Ambient clinical intelligence: Better than a scribe and less expensive
It's like having a scribe in the room with the patient who knows what goes in the medical record.
Neil Baum, MD
COVID-19 has brought telemedicine and virtual appointments to many medical practices. This increases efficiency and productivity and improves access to care. I have observed that middle-aged and older physicians are averse to technology. They are comfortable with the status quo. But even technophobes can't ignore the AI revolution in healthcare, particularly regarding medical documentation. Virtual appointments and telemedicine aren't the only advancements in healthcare. Ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) is an answer to data entry, which is the bane for most physicians and may even be why many physicians decide to leave the practice of medicine.
Ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) uses AI and voice recognition to automate clinical documentation, reducing administrative burden and decreasing physician burnout. ACI captures patient encounters during the doctor-patient encounter, generating detailed clinical notes. As a result, physician productivity increases.
ACI uses AI to write clinical notes during patient visits so doctors can focus on the patient, not the computer.
ACI reduces the documentation burden. ACI listens to the doctor-patient conversation and writes notes that you can easily transfer to the practice's EMR.
It's like having a scribe in the room with the patient who knows what goes in the medical record.
ACI, along with voice recognition technologies, is different from human transcription. It interprets the patient's conversation to include the necessary details to create a complete medical record.
ACI also automatically categorizes patient symptoms and treatment plans and can organize your care plans.
ACI means you can only remember part of the conversation. You can enact care plans and make decisions.
How ACI works
- Turn on the ACI from your computer when your doctor-patient encounter begins. The program "listens" for up to three hours, whether it's a face-to-face or virtual visit.
- At the end of the counter, you can select the edit mode on the computer. ACI will create a note in less than one minute. The edit mode also provides information to the program that helps ACI learn your voice, accent, style, and speed of interaction with the patient.
- You can end the encounter with a single click and transfer the completed medical notes into your EHR.
When beginning to use ACI, it is essential to edit the encounter. You want to ensure that medical terms and prescription names are correctly transcribed. With repeated use, ACI will capture these terms and names accurately.
Of course, there are caveats with ACI that are common with all new technology. These include:
There may be technical difficulties. The technology may not always work correctly or may have caused incomplete or inaccurate notes and glitches. The glitches decrease with repeated use.
Automated notes may not capture the nuances of a patient's condition or the unique perspective of the healthcare provider.
A future problem is that relying too heavily on automated note-taking may lead to declining healthcare providers' documentation skills.
Bottom Line: Patient encounters are about connection and trust. ACI handles the administrative tasks that impede patient care. Ultimately, ACI creates a better experience for the physician and patient. ACI gives doctors their time and lives back; you can plan to be home for dinner.
Neil Baum, MD, a Professor of Clinical Urology at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Baum is the author of several books, including the best-selling book, Marketing Your Medical Practice-Ethically, Effectively, and Economically, which has sold over 225,000 copies and has been translated into Spanish.
