The Rise of AI Voice Assistants in Clinical Documentation

Medical decision-making must remain with clinicians, but why does cumbersome data entry work continue to bog down their time? Can AI be used to allow physicians to spend less time on administrative tasks and more on value-added care?

Physicians can spend approximately one-third of their time creating notes and reviewing medical records in the electronic health record (EHR), and while some of this is related to bolstering ongoing care to help patients achieve positive health outcomes (for example, ensuring continuity of care for the patient between venues), the majority is for billing documentation (financial reimbursement) and to ensure regulatory compliance. And this comes at a significant cost. As payment models become more complex, physicians are seeking ways to improve clinical documentation.

Voice recognition can help eliminate the burden of data entry from the care team. Physicians have long utilized medical dictation to dictate a structured clinical note along with human-powered medical transcription services, or software such as Dragon in conjunction with EHR, to alleviate their administrative burden.