We can drive healthcare technology progress responsibly
by Devin White, AvodahMed Chief Technology Officer
It's easy to understand why many physicians are wary about adopting new technology. After all, it can be hard to envision the total impact to a practice.
Here’s an example. Moving from paper-based record keeping to electronic health records (EHRs) brought sweeping efficiency improvements. At the same time, it also placed a higher burden on physicians to learn and use the EHR systems. Now, physicians often blame time-consuming, cumbersome EHR documentation tasks as contributors to burnout.
Healthcare advances raise ethical concerns
As a technologist, I’m passionate about technology ethics — how we use ethical principles to address the practical implications of technology. Advancements in technology provide ever-greater capabilities that require us to make decisions and provide better support for people who use our solutions.
When evaluating how best to deliver value to physicians and staff, we must consider the ethical impacts. In creating significant efficiencies, we must also aim to:
prevent workload burden
reduce physician burnout
overcome weighted bias or discrimination
ensure patient accessibility
prioritize privacy
We can achieve those goals and more with our standard technologies and advanced ones, such as machine learning (ML). When viewed through an ethical lens, these next-level options enable technologists in healthcare to solve clinical, operational, and business problems in innovative ways.
Auto transcription accelerates data, reduces costs
Also known as automatic speech recognition (ASR), auto transcription is an excellent example of the innovation that artificial intelligence (AI) brings to the industry. Auto transcription empowers providers to process live or recorded conversations and automatically transcribe them into text.
Since computers can interpret and process speech much faster than humans, this approach removes any gaps in conversation — gaps that you’d find when a human scribe technician transcribes manually. Medical practices of all sizes can save time and reduce costs associated with human transcribers, improve the quality of patient records, and accelerate their data capture.
Physicians often keep solutions like auto transcription at arm's length because they perceive the systems will increase time and expense for their practices — but that could be a costly mistake. Auto transcription can bring leapfrog gains to any practice, including in speed, cost, and quality.
Transcription and translation demonstrate proven ROI in healthcare. As we develop solutions that deliver those services, often we can achieve greater, faster ROI by incorporating AI.
However, while AI and ML propel us in the right direction, these technologies on their own are not the answer. We have a responsibility to build problem-solving software in an ethical way — for example, by removing bias — and we can’t overlook ethical concerns in favor of automating workflow, saving time, or reducing costs.
Improve health for your patients, your practice, and you
AvodahMed provides solutions that help you enhance patient care, drive revenue, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.
We’re taking new and emerging technology to the next level by using natural language processing (NLP), natural language assessment (NLA), and natural language generation (NLG). Our solutions learn you, revealing hidden revenue opportunities through ancillary alerts.
With real-time language translation, including American Sign Language (ASL), plus conversational and deep-learning AI, we tailor our auto transcription solutions to the unique needs of your practice. Our technologies promote accessibility and equitable communications.
Explore how AvodahMed can help your practice thrive. Contact us today. info@avodah.com
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