This week, Oracle announced that a novel digital clinical assistant — including generative artificial intelligence, multimodal voice and other navigation tools — is available to aid ambulatory physicians streamline their clinical documentation.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
Deployed in Oracle Health electronic health records, the AI tool combines clinical automation, conversation-based note generation and can offer clinical observations directly at the point of care, the company says.
According to Oracle Health, Clinical Digital Assistant also helps automate referrals, prescription orders, and scheduling of follow-up lab tests and visits, increasing workflow efficiency.
For example, voice capabilities allow providers to access information from patients’ medical records by asking questions, reducing the need to navigate drop-down menus or scroll through EHR screens.
Meanwhile, during the patient encounter, the tool captures clinical notes using provider-preferred templates, saving potential hours of documentation time each day.
Clinical Digital Assistant helps reduce clicks and allows novel data to sync to a patient’s existing EHR without copying and pasting, reducing manual work that contributes to physician burnout. Suppliers have control over the note, but can view, modify and approve it from a computer or mobile device.
Oracle Health says physicians at more than a dozen early adopter sites average more than four and a half minutes per patient, which has reduced charting time by 20-40%.
“Since the 1990s, EHRs have turned physicians into keyboard fiends,” said James Little, a primary care physician in St. John’s Health based in Jackson, Wyoming. “Our physicians who use this technology were able to document the patient’s visit in real time so that at the end of the day they were able to leave with good, high-quality notes. Time spent documenting after hours is no longer necessary.”
“I can simply talk to my patients and focus on them while, in the background, the system captures all the details, notes and follow-up,” added Dr. Ryan McFarland, a family medicine physician at Wisconsin-based Hudson Physicians. “Not only does this provide a better experience for me and my patients, but it also significantly reduces the time I spend on post-appointment visits or updating notes after business hours.”
A BIGGER TREND
Physician burnout is at an all-time high and is starting to have real consequences for providers and even patient safety.
Documentation burden seriously impacts the quality of care provided by physicians and nurses. Generative AI, voice technologies such as natural language processing and other clinical assistance tools from Oracle and others can aid streamline repetitive but necessary charting tasks, reducing burnout and even increasing revenue.
As genAI continues to mature and find its way into clinical processes at providers across the country, doctors and nurses are becoming more willing to employ it. However, automation tools must be properly calibrated and human supervision is necessary.
ON RECORDING
“Practitioners spend more than 20-35% of their time on administrative work – this is unsustainable and contributes to burnout,” said Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Health and Life Sciences. “We need our providers to focus on patient needs.”
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