WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Generative artificial intelligence has the potential to relieve clinicians from administrative duties and enhance clinical efficiencies. Following months of collaboration, Nuance’s DAX Copilot is now fully integrated with Epic EHR, the company announced on Thursday.
In an effort to improve provider and patient experiences, expand access to care, and enhance healthcare outcomes, Azure OpenAI Service, Nuance, and Epic partnered to advance conversational and ambient technologies, according to the announcement.
The rapid delivery of a genAI EHR-integrated tool in less than six months signifies a new era of accelerated innovation, noted Peter Durlach, corporate vice president and chief strategy officer of Microsoft Health and Life Sciences.
DAX Copilot securely creates clinical notes and can document in-office and telehealth patient visits directly within Epic’s Haiku mobile app, with patient consent. The integration allows the EHR mobile app to generate a draft note for immediate physician review and completion, Nuance explained.
The objective, to enable physicians to concentrate more on patient care and less on documentation and typing, has been achieved, as per 2023 survey data from thousands of clinicians using DAX, Nuance stated.
“Our clinicians find that DAX Copilot enhances the already critical role of the Epic EHR by simplifying clinical documentation as part of delivering high-quality patient care,” commented Brent Lamm, chief information officer of UNC Health.
Clinicians surveyed using DAX reported a notable reduction in administrative burden, with 70% indicating that the AI tool embedded in the EHR reduced feelings of burnout and cut time spent on clinical documentation by 50%, according to Nuance.
They also reported an increase in the number of patients they could see per day, with some managing an average of five additional appointments per clinic day.
Nuance highlighted positive patient feedback regarding the use of genAI during appointments.
“Patients also express appreciation for the conversational interactions they have with their providers and feel truly listened to and understood during visits while DAX Copilot seamlessly handles clinical documentation,” added Lamm.
LARGER TREND
Nuance Communications and Epic announced broader availability of DAX to Epic customers in June.
Recently, Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced that physicians from the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery will pilot DAX Copilot and may evaluate usage by other departments.
“Generative AI holds promise in enhancing both the quality and efficiency of healthcare documentation,” stated Dr. Dara Mize, chief medical information officer at VUMC.
“The upcoming pilot represents a significant advancement in VUMC’s exploration of AI’s potential to streamline clinician workflows and improve medical record-keeping while reducing documentation time.”
ON THE RECORD
“Our primary goal is to enhance patient care,” remarked Seth Hain, senior vice president of research and development at Epic. “This is best achieved when there’s time and opportunity for conversations between patients and clinicians because the system handles the heavy lifting of note creation.”
“Even compared to the impressive results established over our years-long collaboration,” added Durlach, “our pioneering partnership to integrate DAX Copilot with the Epic ecosystem stands out.”
