Dr. Lin, a clinical assistant professor of medicine and vice chief for technology innovation in Stanford University’s division of primary care and population health, recently spoke to Stanford Medicine about the many positive effects AI can have on medicine. These benefits will be felt most prominently in primary care, he predicted, since that is where the majority of patient visits take place.
For one, AI can reduce physician burnout. According to Dr. Lin, digital scribes able to comprehend human conversations could “unshackle physicians from the electronic health record”; algorithms could reduce their workloads by analyzing the complexity of each patient’s condition; and other AI tools could automate repetitive administrative tasks that are “suffocating” physicians and practices.
While implementing new technology may seem costly, AI will actually help reduce healthcare costs over time. “Millions of hospital stays and up to $100 billion a year might be prevented with better risk prediction and interventions in the primary care setting with AI,” Dr. Lin said. Plus, he added, “AI innovations designed to improve physician wellbeing and reduce burnout will generate billions of dollars of savings by reducing turnover and improving efficiency.”
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