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AI is becoming more embedded in the day-to-day clinical and operational workflows of ambulatory care providers, according to a new report by AdvancedMD.
Ambient AI is allowing more for facetime between physicians and patients. Physicians are spending less time on paperwork after hours.
As AI adoption increases, physicians will be able to walk into their clinic with patient histories, labs and insights ready. Suggested labs and medical prescriptions can be queued for review. Physicians will be able to approve care plans without typing patient data into their charts or toggling between screens, AdvancedMD said.
AdvancedMD looked at how AI adoption is expected to evolve over the next 12 months, using performance data across EHR, practice management and patient engagement workflows from more than 65,000 practitioners. The predictions are from Nupura Kolwalkar-Rana, AdvancedMD's recently appointed chief product and technology officer, who is leading the company's AI strategy.
The report included other predictions.
"Care without clicks" will become increasingly achievable as ambient AI listens, transcribes and drafts notes in real time, helping reduce documentation backlogs and after-hours charting.
Burnout will begin to ease across entire practices, not just for physicians, as administrative and billing workflows become more automated.
Personalized care delivery will continue to scale through AI-powered summaries, insights and dynamic care plans without requiring enterprise health system budgets.
Independent practices will see improved efficiency and financial resilience as AI helps reduce errors, streamline scheduling, speed reimbursements and lower no-show rates.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Independent practices, as hospitals and other providers are experiencing, are living with staffing shortages, rising costs and persistent clinician burnout.
Many providers remain cautious about adopting AI tools that could disrupt workflows. AdvancedMD said its predictions focus on practical, near-term applications that integrate AI directly into existing clinical and operational systems where providers are most likely to get efficiencies without enterprise-scale resources.
With this measure in mind, AdvancedMD said AI technology can drive gains in the following three areas: Ambient AI to help eliminate administrative burdens; more personalized patient care plans; and an increase in operational inefficiencies.
THE LARGER TREND
Last year, a survey of more than 100 C-suite healthcare executives revealed that more than 80% of respondents said AI could improve clinical decision-making, and 75% said that the technology could reduce operational costs by helping to improve efficiencies.
AdvancedMD is a provider of cloud-based healthcare software for independent medical practices.
ON THE RECORD
AdvancedMD's Kolwalkar-Rana explained, "In the next 12 months, as generative AI technology continues to evolve, we predict that providers will have greater access to tools that can significantly reduce inefficiencies across the practice and help further efficiencies."
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org