Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 12, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 11 PHOTO | COURTESY OF ECLINICALWORKS Time U.S. physicians spend with patients Length of % of total patient interaction patient visits Less than 9 minutes ................................. 5% 9-12 minutes ......................................... 22% 13-16 minutes ....................................... 29% 17-24 minutes ....................................... 33% 25 or more minutes ................................ 11% Source: Statista, 2023 of a vast quantity of information. In med- icine, this can be used to look at decades worth of medical information about a patient and provide a summary of their health history without a physician having to individually access and read each page of the patient's medical records. Taking a cautious approach eClinicalWorks is a large company serving more than 1 million medical care providers worldwide, but it remains privately held, which is advantageous to innovations, said Navani. "We have our own code of conduct," he said, which centers ethics rather than shareholder expectations. Despite the agility being private allows for, there is still a need to be cautious, said Navani, as the AI industry overall is moving at a blistering pace. at measured response is what Alper views as necessary, too. "Like any new tech, we need to fully understand it and fully evaluate all pros and cons," he said. ere are safeguards in place to do this at eClini- calWorks. Responsible AI, as Bhat calls it, means the medical provider will still be asked to review the summary. e doctor is still driving the process while the AI stream- lines it. Other industries are repositioning quicker to the next capabilities of AI, and while eClinicalWorks is ahead of the curve in health care, it can't – and shouldn't – be leading the race, Navani said. "Healthcare moves slowly because it's dealing with human life," he said. At its best, AI technology can become a safeguard for physicians, too. Already in use in some aspects of medicine such as radiology, the AI works as a second pair of eyes and can catch things a physi- cian might miss. "It can create a safety net," said Alper. Always, though, AI supports physician work. It doesn't replace it, he said. eClinicalWorks is using an early adopter pilot program as it assesses how well AI tech- nology is working in practice and what can be better in its next iteration. at kind of assessment will need to be part of all implementations of the new technology. "Even more than other tech, it is important to continue to monitor its use and assure it is meeting goals," said Alper. e benefits AI can provide to physi- cians may be endless but might manifest as small, incremental changes, said Bhat, like reducing the number of clicks in certain processes. In Alper's perspective, those incre- mental changes are steps on a long path of innovation AI can bring to medicine. "e sky's the limit in terms of what it potentially can do," said Alper. Sameer Bhat, vice president and cofounder of eClinicalWorks Time U.S. physicians spend with medical records Avg. time spent per patient Overall on medical records ....... 16 minutes, 14 seconds Chart review ............... 5 minutes, 22 seconds Documentation ........... 3 minutes, 51 seconds Ordering ..................... 2 minutes, 42 seconds Source: Annals of Internal Medicine, 2020 UMass Memorial is in early stages of integrating AI, said Alper. W PHOTO | COURTESY OF UMASS MEMORIAL HEALTH

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