Main image courtesy of VeryWell Health. 

Recently we’ve seen an influx of AI in the healthcare industry, and while at first it was met with a lot of trepidation, once providers learned how helpful it is, it is being embraced more and more. No matter what size of the facility or what specialization you work in, you’ll find practitioners using AI to eliminate a lot of administrative tasks from their plate. One of the most popular ways to use this new technology is with AI medical scribes. These applications are designed to make medical facilities more efficient, provide better care for patients, and help doctors reduce cases of burnout.

There are a lot of options when it comes to ambient medical scribes, so it’s important that you research a few and try them out so you get a feel for how they’ll work in your practice. 

• Which AI scribe is best for your healthcare facility? To help you make a decision we’re discussing two noteworthy options and covering:
  
  • Why AI scribes are already in lots of medical establishments
  • What Abridge AI has to offer
  • How DAX Copilot can assist clinicians
  • Abridge vs. DAX Copilot, which one is best?

Why AI scribes are becoming the new norm in healthcare

Lots of clinicians have already incorporated AI scribes into their daily routine

In order to understand the major similarities and differences between Abridge vs. DAX Copilot, it’s important to discuss why AI medical scribes are making such an impact at all kinds of healthcare facilities. Clinicians continue to see the benefit of having an AI assistant there to help them take care of their clerical duties, so they can concentrate on what they do best—clinically care for their patients.

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Some of the major benefits of ambient medical scribes include:

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• Streamlining workflow. The AI scribe is able to transcribe what transpires during the patient encounter and ensure the correct information goes exactly where it needs to. This takes the task away from clinicians who would otherwise need to fill in the appropriate information as the patient speaks, potentially missing something. Voice commands can be used with AI scribes to pull up patient files, order tests, or set reminders for follow ups.

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• Reducing clinician burnout. AI scribes effectively (and very accurately) take away the administrative task of completing notes from practitioners. This is a large burden to lift, as healthcare professionals want to focus their time and energy on patient care, not filling in medical documentation. Letting AI medical scribes format and complete notes ensures patient information is transcribed correctly, so providers no longer need to complete notes during encounters or at the end of their day. 

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• Enhance patient engagement. The path to better patient care starts with the relationship between the provider and their patient. One of the best ways to bolster that relationship is having the clinician give the patient their full attention during a consultation. When an AI application is transcribing the encounter, providers do not need to worry about doing two things at once, and instead can have a more meaningful interaction. 

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• Improves decision making. When the clinician is focused on the patient instead of a note, they can rely on their experience to make the best decisions for their patient. Instead of being distracted by note taking, they’re listening and considering potential options or treatment plans. Clinicians can even consult with the AI application to see what it suggests based on the information the patient provides.

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• Easy to integrate into EHR systems. AI scribes are designed to improve office workflow and can be synced with EHR systems to provide the most up to date information for all healthcare team members. Information is made available immediately, which can also improve upon the billing process.

Get to know Abridge

What sets this AI medical scribe apart and why it could be a good decision for your facility

Abridge is one of the major players in the AI medical scribe industry. Founded in 2018, this medical scribe is designed to not just transcribe clinical conversations, but to change the way that providers operate at the point of care. Some of the largest healthcare systems trust their expertise, including UPMC, Kaiser Permanente, Johns Hopkins, and the Mayo Clinic. The purpose of this AI scribe was to take the one on one patient experience and scale it to the enterprise level so that larger healthcare establishments can have the same type of seamless workflow as they improve care for patients. 

This ambient medical scribe can work effortlessly across different care settings, including hospitals, inpatient, and outpatient centers. This is especially important for larger healthcare campuses that might offer all of those facilities. One of the major obstacles that larger enterprise level establishments encounter is a lack of connection between systems, so what occurs in one office may not be reflected in another system. Abridge seeks to increase interconnection by integrating their application into EHR systems like Epic, so that it’s easy to just allow the scribe to transcribe the encounter, then create the note with all the necessary information. Once the note is approved, the patient’s electronic medical record is synced and available for all team members.

Abridge can be used in a variety of specialities, and its AI scribe understands terminology from all kinds of specialties and even different languages. One of the major focuses of a lot of AI scribes is to reduce clinician burnout, in addition to streamlining healthcare workflow and making information more easily available to team members. A study done with CHRISTUS Health in Texas found that their providers reported a 78% reduction in cognitive load while using the Abridge application. They also discovered that there was a 40% decrease in burnout rate, and a 41% increase in the ability of providers to give their full attention to patients. 

