Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The American Academy of Family Physicians has launched a series of Innovation Labs to identify and demonstrate innovations essential to optimizing the family medicine experience. Our initial lab provided proof that using an Al Assistant can significantly reduce documentation burden and family physician burnout. Ten clinicians in 3 practices showed that this innovation dramatically reduced documentation time by 62% during clinic, 76% during after-hours, and was called "a breakthrough" by some clinicians. This report is on the second phase of the lab, which included family physicians and primary care clinicians across the country. It studied the adoption, use, and impact of the Al Assistant by primary care clinicians. The goal was to assess whether an Al assistant is essential to and readily adopted by family physicians. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The lab studied the adoption and impact of an Al Assistant used for visit note completion for 30 days by over 132 family physicians and primary care clinicians. Adoption was assessed based on the number of participants agreeing to buy the solution and the impact realized during the lab trial. The effect was evaluated by a quantitative assessment of documentation time (n = 132) and a qualitative participant survey (n = 40). RESULTS: The lab participants represented family medicine and other primary care clinicians. Of the 132 studied, 102 completed the trial, 61 participants fully adopted the solution as paying customers after the lab, representing a 60% adoption rate. These adopters saw a 72% reduction in their median documentation time per note. This resulted in a calculated time savings of 3.3 hours per week per clinician. In addition, participants reported improved satisfaction with their workload and overall with their practice. CONCLUSION: An Al Assistant for Documentation significantly reduced documentation time and burden; it provided more time, flexibility, and freedom for adopters. Clinicians were more satisfied with their notes, saying they were more meaningful and professional. Lab participants who did not adopt fell into four categories: (1) they did not have a significant documentation burden at the start, (2) their EMR workflow worked well for them, (3) their EMR did not yet integrate with the solution, or (4) they were too challenged to trial the Al Assistant fully. We conclude that an Al assistant for Documentation is an essential innovation for all family physicians who have documentation burden and experience burnout. It can help optimize their family medicine experience. The Labs will now enter phase 3, where the goal is to educate the membership on the category of solutions: Al Assistants for Documentation. Our webinars and toolkit will help the membership understand who the innovation works for and who it does not and how it works and its best practices
