MON AM News: UW Health rolling out AI tool to hundreds more providers in coming months; Trump administration cuts to local food programs have ag groups looking for alternatives

March 24, 2025

— UW Health plans to roll out a new AI transcribing tool to 300 more care providers as it seeks to cut administrative burden on providers.

The Madison health system recently announced plans to quadruple the number of providers using its “ambient listening” AI tool over the first half of this year. The program can record audio of a discussion between a doctor and patient, transcribe it and analyze it to create a “draft” visit note that’s later reviewed by the provider.

Dr. Joel Gordon, chief medical information officer for UW Health, says the tool helps providers focus on interacting with the patient rather than typing into an electronic health records system.

“It’s an ubiquitous improvement almost instantly, for people to turn this on and say the same day they first use it, is an improvement in workflow, an improvement in their care experience … so I’m really, really excited about what this gives us,” he said Friday in an interview.

From his personal experience with the tool, Gordon said it’s given him more opportunities to catch nonverbal cues in conversations with patients as he’s not stuck looking at a computer screen.

“That sort of thing is happening on a daily basis, almost on a per-patient basis, because I think we minimize how much nonverbal cues, body repositioning and those sorts of things, is actually part of our communication,” he said.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association’s 2024 Wisconsin Health Care Workforce Report notes doctors are spending more time using electronic health record systems both during and after clinic hours, pulling them away from patients.

Dr. James Bigham, a family medicine doctor with UW Health, says some early users of the tool have described it as life-changing.

“If I talk to a patient’s parent about their child’s most recent basketball game, that would not go in the notes, but the tool allows me to have more of those connections with my patients since I am not taking notes in real time,” Bigham said in a statement. “It’s really a remarkable innovation.”

The health system began a pilot program in June 2024 with 20 providers working in Wisconsin clinics. By year’s end, that number had climbed to 100, with the tool being used across 20 specialties including pediatrics and family medicine. By the halfway point of this year, UW Health plans to have 400 users across Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

A spokesperson for the health system says UW Health acquired 300 additional licenses to support this effort from software firm Abridge, based in Pennsylvania.

Gordon notes providers still need to review all AI transcribed notes and make changes when necessary to ensure they’re accurate before they go into a patient’s chart.

He explained AI has already been used in health care documentation for more than a decade, and the new tool just brings it to the forefront of care delivery. Gordon emphasized the importance of informed consent, noting patients are always told when the recording tool will be used during an appointment.

In some cases, the AI tool has caught things that Gordon misinterpreted and recorded it just as the patient said it, rather than how he heard it.

“So it’s confirming the documentation is listening in a way that’s really revolutionary, kind of mindblowing” he said. “And does it make mistakes? Yeah, absolutely. The note is my responsibility to review.”

Along with the clinical note, the AI system can also create a patient summary covering discharge instructions in a patient-friendly, readable form, Gordon said.

As UW Health rolls out the tool, he stressed the importance of providers using it effectively, noting the health system isn’t simply deploying it as quickly as possible. Across the industry, some are using such tools for every visit, while others are using them in a more limited way, he said.

“UW Health is being … aggressive on our approach, but we’re not being haphazard, because we’re studying those variations and figuring out what are the things that we can use to influence best utilization,” he said.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer charged Republicans with “bullying kids for political gain” as the chamber approved a series of bills to restrict transgender and nonbinary Wisconsinites’ ability to access gender-affirming care and more.

And a professor at Marquette University is getting $1.37 million in federal funding to study the interaction between light and breathing, which could help scientists understand how environmental factors affect biology.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— Wisconsin ag groups say they’re looking for alternative funding options after the Trump administration cut more than $1 billion for federal programs providing local products to food banks, schools and child care centers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this month it was eliminating the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative, which facilitates partnerships with farmers to provide healthy, local food for underserved communities to food banks. Also cut was the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, a similar program aimed at schools and child care centers.

The cuts include nearly $6 million for Wisconsin. Nearly 300 Wisconsin farmers had participated in the program at the end of last year, and more than $2 million was distributed to counties across the state, according to Gov. Tony Evers’ office.

Tyler Wenzlaff, director of government relations at the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, said the group was “disappointed” to see the programs eliminated. He said WFBF was told the programs were canceled because they were COVID-19-related and had run their course.

“The programs provided access for not only schoolchildren, but, locally, local participants that may have not had access or opportunity to these foods that they could try during everyday life,” Wenzlaff said. “So this program provided an opportunity for a lot of farmers that may have not had access to those kind of markets.”

He said while there are some existing programs that dairy farmers still can use to get their products to school districts, other farmers may be more affected.

Wenzlaff said WFBF has reached out to U.S. Reps. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, and Tony Wied, R-De Pere, who both serve on the House Agriculture Committee, about ways to either reimagine the programs or redirect funding into existing farm-to-school programs in the farm bill.

He said the response from Van Orden and Wied has been “positive.”

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden told WisPolitics the elimination of the programs will hurt farmers as well as local communities.

“You look at rural Wisconsin too, the number of farm families that actually qualify for SNAP benefits and also reduced school lunch benefits, it’s probably just about every farmer has that situation,” Von Ruden said. “So to cut those costs, it’s not just affecting the average citizen in town, it affects the farmers that feed the world, too.”

See the full story at WisPolitics.

— WEDC has announced $1.3 million in grant funding for eight groups supporting entrepreneurs in the state.

The funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. comes from the Entrepreneurship Partner Grants program, which was created in 2021. Awards range from $97,000 to $200,000.

Recipients include: Doyenne Group in Madison; UW-Milwaukee Lubar Entrepreneurship Center; BizStarts Milwaukee Inc.; StartingBlock Madison Inc.; Madison’s Food Finance Institute; Beloit’s Rock County Jumpstart; Urban League of Greater Madison; and FOR-M Foundation in Milwaukee.

See the release.

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TOPICS

AGRIBUSINESS

– Gather Wisconsin connects people to local farming

EDUCATION

– UW-Madison asks for department budgets that cut 5% and 10%

ENTERTAINMENT & THE ARTS

– Petition aims to get Clyde Stubblefield into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

FOOD & BEVERAGE

– Big Daddy’s BBQ and Soul Food in Milwaukee is getting a new name and owner