Always looking to the future, Abridge continues to evolve their AI application, and has recently rolled out their Contextual Reasoning Engine that will provide more useful and billable notes. The team behind this roll out recognized that there’s a lot that can be improved upon in the medical billing process. Often incomplete and inaccurate notes can delay the already long billing process, causing healthcare providers to redo notes or find documents long after a patient encounter. The Contextual Reasoning Engine seeks to improve upon this with the help of AI, which is much more accurate and creates complete notes that include all billing codes for treatments, exams, and procedures.

Pros and cons of Abridge

There’s a lot to like about an AI scribe like Abridge, but in order to really know how it may work for your facility, you should first know some of the top pros and cons of this application.

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Pros

• Abridge was designed to be easy to use at the point of care, which means its interface is straightforward and doesn’t require lots of training
• The AI scribe creates the note in real time at the patient consultation
• Information is populated into notes automatically
• The AI scribe groups medical problems with appropriate billing codes
• Can be integrated with a lot of EHR systems already used in medical facilities

Cons

• This AI scribe is built for enterprise-level healthcare establishments, so smaller healthcare offices might be better served with another option
• The price may be prohibitive 

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How does Abridge compare to an AI scribe like Playback Health?

If you’re looking for another option for an AI medical scribe, consider taking a look at Playback Health. This ambient medical scribe is designed to provide a seamless AI listening experience that can transcribe the patient encounter and create an accurate note in real time. It has a 99% transcription accuracy rate, offers clinicians a 20% boost in productivity and capability to see  more patients, as well as saving providers as much as three hours of time each day. In addition to note creation, Playback Health can also automate the patient journey by integrating into patient databases so providers and patients know what next steps are, as well as if there is after care treatment or follow up appointments required.

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Playback Health’s AI scribe is HIPAA compliant so you can rest assured that all data is encrypted and protected, and it is compatible with a variety of EHR systems to ensure an easy sync.

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So how does Playback Health compare to Abridge?

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Pros of Playback

• This AI scribe has an easy to use interface
• It completes notes in real time
• Saves clinicians time so they can see more patients
• HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant
• Competitively priced
• Integrates with existing EHRs
• 2 week free trial
• Offers onboarding support

Cons of Playback

• Only two levels of plans
• Discount price comes when you pay annually 

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What is DAX (Dragon) Copilot?

How does Microsoft’s AI scribe compare to Abridge?

In 2021, Microsoft acquired Nuance, which had previously developed an AI scribe for the healthcare industry. Originally released as DAX Copilot, Microsoft has been working on a more advanced model that combined the AI power of Dragon Medical One and DAX Copilot, now named Dragon Copilot. Dragon Copilot uses the best of both worlds (natural language dictation and ambient listening functions) to increase efficiency in healthcare facilities of all sizes, and reduce the amount of burnout experienced by providers. 

In addition to a seamless way to create notes and sync them with EHR systems, this AI scribe also seeks to streamline documentation and offers customized settings, templates, and a library to save prompts and frequently used text. Clinicians can speak to the AI and it will use speech recognition to manage content across devices. You’ll also be able to quickly access information in other notes, search through credible medical databases, and automate tasks like referral letters and summaries.

All of this is built on the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, which boasts of healthcare specific safeguards that ensure data is secure and appropriately encrypted and protected. Having all these capabilities under Dragon Copilot means that your healthcare establishment can work to reduce the real cost of burnout, address efficiency issues, and improve the workflow of everyday patient management. 

Pros and cons of Dragon Copilot

Pros

• Is an all in one Microsoft product that has an extensive AI infrastructure
• Seamless note creation and integration with EHR systems
• Transcription and summarizing at the point of care
• Can improve reimbursement by making the billing process more efficient
• Very customizable
• Can use voice direction to AI assistant

Cons

• Depending on how many seats you need, it could be expensive
• Devices need to be Microsoft compatible 

Abridge vs. DAX Copilot, which one is for your facility?

When the time comes to choose an AI scribe for your healthcare facility, it’s essential that you research a few options and try them out with a demo or free trial. That’s the only way you’re going to know if it will assist your team members, or just be another burden. Whether you choose Abridge or DAX (Dragon) Copilot, you’re taking a step in the right direction towards simplifying the note taking process, streamlining your facility’s workflow, and helping clinicians get back some of their time so they can care for patients. 

Choosing the right AI medical scribe for your office

So who would win out in an Abridge vs. DAX Copilot comparison? As you can see both of these AI scribes have a lot to offer healthcare establishments. Both are designed to transform how notes are created, enhance the patient experience, and reduce the administrative burden of clinicians. When the time comes to choose, keep in mind what tasks you want assistance with, what your budget is, and the size of your facility, and you’ll find the right AI scribe for your team.