Becker's Hospital Review

21 INNOVATION How healthcare AI is meeting the hype at UW Health By Giles Bruce A mbient clinical documentation will be commonplace in healthcare three years from now, according to Chero Goswami, chief information and digital officer at Madison, Wis.-based UW Health. e artificial intelligence-powered technology will definitely be in wide use at his seven-hospital system, which plans to offer it to all clinicians over the next 12 to 18 months. Mr. Goswami recently talked to Becker's about the benefits and challenges of scaling ambient AI. Question: What is the IT project you're most excited about at your health system? Chero Goswami: I would say the stuff we're doing with ambient listening, which most others in the industry are doing as well, which is allowing providers and other members of the care team to spend more time in direct patient care, and not typing up notes, with AI capturing everything in the background and then creating a summary note, or a clinical note. It returns the clinicians to clinical practice, rather than making them glorified typists. And it also leads to a better patient experience, because the patient is very much aware that the clinician is looking at them eye to eye and having a conversation, versus looking at a keyboard. And it reduces cognitive burden. e physicians aren't completing the note at 8 o'clock at night, but doing it in real time at the clinic. Q: How widespread is ambient AI at your health system? CG: It's a little less than 100 [clinicians] right now. We have been doing a proof of concept or a pilot for about the last six months. We are very close to going enterprisewide in 2025 and signing a contract with a vendor. We decided to "go slow to go fast" because you want to get it right, instead of being another shiny object, like our track record shows in the industry: of rolling out and then rolling back. Q: What have been the biggest benefits of the technology thus far? CG: Probably for the first time in my healthcare career, I've seen a technology that nobody has come out yet and said, "It doesn't work." When you start using a technology, there is a little bit of an adoption period where the technology gets used to the user and vice versa. As we take time to train people how to incorporate the technology in the workflow, it has been much better accepted than other times when we tended to dump technology on our clinical practitioners and say, "Figure it out." Q: What have been the biggest challenges of implementing and scaling the technology? CG: Like any other technology that would create innovation in one part, you create disruption in another part. And so as we have rolled this out, it has created some burden on other teams, like our coding teams. A good technology puts the spotlight on some opportunities and process flaws from the past, and so working with our teams we're strengthening the ecosystem of workflows outside the care provider domain. Q: Where do you see this technology going next or evolving? CG: is will become a commodity, a tool in everyone's tool belt, probably three years from now. I use the example of a smartphone. Fieen years ago we were looking at it, and within five years almost everybody had a smartphone. Q: Have you seen a technology be adopted this fast in healthcare? CG: Not by choice. We have done a lot of things by mandate. I cannot recollect something other than in the early days of COVID, where we all decided to embrace telehealth and scale it. But this one's by choice. n Orlando Health hospital-at-home program treats 2,000th patient: 5 things to know By Alan Condon O rlando (Fla.) Health's Hospital Care at Home has served more than 2,000 patients in Central Florida since launching in February 2023. Five things to know: 1. The program was the first in Central Florida to be approved for Medicare and Medicaid patients and recently began accepting participating commercial insurances. 2. Orlando Health admitted its 1,000th patient into the program in June. 3. To be eligible, a patient's home must be a safe environment located within the determined geographical catchment area in case emergency care is required. 4. Medical conditions that can be cared for safely in the home-based program include: cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, urinary tract infection, heart failure, COVID-19, pneumonia, gastroenteritis , acute pancreatitis, multiple sclerosis flare-ups, sepsis and vasculitis. 5. Portable technology connects patients to Orlando Health's patient care hub for 24/7 remote monitoring and virtual care by nurses and providers. Patients receive daily in-person care from nurses, along with virtual provider and consultant visits. Mobile imaging, labs, dietary services and therapy are provided as ordered. n

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