AI has propelled healthcare into a new era of technological transformation. While much of the conversation around AI in healthcare focuses on improving operational efficiencies, AI’s remarkable and underexplored benefit is its potential to enhance health equity. AI is breaking down language and access barriers that have long hindered certain populations from accessing quality medical care.
eClinicalWorks is at the forefront of democratizing AI in healthcare, with AI tools integrated into the EHR to bridge communication gaps and improve patient engagement.
Improving Health Equity with AI Innovations
Nationally, more than 1 in 5 Americans report speaking a language other than English at home. In a nation as diverse as the U.S., equitable healthcare delivery must address the varied needs of every patient. For instance, 44% of Hispanics/Latinos report that communication problems from language barriers are a major reason this community generally has worse healthcare outcomes in comparison to other adults in the U.S. AI presents a powerful opportunity to close longstanding gaps in care, particularly for underserved communities, by enabling communication in patients’ preferred language at every point of care.
eClinicalWorks is developing innovative solutions to identify these gaps in care and help these populations receive high-quality, equitable medical care and health information in their native language. Supporting this effort, a recent survey among eClinicalWorks clients showed strong support for AI tools, highlighting their impact on efficiency and patient engagement. The survey emphasized significant time savings in tasks like documentation and fax management. With tools such as Sunoh.ai and Image AI Assistant, AI is improving operational efficiencies and playing a vital role in bridging care gaps and promoting equitable healthcare delivery.
The Emergence of Multilingual AI Scribes
The emergence of multilingual AI medical scribes, such as Sunoh.ai, integrated within the eClinicalWorks EHR, helps ensure that all patients receive the same level of personalized care. While practices are obliged to provide translators for non-English-speaking patients, Sunoh.ai is a technology that enables providers to conduct bilingual appointments. It works silently in the background, listens to patient-provider conversations, and summarizes them into structured notes in real-time. The providers must review, edit, and approve the clinical documentation. Providers can even offer patients a post-visit summary in their preferred native language. Additionally, Sunoh.ai identifies different languages, dialects, and accents, ensuring error-free documentation, allowing providers to focus on patient engagement.
Sun Life Health reaffirms how Sunoh.ai can recognize and summarize conversations in various dialects immediately, ensuring that the language barrier is no longer an obstacle.
Enabling Independent Providers to Thrive with AI Solutions
Independent healthcare providers play a critical role in bridging gaps in care for underserved communities that often lack access to larger health systems due to geographic constraints. New AI tools present an opportunity for independent healthcare practices to overcome the challenges that previously threatened their survival. For example, eClinicalWorks Image AI Assistant for fax inbox management helps eliminate the traditionally time-consuming task of manually analyzing faxes and matching them to a given patient.
“Implementing the eClinicalWorks Image AI Assistant helps save over two minutes per fax and an hour daily,” shares Dr. Joel Keenan, owner of York Primary Care.
AI Efficiency to Boost Interoperability in Healthcare
Integrating AI with the interoperability solution, PRISMA, has further boosted efficiency. AI helps quickly and concisely summarize a patient’s medical history. Providers have all the healthcare information at their fingertips, leading to improved patient outcomes and data-driven decision-making. Dr. Davey M. Perrin, M.D., Blue Bonnet Family Medicine Health and Wellness Clinic, said, “Before implementing an AI assistant for PRISMA, it would take several minutes to view what the patient was seen for with the long hospital discharge summaries.”
Bridging Communication Gaps with AI Contact Centers
Language barriers can affect patients’ interactions with practice staff and providers, hindering the comprehensive understanding of medical information. These barriers can potentially lead to non-compliance with treatment plans or delays in seeking necessary care. For example, a patient may delay scheduling an appointment with a specialist or requesting a medication refill due to anticipated issues communicating with office staff. The innovation of AI-powered contact centers, such as healow Genie, offers a solution to overcome language barriers. For non-English-speaking patients, healow Genie can communicate in their preferred language and assist them to reschedule appointments, request medication refills, pay their bills, and much more.
Transforming healthcare to be more inclusive and equitable is not just a future aspiration but a current imperative. Integrating AI technologies, such as multilingual AI scribes, AI-powered contact centers, and solutions that improve time savings and efficiencies, is poised to bridge existing gaps in care and improve access to high-quality healthcare. By embracing these innovations, healthcare practices can offer personalized and timely care to underserved populations, significantly improving health outcomes across communities and diverse populations. The EHR AI shift is here.
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