The following is a guest article by Ben Scharfe, Executive Vice President, TouchWorks EHR at Altera Digital Health
Ambient listening technology is rapidly transforming the healthcare landscape. This innovative approach leverages artificial intelligence to record interactions between patients and providers, creating opportunities for more natural, focused, and patient-centric care. Traditionally, such recordings were manually transcribed, often offshore, resulting in delays and additional costs. Now, AI advancements enable instant, cost-effective transcription services, making ambient listening more accessible and appealing. This technology promises to alleviate physician burnout significantly by reducing the time spent on clinical documentation and allowing providers to concentrate more on patient care.
While ambient listening simplifies the documentation process, it introduces challenges with the integration of semi-structured data into electronic health records. EHR systems are designed to capture very structured data through binary fields, dropdown menus, and specific templates. The semi-structured or unstructured data produced by ambient listening technologies can complicate data integrity, charge capture, and ultimately, quality reporting and analysis. As healthcare organizations concluded their quality reporting for 2023 and introduced ambient listening experiments in 2024, some might not immediately have noticed the potential discrepancies in documentation affecting downstream quality outputs and analyses until later, posing significant challenges for quality analysis teams and administrators.
To mitigate these challenges, healthcare organizations should explore ambient listening experiments that also blend structured documentation practices to enhance efficiency without fully replacing traditional methods. This approach enables providers to maintain the integrity of clinical documentation while still benefiting from the efficiency of ambient listening. Additionally, clinical and administrative staff should be involved in refining the documentation process, ensuring that data captured via ambient listening can be effectively integrated into existing EHR systems.
Moreover, data analysis, reporting, and revenue cycle management teams should be equipped with advanced tools and technologies to adapt semi-structured data into the structured format required for comprehensive analysis and reporting. This adaptation is crucial for maintaining the accuracy and usefulness of healthcare data across all organizational levels. Approaching these tools with excitement and caution is critical, as they can be utilized to support staff while improving the patient experience, but accuracy must be maintained.
The adoption of ambient listening in healthcare should be approached as an opportunity for innovation and improvement. Organizations can iteratively adapt and optimize their processes by initiating small-scale pilot programs and carefully monitoring the impacts on charge capture, clinical documentation integrity, and quality reporting. The key to successful integration of this technology lies in continuous experimentation and a willingness to embrace new solutions that enhance patient care and provider efficiency. Day by day, organizations can slowly adopt this technology and measure its impact on not only documentation but culture as well. More support for staff has the potential to make great changes to the quality of life for staff and patients alike, ultimately driving a better patient experience.
With that in mind, it’s on us in the industry to balance our excitement with precision. Let us boldly move forward, integrating these technologies to transform healthcare delivery for better patient outcomes and more fulfilling provider experiences.
About Ben Scharfe
A seasoned leader in the healthcare technology sector, Ben Scharfe has dedicated more than 10 years to fostering growth and innovation at Harris and Altera Digital Health. His expertise spans financial leadership, client support, and executive management, contributing to Harris’ robust expansion, including the successful acquisition and integration of numerous entities. Currently leading TouchWorks EHR, Ben champions the adoption of AI and innovation with the purpose of enhancing patient-provider interactions and patient outcomes. Ben strives to be consistently grounded in humility and willingness to listen and learn, in deep alignment with Harris’ core values.
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