More Talking, Less Typing WellSpan Health Uses New Technology to Transcribe Medical Visits

A WellSpan physician (left) talks to patient Harry Donahue, while DAX uses voice recognition to document their conversation, via the physician’s cell phone.

MORE TALKING, LESS TYPING, FASTER DOCUMENTATION

WellSpan Health Uses New Technology to Transcribe Medical Visits

Innovative, voice-activated technology is allowing WellSpan physicians to automatically transcribe patient visits, providing a better connection as well as a thorough documentation of the encounters.

Nicknamed DAX, short for Dragon Ambient eXperience, the artificial intelligence technology uses voice recognition to listen to and document the conversation between a physician and a patient, converting it into clinical notes.

WellSpan first piloted the secure, innovative technology with more than 75 providers and recently began expanding its use to an additional 200 physicians in its primary care network and specialty practices. WellSpan is the largest adopter of DAX in Pennsylvania and is a leader in using the technology in its primary care practices.

DAX is a high-tech solution that enables a high-touch experience both physicians and patients have noticed and enjoyed.

“My favorite part of using DAX is how it allows for better connection with my patients. I now feel like I attend to my patient’s story and not just medical details,” said Dr. Christopher McCarty, who practices at WellSpan Family Medicine – Terre Hill, in Lancaster County. “A visit now feels more like a conversation instead of an interview.”

Benefits for physicians

In addition to improving the provider and patient interaction, DAX reduces physician documentation time by an average of 37 percent, saving over 30 minutes a day of documentation time for WellSpan physicians, said Dr. R. Hal Baker, WellSpan senior vice president and chief digital and information officer. Baker, a practicing physician, uses DAX with his patients at WellSpan Internal Medicine – Apple Hill, in York County.

“We believe its use will help prevent burnout as we let our physicians focus on what they love: caring for patients,” Baker said.

The program increases accuracy, efficiency, and throughput for physicians, with 79 percent of WellSpan physicians reporting the program improves the quality of their documentation. Physicians still need to enter orders and billing codes, but they do not need to dictate the clinical notes.

“The dictation is more accurate and detailed than what I could document from memory,” said Dr. Teresa Joy, who practices at WellSpan Family Medicine – Chambersburg and WellSpan Urgent Care offices in Franklin County. “It allows me to concentrate on what the patient is saying so I have time to process what they are telling me and have time to formulate the best and most appropriate treatment plan.”

Developed by Nuance and Microsoft, DAX uses technology, similar to what is employed by Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s digital assistant Siri, to understand conversational language. Patients are informed of the use of the software during their visit and must approve its use, which is done via a cell phone.

Benefits for patients

Patients say the technology results in more talking and less typing by the physician.

“It’s a great idea,” says Harry Donahue, one of McCarty’s patients. “I know it’s important they get everything down so they can treat the patient. We can talk and everything is clear, and he isn’t busy typing. There is more eye contact. It’s nice.”

A survey showed that 80 percent of WellSpan patients felt the technology allowed their physicians to be personable and conversational during their visits.