In Canada, The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) has announced that it is piloting a Microsoft solution that uses AI to draft clinical notes for clinicians during patient appointments, with hopes that the solution may assist in saving up to 10 hours per week of clinician time.
The DAX Copilot solution harnesses ambient, conversational and generative AI to record clinician’s conversations with patients, before converting them into medical notes that the clinician can review prior to their submission into TOH’s Epic EHR system.
During the trial, patients will receive information about the program and reassurance that “their health records always remain confidential and secure”. Consent to have their appointments recorded and used in this way will be checked prior to appointments, and patients will be given access to the notes through the MyChart patient portal,
Robert Dahdah, CVP of global healthcare and life sciences at Microsoft, said: “DAX Copilot helps streamline clinical documentation processes by addressing some of health-care’s biggest challenges today, such as clinician burnout and administrative burdens. With less time spent on documentation and other time-consuming tasks, this implementation with The Ottawa Hospital will allow physicians to spend more time interacting with their patients. Importantly, the technology is backed by Microsoft’s strong commitment to Responsible AI principles.”
Cameron Love, president and CEO at TOH, added that “physicians will now be able to spend less time on administrative tasks”, which will in turn allow them to “spend more time interacting with patients and delivering high-quality care”, before commenting that introducing DAX Copilot is one way the hospital is “using innovative solutions to increase access to care for patients in our community”.
On the TOH’s dedicated frequently asked questions webpage, the hospital offers reassurance that it is “taking a careful and responsible approach to using AI”, and that the use of the solution in the drafting of clinical notes will “help ensure that no health information between patients and physicians gets overlooked”.
In other news on AI, California-based Augmedix, provider of ambient AI medical documentation & data services, has announced that its solution Augmedix Go is to become generally available for emergency departments, following the completion of a pilot programme with HCA Healthcare.
