St. Luke’s recently landed an agreement with Ambience Healthcare, a newer player in the growing ambient AI sector, that was 10 times less expensive than the market leader at the time, the health system’s IT chief told Becker’s.
“The value of gen AI has greatly benefited healthcare as a community,” said Reid Stephan, vice president and CIO of the eight-hospital system. “It lets other entrants into the market which, like it always does, lowers price, increases options and gives you new features and functionality. And that’s exactly what we’ve seen in the ambient listening space.”
St. Luke’s has already experienced benefits from its partnership with Ambience (pronounced like “ambient”), which provides a smartphone app to clinicians that listens in on medical appointments and drafts a clinical note for the EHR.
After piloting the technology last spring, St. Luke’s started offering it to all clinicians earlier this year. Ambience now has about 400 users across 12 specialties at the health system, where it is the largest and most impactful AI project to date.
“AI scribing is a Triple Crown winner,” Mr. Stephan said. “Everybody gets benefits from it, from the provider to the patient to the positive financial return. It’s really an enjoyable effort to be involved in, because everyone is enthused and excited about the outcomes.”
Those include an improved experience for clinicians and patients alike. “What I hear over and over again is, ‘This helps me do what I want to do, which is connect human to human and provide great care, not interact with a computer,'” Mr. Stephan said.
He said he and his team are “working hard” to enhance integration with St. Luke’s Epic EHR.
He anticipates patients will one day expect their healthcare providers to have the technology and be “surprised” when they don’t. “It’s such a value add to the entire care continuum that I think is just going to become very, very commonplace,” he said. Usage has grown largely by word of mouth, with providers pining to be next in line.
Mr. Stephan said he puts St. Luke’s AI strategy into three “buckets.” In order, the first is to rely on a technology platform it already uses and trusts, like Epic, to incorporate new AI features. The second is finding new vendors, like Ambience. The third is developing in-house solutions, which can be risky.
Another AI project at St. Luke’s uses the technology to precisely contour images of a mass or tumor to help medical dosimetrists develop radiation therapies for cancer patients.
St. Luke’s is also replacing its service management platform later this year, which will help improve the “blocking and tackling” of IT to allow for more innovation like AI, Mr. Stephan said.
He also predicts continued competition in healthcare AI ― and health IT overall — will keep reaping rewards for the industry.
“Iron sharpens iron. When companies compete, the consumer wins,” he said.