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.
