Oracle announced this week that its new Clinical Digital Assistant – which features generative AI, multimodal voice and other navigation tools – is available to help outpatient physicians streamline their clinical documentation.
WHY IT MATTERS
The AI tool, deployed in Oracle Health’s electronic health record, combines note generation with conversational clinical automation – and can suggest clinical follow-up right at the point of care, the company says.
According to Oracle Health, Clinical Digital Assistant also helps automate referrals, prescription orders, and scheduling follow-up labs and appointments, increasing workflow efficiency.
For example, voice capabilities allow healthcare providers to access information from their patients’ medical histories by asking, reducing the need to navigate drop-down menus or scroll through EHR screens.
Meanwhile, during the patient encounter, the tool captures clinical notes using the provider’s preferred templates, saving potential hours of documentation time every day.
Clinical Digital Assistant helps reduce clicks and enables synchronization of new data with the patient’s existing EHR without copying and pasting, reducing the manual work that contributes to physician burnout. Providers oversee the note, but can view, edit, and approve it from their computer or mobile device.
Oracle Health says physicians at more than a dozen early adopter locations are averaging more than four and a half minutes per patient, and have reduced charting time by 20-40%.
“EHRs have turned physicians into keyboard junkies since the 1990s,” says James Little, a primary care physician at Jackson, Wyoming-based St. John’s Health. “Our physicians who have used this technology have been able to document their patients’ visits in real time, so they can leave at the end of the day with good, quality notes. Time spent documenting after hours is no longer necessary.”
“I can just talk to my patients and focus on them, while the system in the background captures all the details, notes and next steps,” added Dr. Ryan McFarland, a primary care physician at Hudson Physicians in Wisconsin, adds. “Not only does this lead to a better experience for me and my patients, but it has also significantly reduced the time I spend on postal appointments or updating notes after hours.”
THE BIG TREND
Physician burnout rates are at an all-time high and are beginning to have real-world consequences for healthcare provider workforces and even patient safety.
Documentation burdens seriously impact the healthcare experience for physicians and nurses. Generative AI, speech technologies like natural language processing, and other clinical support tools from Oracle and others can help streamline repetitive but necessary charting tasks, reducing burnout and even increasing revenue.
As genAI matures and makes its way into clinical workflows at providers across the country, physicians and nurses are adopting it. But automation tools need to be properly calibrated and human oversight is essential.
ON THE RECORD
“Practitioners spend upwards of 20-35% of their time on administrative work – this is not sustainable and contributes to burnout,” says Seema Verma, executive VP and general manager of Oracle Health and Life Sciences. “We need our healthcare providers to focus on the patient’s needs.”
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Mike Miliard is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.