CHARLOTTE — Artificial intelligence is quickly seeping into every part of our society, including Charlotte’s two largest healthcare systems.
Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis visited with Atrium and Novant doctors to see how AI is improving patient care and preventing clinician burnout.
Atrium Health’s AI chatbot, “Anna,” is helping to fill the gaps in patient care. It’s part of a hypertension pilot program which calls to check in on patients with high blood pressure, answer questions and connect them with further human care, if needed.
“The reality in healthcare is that we oftentimes just don’t have enough resources to do all of the things that we want to do,” Atrium Health’s Dr. Andy McWilliams said.
That’s where “Anna” comes in. Over the course of a couple weeks, Anna followed up with 15,000 hypertension patients who otherwise might not have gotten a call. Of those, more than 600 patients received further nursing care.
“This is really enabling our teams to work better and faster and to engage more with patients,” McWilliams said.
While the system is still being tested, doctors, like McWilliams, hope it becomes part of standard care in the near future.
“It lends itself well to many of the other chronic diseases that our patients have, so diabetes or hypertension, COPD, heart failure, all different conditions that we hope to build towards this year,” he said.
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At Novant Health, a new AI ambient listening tool is available to all physicians, PAs and nurse practitioners.
Dr. Aram Alexanian says the tool on his phone takes notes during the appointment, so he doesn’t have to.
“A very high percentage of clinicians are saying that they feel that the encounter goes better, that they’re better able to provide care to those patients in an undistracted manner,” he said.
In a mock appointment, Gillis and Alexanian talked about back pain. The highlights of the conversation all showed up in note form within the AI tool, with medications to be ordered, referrals discussed, and a printout with back exercises.
However, all notes must be reviewed by the clinician along with any medication or referral order placed by them.
“Safety is of paramount importance, so the human in the loop, the human verifying things, is of utmost importance,” Alexanian said.
He emphasized the difference AI tools can make for healthcare professionals.
“You want a rested, healthy provider taking care of you,” he said. “You want a rested, healthy pilot flying your plane.”
But he also urged clinicians to proceed with caution.
“Don’t take the human out of it,” he said. “We have to have our brains on. We have to vet it carefully.”
The ambient listening tool is saving clinicians hours of time, helping to reduce clinician burnout and better work-life balance.
“Some studies have cited that for every hour of direct patient care is at least two hours outside of the exam room,” says Alexanian.
Both physicians emphasized the importance of safety and transparency with AI.
Alexanian says the ambient listening tool is run through a robust firewall and the information is deidentified after a certain amount of time. Patients are always alerted that it’s in use, and they can choose to decline.
McWilliams told Channel 9 that “Anna” is specifically designed to ensure people know they are not speaking with an actual person, but that it’s still conversational and able to function in a way to help patients. Patients can always choose to decline the calls if not interested. For those interested in engaging with the tool, they can ask Anna to call them back at a specific time of their choosing, and she’s available in both English and Spanish.
Atrium Health has also been using an ambient scribe tool. McWilliams shared they are also using a radiology AI tool that helps make sure if there’s a potential for a clinical finding, that the film is read sooner.
“I think right now we’re at the just the early stages of really taking advantage of what the potential is,” McWilliams said.
As to how he feels about the AI future in health care, he says, “very excited about the opportunities, and I think you know the concerns that I have are the things that we’ve baked into making sure that we’re responsible as we deploy the AI solutions and do it in a very intentional way.”
Novant Health also has more AI tools on the horizon. They’re currently working to make the ambient listening tool available to nursing staff.