NextGen Healthcare announced this week the availability of artificial intelligence-based ambient listening technology that interprets conversations between patients and providers in real time, summarizes appointments and documents care plans.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
According to NextGen, the new Ambient Assist tool documents AI-generated subjective, objective, assessment and plan notes to save providers time.
The cloud-based electronic health records provider also said its generative AI, leveraged through mobile application NextGen, filters relevant details with over 90% accuracy.
SOAP notesused in many specialties to help providers organize their clinical observations and create patient care plans, are available for provider review within 30 seconds of the patient encounter being completed, according to the company.
Once the provider reviews the note and makes any necessary changes, it is sent to the NextGen Enterprise electronic health record and incorporated into the patient’s medical record – no copying and pasting required.
The new AI tool was developed “in response to the well-documented epidemic of physician burnout,” NextGen President and CEO David Sides said in a statement.
NextGen noted that its AI does not infer medical conditions or make medical judgments, but instead trains itself based on familiarity with natural language and medical acronyms
NextGen says audio, transcription and generated notes are also automatically deleted to protect patient privacy.
THE BIGGER TREND
Physician burnout is a widespread and significant healthcare challenge that is closely related to the amount of documentation required and is viewed as a detriment to patient care.
But it’s crucial to test medical transcription software in a range of scenarios before making an investment decision to find the right tool for documenting more patient records and experiencing less burnout, Dr. Kendell Cannon, chief medical officer at Herself Health, a primary care practice for women ages 65 and older.
“The time spent on documentation is time that could otherwise be spent on patient care,” she said Healthcare IT News in June.
Beth McCombs, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Fortune 500 medical and health information technology company BD, agreed that automation helps free up patients’ time.
“Advances in technologies such as AI offer physicians the opportunity to streamline administrative tasks to free up more time for patient care,” she said in August.
ON THE RECORD
“Ambient Assist goes far beyond a transcription service and is an intelligent ally that helps providers reclaim their time and care for patients more effectively,” Sides said in announcing NextGen’s new features.
Andrea Fox is managing editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.