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Less Admin, More Patient Care: How AI & ML Technology Can Revitalize Physicians Days
Punit Soni, Co-Founder & CEO, Suki
Abstract:
It is clear that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are coming to health care. And while some of the hype around these technologies is justified, the potential value proposition of AI may not lie in the functions or roles that many would assume. The most valuable use cases for this technology right now, rather than diagnosing patients, delivering care, or replacing doctors, are instead supporting physicians by solving one of their biggest problems – the need for more time in their day. It’s true, technology has played a key role in demanding more of a physician’s time away from clinical practice. Today’s doctors face frustrating administrative and documentation burdens and difficult-to-use electronic health records (EHRs). On average, for every hour spent with a patient, physicians spend nearly two additional hours on medical paperwork. As the physician shortage continues to grow in the US, we cannot afford for this to continue. Physicians are losing hours in their day tending to administrative burdens like charting and note taking, which prevents them from doing what they got into medicine to do: care for patients. Instead of potential future use cases, technology developers must focus on the here-and-now and near-future ways in which AI can supplement and support doctors.
That is why building and rolling out AI and ML products that are designed directly around physicians everyday problems is essential. If the industry wants to make technology that finally makes doctors’ lives easier – unlike EHRs – products need to be built with a physician’s daily workflow in mind. Health care technology can provide solutions, that when integrated into daily workflows, address pressing physicians issues, make their lives easier, and, importantly, improve their care. Already, it’s clear that AI and ML can be leveraged to create products that make a real difference in the lives of physicians. For example, at Suki we have harnessed these technologies to create a voice enabled digital assistant for physicians that has already begun to demonstrate results – both in quantitative timed saved for doctors as well as stories of how relieved they are to have it.
Suki uses a combination of voice commands from a physician and context in which they are operating, to create a clinically accurate note that is then pushed to an electronic health record (EHR) system—enhancing the quality of care and creating greater efficiencies. Doctors who use Suki spend 50-70 percent less time on documentation. Over the course of a year, Suki has grown to 25 sites across 14 states and to help physicians in 18 medical specialties. As a result of this growth we’ve been able to measure successes on the practice and individual physician scale. One of the practices we work with has saved over 54,000 minutes, or on average one hour per doctor, per clinic day since we deployed Suki. The average time needed to take notes at this practice declined from 4.8 minutes per note to 1.6 minutes. Another family physician in Nashville previously spent 10 minutes in each patient’s chart, but when he started using Suki reduced that time to 2 minutes, 48 seconds. Following that progress, he found time to begin conducting more preventive care services for his patients – hopefully leading to improved quality metrics and health outcomes in the long term. In this session, we will highlight how AI and ML applications can directly address pressing physicians issues such as rising administrative demands, technology burdens, and professional burnout. At the end of this presentation, attendees will understand: Understand the burden of medical note taking and time spent in the EHR for physicians as well as what effects this has on patients and the broader health system. Recognize how AI and ML technology can have a role in lifting the administrative and technology burden physicians face. Evaluate how digital assistants can support physicians when designed to integrate into their daily workflows.”
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