he was using was called “Abridge” and was developed by a company of the same name. Technically, Abridge is a medical scribe that uses AI to draft a clinical note from patient-doctor conversations. It easily integrates with the most widely-owned, and popular
Medical record system, Epic, and very amazingly incorporated the medical history and all previous visits into the current note. We discussed three major subjects, all of which were summarized on the 4th of 4 pages of my after visit summary. Every thing we discussed, plus the recommendations he made, were all present in the note, given to me upon leaving.
As we talked, Abridge was listening. AI processed our speech in real time and converted it into an accurate clinical note which became part of the permanent medical record. The Abridge system can be used by over 50 specialties and adapts to 28+ languages. For billing purposes, It also selects the level of service from the information discussed. It has been used by over 200 health entities including Johns Hopkins, UC Health, and the Mayo Clinic. The biggest benefit for doctor and patient was the doctor was able to focus on the patient, and no longer had to stare at the computer and type in data required.
Needless to say, this amazing software will greatly improve physician efficiency while at the same time improving practice revenues which must be increased to pay for the cost of the new technology. I’m sure this sophisticated AI program is quite expensive. Also it greatly improves the doctor-patient relationship by enabling the doctor to have a more focused concentration on the patient, by removing the barrier between parties, and by shifting the emphasis back to the patient and not the medical record.
References: www.Google.com/view-article/AI-Abridge
