CARROLLTON, Va. (WAVY) — For years, there has been a physician shortage growing in the United States. The shortage can leave patients with limited access to care and create more work for doctors and health professionals.
Sentara Medical Group is using new technology to help doctors amid the shortage. This spring, over 40 providers began to use DAX Copilot, a Microsoft software and artificial intelligence tool. It automates patient notes.
Traditionally, providers would spend extra hours during the day and after hours on paperwork. This tool aims to reduce the workload, decreasing burnout and creating more time for patients.
At Sentara Family Medicine Physicians, family physician Dr. David Wallace uses the AI software. It has changed the way he is able to interact with his patients.
“The turnaround time is seconds,” Wallace said.
When the appointment begins, Wallace takes out his phone and pulls up the patient’s medical record on an application. He sets his phone down, then, using DAX Copilot, he clicks a button to begin recording.
He’s present during the visit, listening to the patient and asking questions while DAX Copilot silently records in the background. At the end of the conversation, he clicks the button to stop recording.
“By the time you get back to your office, to your computer, it’s actually typed up the note for you,” Wallace said.
It is the physician that is the pilot, while the AI is the copilot. Wallace looks over each note after it is typed up. It’s about 95% accurate. He only has to change a word or two.
The app is also secure. It even cuts out personal details in the conversation that may be unrelated to the visit.
“If I say, ‘how was the trip to the Bahamas,’ ‘how’s your family doing,’ how’s everything else doing,’ it actually cuts that out,” Wallace said. “It does not include that in the medical (record), unless it has a pertinent piece to it”.
All of Wallace’s patients have been receptive to AI technology. Wallace said it has allowed him to connect more with patients and be more present in each appointment. He does not have to keep up, constantly typing or writing notes during the conversations.
“As a family physician, I love the relationship that I have with patients,” Wallace said. “I think it gives me even more opportunity to sit and talk to them.”
For every hour of patient care, the American Medical Association estimates doctors spend about two hours on documentation during the workday. Even more work could be done after office hours.
Sentara Medical Group wants to give time back to providers to be with their patients and see more patients. The hospital spoke to NewsNation affiliate WAVY about the new technology. Watch the segment in the video player below.
Dr. Steven Pearman, vice president and chief medical office of primary care, and Stephen Payne, regional director of business operations at Sentara Medical Group, discuss the importance of the technology, the physician shortage, and how providers are implementing the technology.
Currently, the number of providers with the AI software has grown. Payne says, with more than 200 physicians and providers now using DAX Copilot to make their workloads more manageable.
For physicians like Wallace, AI changes the day and frees up precious time.
“If it takes me less time to document — documentation takes time away from me being able to see more patients — at the end of the day I should be able to see more patients,” Wallace said.
Wallace is open to trying new software as it comes out.
“Open to new things,” Wallace said. “The DAX is the tip of what’s to come.”
He hopes software in the next few years could start ordering labs, processing referrals and X-rays.
“Ultimately it’s my responsibility,” Wallace said, “but it would be helpful if some of those things could be set.”