UW Health Expands AI Technology for Enhanced Patient Experience
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – UW Health is set to expand its use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology aimed at improving the patient visit experience, officials announced in a release on Thursday.
The new AI technology is designed to record, transcribe, and analyze discussions between healthcare providers and patients during appointments. Dr. Joel Gordon, the chief medical information officer at UW Health, emphasized that this tool would allow providers to devote more attention to patients rather than being distracted by administrative tasks. He stated, ‘This tool allows our care team members to look away from their computer screen and not split focus between their notes and their patient.’ As a result, Dr. Gordon noted, there will be a significant reduction in clerical burdens leading to decreased burnout among providers.
The pilot program, which commenced in June 2024, involved 20 providers based in Wisconsin. By the end of the year, UW Health reported approximately 100 users of the ambient listening technology, with plans to roll this out to an additional 300 clinic users in the first half of this year.
The AI tool is equipped to summarize a patient’s condition while filtering out non-medical discussions. Family medicine physician Dr. James Bigham expressed support for the technology, stating, ‘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. It’s really a remarkable innovation.’
With the expansion of AI technology in healthcare, UW Health aims to enhance both patient experiences and provider satisfaction.
