The Perfectly Valid Reason Why Some Physicians are Hesitant About Ambient Clinical Voice

While it is generally accepted that AI is beneficial in healthcare, there are valid reasons why some clinicians are skeptical of the technology – especially ambient clinical voice solutions. Here’s why.

Healthcare IT Today had the opportunity to sit down for a casual conversation with Dr. Michael Blackman, Chief Medical Officer at Greenway Health. We wanted to ask his opinion something have been hearing – clinicians being skeptical of the value of ambient clinical voice solutions and by extension, AI in healthcare.

AI in Healthcare

Earlier this year, the American Medical Association (AMA) published a report on the impact of AI in healthcare – Future of Health: The Emerging Landscape of Augmented Intelligence in Health Care. This report was aimed specifically at physicians.

The report did a great job at summarizing both the potential for and the concerns around AI:

“Physicians are at a crossroads: intrigued by the transformative potential of AI to enhance diagnostic accuracy, personalize treatments, reduce administrative burden, and accelerate advances in biomedical science, yet concerned about AI’s potential to exacerbate bias, increase privacy risks, introduce new liability concerns, and offer seemingly convincing yet ultimately incorrect conclusions or recommendations.”

The AMA found that a majority (65%) of physicians saw the advantages of using AI tools while at the same time, a majority (70%) were concerned about the increased use of AI in the delivery of medicine.

The Argument for AI Sounds Eerily Familiar

While there are many reasons why physicians are hesitant to implement ambient clinical voice solutions – like the potential for hallicinations and the unknown biases in AI training data – Dr. Blackman suggests that the cause may be something simpler. In his opinion, the arguments made by AI proponents are eerily familiar to the arguments made during the initial EHR adoption craze.

“Physicians frankly feel a little burned by technology,” stated Dr. Blackman. “The initial promise of EHRs was that they were going to make your life better. In a lot of cases, this didn’t happen. There are lot of memories of those early days of EHRs.”

For context, here is a claim from the website of a defunct EHR (courtesy of the Internet Archive):

The ease of use and flexibility of the EMR will let you practice the way you want, providing you with the tools you need to bring higher efficiency to your practice. XXXX make it fast and easy to document patient encounters and provide access to charts in seconds, displaying everything you need to know about a patient. XXXX will ensure that you and your staff have the best tools for efficiently managing and running your office.

Having déjà vu yet?

Show not Tell

For the record, Dr. Blackman is 100% in the pro-AI and pro-ambient clinical voice camp.

“Ambient clinical voice is one of those technologies that is really a breakthrough,” said Dr. Blackman. “It saves time. It has real potential.”

Dr. Blackman recommends that AI proponents go slow with clinicians who are skeptical. He suggests showing rather than telling physicians about AI application, like ambient clinical voice. Demonstrate the technology and show how works. Even better, get a fellow physician who has implemented it, show how the difference it has made to their practice. .

Watch the interview with Dr. Michael Blackman to learn more.

Learn more about Greenway Health at https://www.greenwayhealth.com/

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