CHARLOTTE, N.C. — According to the American Medical Association, roughly 60% of doctors say they're burnt out and a contributor to burnout for many physicians is filling out medical records.
But now, Atrium Health is using artificial intelligence to cut back on the time doctors have to spend doing administrative tasks, in hopes of making the job more enjoyable.
Artificial intelligence is transforming various industries, and now there's debate over whether AI has a place in the field of medicine.
"I think there’s a lot of exciting pieces of technology that are out there that are going to make us better and do it more efficiently," Dr. Matt Anderson, senior medical director for primary care at Atrium Health, said.
Working more efficiently is the purpose of DAX Copilot, a new AI program Atrium Health is using to help doctors improve patient care and tackle burnout, especially in a growing city like Charlotte where demand for care is high.
“It makes it easier to reduce administration burdens and gives them more time to be face to face, focused on the person in front of them in the exam room," Anderson said.
WCNC Charlotte's Lexi Wilson acted as a patient with a sore throat to try out the new technology. Dr. Anderson started the patient visit by pulling out his phone and getting permission to use the program. It wrote his patient summary for him, as they talked.
But can the program differentiate between what's important and what's not?
“I have a draft within 15 seconds and that has sifted through all the banter and small talk, it excludes it and takes the clinical information and puts it in a format that I can use," Anderson said.
It's a format patient, Valerie Belton feels can improve her experience in getting care.
“When you’re answering a doctor’s question, typically they’re typing your answer into the system, and they can’t hear everything, so I think it makes for much better dialogue," Belton said. “If I share something with my doctor that he might happen to miss, I got it on record.”
When it comes to privacy, Anderson says it doesn't stay on his phone. Also, there are safety features in place, the same as with electronic records.
There's no question that artificial intelligence is remaking the doctor's office.
“We're really focused on what AI can do to make the jobs of our clinical teams easier, it’s not a replacement," Anderson said. "We always need the relational aspect, we need the human brain to process things."
DAX Copilot is a pilot program that started in the summer of 2023 and it's expected to stay in the doctor's office. Over 100 providers within Atrium Health are currently using the technology.
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.