AI in the workplace aids orthopedists in several ways, but chief among them is reducing administrative burdens, two orthopedic surgeons told Becker’s.
Ask Orthopedic Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to orthopedic surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. Becker’s invites all orthopedic surgeon and specialist responses.
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Editor’s note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Are you currently using AI in the workplace? If so, how?
Hrayr Basmajian, MD. Orthopedic Surgeon at Pomona (Calif.) Valley Hospital Medical Center: Many of us have been bogged down by all the requirements for documentation over the years. Every year, the need for more documentation seems to further slow our ability to see patients. When you combine these requirements with continued cuts to reimbursements, it creates an unsustainable cycle. This combination becomes most difficult for physicians in private practice and threatens their ability to survive. AI offers the potential to return to a time when we can just talk with and examine our patients. It offers a future when all our documentation will be done with minimal administrative effort from us, outside of the face-to-face encounter. We are currently attempting to determine if this potential can be attained. We are trialing and using HIPAA-compliant AI scribes in the office and attempting to build systems that can complete the entire encounter documentation. We have tried to use AI-like bots to assist in authorization, albeit unsuccessfully; hopefully, efforts in the near future will address this hard point for practices.
Jason Brustein, DO. Orthopedic Surgeon at Resurgens Orthopaedics (Woodstock, Ga.): Yes, I am currently using artificial intelligence in my practice every day by using an AI-powered scribe technology. It is a comprehensive tool that allows me to use an ambient listening device, which helps to streamline the patient encounter and generate office notes in an accurate and efficient way at a much lower cost than with the use of a traditional scribe. It has given me back a tremendous amount of time and is seamlessly integrated into the electronic medical record and allows for customization with macros and other options, which makes it very appealing across all musculoskeletal platforms.
