Main image courtesy of Adelphi University.

Each day it seems there are more and more advancements in the field of AI technology. It’s assisting with all kinds of tasks in a variety of industries, allowing humans to concentrate on more complex matters. The healthcare field is no different, and in the past few years has seen lots of growth and expansion—and it’s predicted to increase to a market size of around $613.81 billion in 2034. Healthcare facilities shouldn’t worry about getting left behind, and instead start to incorporate this essential tech into their practices now.

• Topics we’re covering in this article:
  
  • Why AI is essential to healthcare teams
  • Abridge vs Heidi AI: what’s the difference?
  • How Playback Health compares to Abridge

One of the major developments in AI for healthcare has been in the form of ambient medical scribes, which have a variety of benefits and are designed for facilities of all sizes. Two stand out AI scribes are Abridge and Heidi AI, which will be discussing in more detail. 

Why AI scribes are so helpful to clinicians

There are a lot of benefits to including AI scribes in the healthcare field

Before we get into the details about Abridge vs Heidi AI, it may be helpful to review exactly why AI applications are making such an impact in healthcare. So if you’re on the fence about deciding whether or not to invest the time and money into one of these ambient medical scribes, you should know that there are a lot of advantages to using them.

• Reduce clinician burnout. Perhaps the main reason that AI medical scribes are so popular is that they help to reduce practitioner burnout. Ambient scribes take the pressure off of clinicians to type notes and listen to the patient at the same time, since they transcribe the conversation during the encounter in real time. Doctors are no longer required to split their attention, potentially leaving out important information while they hastily write information into the note.

AI scribes that create the note for providers also ensure that they’re not stuck in the office after hours charting their notes to add to the patient’s EMR as well.

• Improve office efficiency. As soon as an encounter is over, the note is ready for review. The clinician can also show the note to the patient if they want to ensure that no information was left out or if any additional edits need to be made. This means that patient information is provided to all members of the care team to access, which could lead to faster diagnoses and prompt updates to treatment plans.

• Better patient care. The goal of all providers is to offer the best care possible for their patients, and using AI medical scribes can help them do just that. Clinicians can give their full attention to the patient, which makes them feel more seen as doctors can maintain eye contact when they no longer need to worry about typing in all the information as the encounter progresses. Patients want to feel like their concerns are being addressed, and this is a surefire way to do just that.

AI can also provide suggestions for treatment or potential care plans for patients based on its data analysis to the provider. The clinician can consider this as well and make updates to the patient’s care accordingly.

• Higher accuracy rate. AI has a higher accuracy rate compared to humans, which means that medical notes that are transcribed by AI are more complete with a lesser risk of incorrect information. This reduces the amount of potential errors, which could compromise patient care.

• Integrate seamlessly and easy to use. AI medical scribes do not require lengthy training and there is no large learning curve in order to use them effectively. They are designed to easily integrate into many EMR systems, and they’re simple to navigate. Practitioners just need to download the application to a smartphone or tablet, and the AI can start transcribing and charting accurate notes.

Get to know Abridge Generative AI

Why facilities across the country are interested in Abridge 

Abridge AI is an ambient medical scribe that uses generative AI to create notes which are then easily integrated into your EMR system. This application is designed to work with large, complex medical facilities, and has been deployed into over 100 establishments including the Mayo Clinic, Duke Health, Johns Hopkins, UPMC, and many more. It recently won the KLAS award in the ambient AI category based on customer feedback from large medical campuses in recognition for its value and commitment to innovation. 

In one study, their award-winning ambient medical scribe saw a 78% reduction in cognitive load at a major facility, freeing up providers to focus more time on their patients and less on clerical tasks. It can do this because the enterprise-grade AI can seamlessly transcribe conversations into accurate medical notes, improving patient care and reducing errors. It is able to do this because it works seamlessly with EMR systems, supports 28 languages, has 50 healthcare specialities, and can be used in facilities that range from ERs to inpatient/outpatient care centers.

Abridge has recently introduced another innovation to its ambient AI application, the Contextual Reasoning Engine, which is designed to produce more useful notes at the point of care. Believing that even well-functioning systems can be improved upon, Abridge is tackling the administrative obstacles of incomplete notes and delays in the billing process that result in additional hours of clinicians’ time. The company believes there’s a better way to do this that will free up practitioners to focus more on their patients. Their new strategy includes:

• Awareness beyond the conversation. One of the best ways to create more personalized notes is to use the information from previous patient encounters, which this new addition to the software can easily do. It can also include provider preferences and any facility guidelines that are required in order to create a more comprehensive note.

