Kaiser Permanente analysis shares lessons learned in one of the largest rollouts of assisted clinical notetaking technology
Software that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to document medical visits and assist clinicians in drafting notes was largely accurate and well-received by doctors, according to a Kaiser Permanente report in the journal NEJM AI. The authors described lessons learned from one of health care’s largest rollouts of AI clinical documentation technology.
Key to safe deployment was a quality assurance feedback loop. The organization carried out a 10-week pilot in early 2024, before the system was deployed throughout Kaiser Permanente’s 8 regions, 600 medical offices, and 40 hospitals. Because of how widely it would be used, the organization closely analyzed clinician feedback on their experience with the technology’s accuracy and usability.
Use of the ambient AI documentation tool was — and remains — voluntary for clinicians, who seek approval from the patient before recording the medical visit. AI clinical documentation provides a transcript of the patient visit as well as a draft summary that physicians edit before adding it to the patient record. The audio recording is not maintained and patients’ data remain secured and private.
The software could allow doctors to spend more time talking to patients and less time focused on a computer screen, said co-author Vincent Liu, MD, chief data officer for The Permanente Medical Group and research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. “We have already seen the technology improve physician workloads and reduce documentation burden,” Liu said. “Both doctors and patients have told us that the AI clinical documentation tool also improves face-to-face communication during a visit.”
Read more on the Permanente Federation website.
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