There are healthcare leaders who believe in technology and AI as the primary solution to physician burden and burnout, and leaders who are skeptical of AI’s ability to deliver on these promises without compromising ethics, safety, and equity.
Dr. Anwar Jebran, a primary care physician informaticist and clinical assistant professor at Oak Street Health, is an advocate for technologies that lend a hand reduce physician burnout – particularly ambient artificial intelligence powered by gigantic language models. However, he believes in a multi-faceted approach to ending burnout.
He is one of four experts discussing artificial intelligence and burnout on a panel at HIMSS25 in March in a session titled “Physician Burnout: Is Artificial Intelligence the Only Way Forward?”
The session will address the pressing issue of physician burnout, offering a comprehensive analysis of how cutting-edge technology, strategic policymaking, and effective burnout mitigation strategies can work together to improve the professional lives of healthcare professionals.
Whether it’s novel systems such as ambient artificial intelligence or proven, technology-driven, high-impact strategies, the panel aims to provide practical analysis and conversations that can have a positive impact on everyday practice.
Jebran is a board-certified internal medicine physician who believes in using technology to improve health care. He serves as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois Health to support the implementation of the hospital-at-home program and foster international collaborations and partnerships in health informatics.
We spoke with Jebran to get a sneak peek at his panel session.
Q. What is the overarching theme of your session and why is it particularly relevant to healthcare and healthcare IT today?
AND. The overarching theme of the session is to address physician and provider burnout while exploring novel solutions that can make a concrete impact. Burnout remains a key challenge in healthcare, generating significant costs due to high employee turnover, reduced productivity and impacting the quality of patient care.
The session will highlight the transformative potential of cutting-edge tools such as ambient artificial intelligence and gigantic language models to alleviate this crisis. These technologies streamline workflow by reducing administrative burden, improving clinical documentation, and enabling more meaningful patient-caregiver interactions.
For example, ambient AI can seamlessly capture clinical data during an encounter, allowing physicians to focus on care LLMs assist with tasks such as creating SOAP notes and post-visit summary notes or supporting evidence-based clinical decision support.
In addition to artificial intelligence, the session will also highlight the value of technologically advanced and effective solutions in the fight against burnout. Straightforward, scalable interventions such as optimizing workflows, improving communication between teams, and reducing redundant tasks can profoundly restore balance and efficiency to healthcare teams.
This combination of innovation and practicality makes the discussion highly relevant in today’s healthcare and healthcare IT landscape.
Q. Please talk a little about the surrounding AI and LLM when you present it during the HIMSS25 session.
AND. The primary technology I will discuss in the session is ambient artificial intelligence powered by gigantic language models, transforming the way healthcare providers manage clinical documentation and patient encounters. Using advanced advanced voice recognition and LLM, these tools can listen to patient encounters, generate and summarize SOAP notes, and create post-visit summaries with pinpoint accuracy.
They can also create orders, freeing suppliers from time-consuming administrative tasks. This AI technology allows physicians to focus more on patient care and less on documentation, significantly reducing cognitive load and time spent on notes.
In the context of my session, this technology represents a breakthrough solution to the problem of supplier burnout. By automating and optimizing these routine but critical tasks, ambient AI saves time and helps restore the human connection in patient interactions.
It allows clinicians to interact more meaningfully with patients, leading to better care and greater professional satisfaction. This dual impact on operational efficiency and provider well-being makes ambient AI a key innovation in the fight against burnout in today’s demanding healthcare environment.
Q. What is just one of the various takeaways that you hope HIMSS25 attendees will leave your session with and be able to take advantage of when they return home to their organizations?
AND. I hope that one of the most critical takeaways that HIMSS25 participants will leave our session with is the importance of taking a multi-faceted approach to the problem of physician burnout – one that combines cutting-edge technologies, such as ambient artificial intelligence, with low-tech, high-tech interventions. values.
Participants will gain insight from national leaders on our panel on how advanced tools such as ambient artificial intelligence can streamline documentation and reduce administrative burdens, while understanding the critical role of organizational culture in supporting supplier well-being.
Whether by implementing novel technology or prioritizing changes such as improving workplace communication and investing in staff support programs, participants will be equipped with practical strategies to drive meaningful change in their organizations.