• Precise detection of problem areas. Correct medical coding and billing is one of the areas that could use major improvement in healthcare facilities, and Abridge Contextual Reasoning Engine sets out to do just that. By grouping medical issues and treatments more accurately, it can provide better language that simplifies downstream revenue cycles.

• Creating updated outputs. Seamless integration and syncing with a variety of EMR systems ensures healthcare team members have access to the most up to date patient information. 

• Notes that are auditable. AI can be used to easily input necessary data into all areas that require patient information. 

Pros and cons of Abridge

A lot of healthcare systems are already using Abridge to help with ambient AI transcription, improving the accuracy of notes and enhancing the sharability of patient information for better care. But like every application, there are pros and cons to it.

Pros

• Abridge has an easy user interface and providers that use it like that it feels intuitive and helpful
• Transcription and summarization happens in real time
• Autopopulates and extracts key information for input into forms and notes
• Shares insights across the healthcare team and syncs with EMR systems
• Enhances efficiency and helps ensure the steady stream of revenue

Cons 

• Price can be prohibitive
• Abridge focuses on larger facilities
• Notes and other AI generated content still require review by a human clinician 

What is Heidi AI?

Get to know a little more about this popular ambient AI medical scribe

Another very popular AI medical scribe is Heidi AI, which was developed in 2019. Since then, it’s been at the forefront of bringing useful AI assistance to clinicians everywhere and in all fields, including acute care, mental health, veterinarians, nurses, dieticians, and many other specialties. This AI scribe is designed to work seamlessly with existing EMR systems, allowing providers to download the application and start immediately. Heidi is also one of the few ambient medical scribes that offer a free tier for those looking to experience it before they purchase, or for clinicians that just don’t have the budget for an AI scribe just yet.

Heidi AI has made it a point to include providers who otherwise might be left out of the AI push into healthcare by offering this free level of service. It should be noted, however, that the free level is limited, and Heidi does offer three additional tiers of paid service with expanded benefits.

Practitioners are using Heidi because it excels at transcribing patient encounters into notes, and puts the information into the template or interface of your choosing. You can also seamlessly interact with Heidi AI, and ask it to create whatever you might need next (such as letters or a patient summary) or what to include in future notes. Heidi AI will retain your preferences and macros so that the notes and other outputs are always formatted the way you want and include the correct information.

Providers of all sorts use Heidi and find that they have more time for each patient, their notes are more accurate, information is shared seamlessly among team members, and patients approve of the improved care they’re receiving. Heidi AI offers users of all sizes a simple, secure way to boost the quality of their notes, and make the workflow of a healthcare facility more efficient. 

Pros and cons of Heidi

If you’re interested in trying out Heidi AI, it’s best to know what some of the advantages and disadvantages are so you can make a decision that’s best for your practice.

Pros

• Offers affordable levels of service, including a free version that’s available for any clinician to start immediately
• HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant
• Very customizable and you can ask Heidi to format and structure notes exactly how you want them
• Transcription and summarization happens in real time
• Collaboration features allow seamless sharing and syncing with EMR systems

Cons

• The free level has limits on use
• May require extensive customization to make it a useful tool
• Some providers found issues with accuracy

Abridge vs Heidi AI: which one is best?

How do you know which one is right for you?

The only way to determine the winner of Abridge vs Heidi AI is to demo them for yourself. That way you can get hands-on experience to see which ambient medical scribe best suits your needs. After all, there are a lot of factors that go into choosing an AI medical scribe including how large (or small) your practice is, how many users will need access, how you want the AI application to improve your practice, and how often you plan on using it.

Abridge is designed for enterprise-level facilities, but could be scaled to meet your needs. Heidi offers a variety of levels, including options for individuals, teams, and organizations. 

How does Abridge compare to Playback Health?

If you’re a large establishment that needs to have widespread integration across a variety of teams, you have the option of going with Abridge, or you could also try Playback Health, which has an enterprise level for large infrastructures. 

You already know some of the pros and cons of Abridge, but what about how it compares to Playback?

Pros of Playback

• Easy to use ambient scribe transcribes encounters in real time and transforms them into notes
• It’s simple to edit and append notes
• HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant
• Creates patient summaries
• Shares and syncs seamlessly
• Access to popular templates

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Cons of Playback

• Just two tiers of pricing plans
• Documentation requires review of a clinician to ensure accuracy

Which medical AI scribe will you choose for your practice?

Whether you choose Abridge, Heidi AI, or Playback Health, including an ambient AI scribe into your practice’s daily routine makes good sense. It’s one of the best ways to reduce provider burnout, improve the patient experience, and ensure the workflow of your facility is organized and efficient. Don’t risk falling behind and consider incorporating an AI scribe into your practice today.