CLEVELAND, Ohio — Technology is taking center stage in the medical field once again.
Some area hospital systems are blending Artificial Intelligence with your doctor visit and further exploring if it works.
It is called "Ambient Listening Software."
The Cleveland Clinic is one of the first to "steer and test" this particular technology in the exam room.
Microsoft's Dragon Ambient Xperience or DAX is garnering international attention.
Through a secured app—DAX uses voice-enabled AI.
The app listens to the entire conversation between the patient, doctor—family member, or whoever is in that particular exam room.
It transcribes the details, identifies who is talking and then breaks down what is discussed in a summary note.
Afterwards, the doctor can go through and edit the details and verify the medical terms.
So far, 30 different providers have tried it during the 60-day pilot period in 1,800 visits at the Cleveland Clinic.
Data shows that 85% of providers can look more at the patient and less at the computer screen—improving overall focus and allowing doctors to finish their notes in record time.
Cleveland Clinic officials say 20-30% of a doctor's time is spent on just paperwork.
Often times they're spending two additional hours at the end of their work day to complete notes.
Rohit Chandra, Chief Digital Officer at Cleveland Clinic, says while the use of this technology is still in its very early stages, it has the power to shift the dynamic in healthcare in a positive fashion.
"So for physicians having technology that can do the transcription, do the summarization and generate a good draft that they can then review has the potential to substantially simplify the time that they have to spend this task," Chandra said.
"If we invest in them, refine them, make them safe, reliable and accurate, one can imagine that they accomplish the same result, result as today, maybe even better, but with much greater consistency and take a lot of that burden off of the physician."
The use of DAX is just a pilot program at this point.
The Cleveland Clinic says there are several other programs and developers for this type of AI technology.
They said they will review and test others on the market.
