How ambient AI can help identify patient social needs

In a recent interview with TechTarget, Kristine Lee, MD, associate executive director and chief transformation officer for The Permanente Medical Group, described how ambient AI scribes can help physicians close documentation gaps when they are intentionally designed to identify and capture social needs.

Ambient AI scribes are successfully being used to reduce documentation burden and give physicians more time to focus on patients. But their next test may be just as important: whether they can help identify the social determinants of health that shape patient outcomes.

Patients may mention transportation barriers, food insecurity, housing instability, financial strain, or other social needs during routine visits. When those details are missed or left out of the electronic health record, care teams can lose an important opportunity to connect patients with support that may improve health.

That is why it’s so important for health care organizations to include physician input when adopting ambient AI tools. If the technology is trained only to produce clinical notes quickly, it may overlook social context. But if it is configured to recognize and document social determinants of health, it can become another way for physicians and care teams to gain a clearer picture of a patient’s life and needs.

AI in health care should capture the full patient story

At Kaiser Permanente, ambient AI scribes are doing more than easing documentation — they’re helping physicians surface the social challenges that can shape a patient’s health and connect patients with needed support.

Related AI story: How AI is giving physicians more time for what matters most

“AI scribes can capture the full context of a visit, ensuring social needs are documented so care teams can flag challenges such as food insecurity and housing instability and route patients to essential social services,” said Dr. Lee.

For physicians, the exciting takeaway is that a well-designed AI tool may help identify patient social needs more reliably, giving care teams better information to act on and help patients access appropriate resources.

More focused attention can help create space for patients to share sensitive concerns that affect their health but may not appear in labs, diagnoses, or medication lists.

“We are looking forward to advanced input [electronic health record] technology to incorporate these more fully to make it easier for clinical teams to respond appropriately,” said Dr. Lee.

Read the full interview here.

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