In a survey conducted by Pew Research Center last year, 44% of respondents believe they do not regularly interact with AI. Yet, AI recommends shows to stream, powers chatbots to answer customer inquiries, and analyzes data from our wearable fitness trackers. In reality, AI has been increasingly integrated in consumers’ daily lives for years.
In health care, AI’s rapid advancement has enormous transformative potential. AI tools aim to enhance capabilities in diagnosing, treating disease, and alleviating human suffering.
"At MemorialCare, we’ve harnessed innovative AI tools to revolutionize how we deliver care,” says David Kim, M.D., CEO, MemorialCare Medical Foundation, and executive vice president, MemorialCare Clinical Institutes.
With the help of AI, for example, we’ve been able to offer 24/7 virtual care, and we have completed more than 750,000 virtual care visits since 2020, offering patients enhanced access and convenience, and often eliminating the need for in-person appointments.
In its most recent efforts, MemorialCare is piloting a new AI tool specifically developed for the health care industry. Abridge is an AI platform developed with “ambient listening” capabilities to transcribe patient-clinician conversations into structured clinical notes in real-time. Initial results are showing that with this more streamlined process of capturing key information during the patient’s visit, physicians are able to spend less time on administrative tasks, and more time interacting directly with their patients.
Abridge is just one of many ways MemorialCare is embracing AI’s potential. MemorialCare is utilizing AI to power eConsults for their patients. MemorialCare’s virtual chatbot assistant Mila, which can be accessed by smartphone or through MemorialCare’s website, is multilingual in English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin and Vietnamese to better serve a diverse patient population. If a specialist has been referred to a can also connect patients directly with symptom checkers, identify website resources that will help patients learn more about their condition and possible treatment options, and help search for providers, as well as connect patients directly to MemorialCare’s Navigation Center for 24/7 support.
Through the help of AI technology, MemorialCare continues to enhance its capabilities to serve its patients throughout Southern California. “At the end of the day, health care is deeply personal, and over time, administrative burdens have too often gotten in the way of that patient-clinician connection,” says Dr. Kim. “AI-enabled technology will allow us to help restore some critical aspects of that relationship, transforming health care to restore the joy of medicine to both the patient and the clinician. We’re committed to being at the forefront of this technology for the future and for our patients.”