Decoding Healthcare AI: How 20 years of experience in clinical transcription led to the genesis of a virtual assistant for every physician
Why Does Healthcare Need AI-powered Virtual Assistants?
“If data is the new oil, then electronic medical records (EMR’s) are healthcare’s oil,” says Rustom Lawyer, Co-Founder & CEO of Augnito—a next-gen voice recognition AI for physicians that’s powering the healthcare industry. Extensive research and development, decades of industry expertise, and perhaps most importantly, a human-centric design approach has led to the creation of this truly disruptive software—trusted and employed by the USA’s PhysicianOne Urgent Care, the UK’s NHS, the UAE’s Prime Healthcare, and India’s Apollo Hospitals, among several other healthcare powerhouses.
While some may be apprehensive of artificial intelligence, it is the future of most industries, and early-adopters will reap a sizeable first-mover advantage. Just ask some of the aforementioned patrons. The healthcare ai, though seemingly complex at first, becomes far more palatable when looked at objectively. “It’s basically a super-powered virtual assistant for physicians” says Lawyer, who knows his product is set to change the landscape of digital record-keeping in the medical world.
Gone are the days one would struggle to decipher the doctor’s customary illegible scrawl, or the overwhelming sea of jargon that is a feature of most clinical documentation. Today, in the post-pandemic world where contact-free consultations are preferable, one could argue that voice recognition based healthcare ai software is almost imperative. But it’s the potential of Augnito’s medical voice assistance technology, beyond the daily respite it will provide for physicians, that makes it unequivocally intriguing.
An Experienced Head On Young Shoulders
With over two decades of experience in the sector with Scribetech Healthcare (since 2001), the organization Lawyer founded with his friend Shiraz Austin at age 19, he has worked with private practitioners, tenured researchers, and the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). Scribetech pioneered clinical transcription services in the UK with esteemed establishments such as Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, University Hospital Birmingham, Kingston University Trust, as well as other medical institutions in England. The genesis of an AI-based virtual assistant for doctors came as somewhat of a natural evolution of their business and expertise.
Already transforming the clinical data management suite, Scribetech began developing a cloud-based voice intelligence for physicians, eight years ago. While the primary objective at the time was to improve their internal systems, with Augnito—they now hope to democratize the use of medical speech recognition software. The product has, and continues to be worked on, by some of the brightest minds from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT), and The University of Sheffield.
“Studies show that for approximately every hour a physician in the USA spends with a patient, they spend two hours updating their electronic records,” says Lawyer. “Now, imagine an intelligence that offers a faster, almost effortless way to capture live clinical data—with 99% accuracy. Augnito’s physician productivity software helps healthcare providers record patient data four times faster than typing into those exhausting interfaces. That’s at least three hours saved on a daily basis.”
Augnito: Augmented Cognition
So, how do virtual assistant’s actually streamline doctors’ clinical workflows? The answer: With a bunch of easy-to-use, productivity-enhancing features. Let’s take a closer look at Augnito’s solutions to illustrate.
Co-designed by physicians & AI scientists, Augnito’s real-time speech-to-text capability is fully equipped with the entire language of medicine. Focusing on linguistics, the AI-powered clinical documentation tool can accurately decipher any accent (of spoken English). The technology team at Augnito constantly updates its database of medical terms based on feedback from physicians, but providers can even personalize their experience by customizing Augnito’s vocabulary to include proper nouns, newly approved drugs, and even personal abbreviations.
The healthcare ai is available on any Windows or Mac interface, and can be downloaded to your smartphone (both iOS and Android). It takes less than five minutes to install and get started, with 99% accuracy straight out of the box. That means there’s absolutely no need for a voice profile training segment. Augnito recognizes medical terms and abbreviations, allows physicians to choose their specialty (from over 50 specialties & sub-specialties), spelling preferences and even set up their own speech model for hyper personalization. Physicians can also adjust the microphone volume and background noise levels at the tap of a button, to best suit their environment.
The healthcare ai software is easy to integrate into existing Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Hospital Information Systems (HIS), Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), Radiology Information System (RIS), Laboratory Information Systems (LIS), and more—the virtual assistant for doctors even works flawlessly with common word processors like Microsoft Word. This is a testament to the advanced API & SDK the software hosts, allowing it to voice enable any platform through native integration. The AI also ensures that medical terms are never misspelled, and ensures the highest level of data integrity. This is especially useful for analytics, audits and insurance claims.
Healthcare AI: Primed For The Future
Global indices showcase that healthcare ai industry alone is growing at a 42.4 % compounded annual rate, which means it will be worth approximately $164.10 billion by 2029. In a complex market like India for example, where the patient to doctor ratio is an appalling 1700:1 and 70% of all healthcare infrastructure is in the metropolitan cities (catering to just 30% of the population)—a productivity software like Augnito enables physicians to efficiently deliver their service at a lower cost, with increased efficiency and far greater reach.
Surprisingly, the benefits of migrating to an integrated online system are too often overshadowed by the pressure that comes with such a large undertaking. And existing EMR systems—with their never-ending fields, menus and drop-down boxes, coupled with underdeveloped user interfaces—do nothing to help the cause. But improved efficiency, shorter turnaround time, fewer clinical errors and ultimately, the ability to provide better patient care, with a truly doctor-centric virtual assistant—should serve as an imperishable light at the end of the tunnel.
While the premise is solid, and the need for it tangible, the primary concern among the medical fraternity (and its patrons) is the perceived added strain this revolution will put on already-overworked professionals. To that end, there’s a smarter, hassle-free approach to the adoption of both AI technology & EMR systems. One that requires no additional administrative output from healthcare providers. Cue Augnito.
A Revolution Anchored in Automation & Collaboration
Today, in the world of healthcare AI, most governments have already taken the first steps to ensure a seamless flow of information within an often complex healthcare infrastructure. The shared vision is to oversee the maintenance of centralized, detailed digital health records—which can be updated with accuracy and ease. The key to this is developing a patient-centric technology backbone that will enable the seamless exchange of this data across a multitude of stakeholders—from say a remote village-based clinic, to the cutting-edge laboratories of leading hospitals.
Automated analysis of medical reports, predictive diagnosis and wearable medical devices (equipped with sophisticated sensors and artificial intelligence systems) are just a few of the practical solutions that will reshape global healthcare. However, perhaps the most exhilarating use-case of healthcare ai technology, like Augnito, is the conception of voice biomarkers as a means to identify ailments. Imagine having the ability to diagnose Parkinsonian disorders and other clinical conditions, by simply having your patient speak. That’s true disruption!
“This revolution will need a collective effort from hospitals and tech start-ups,” says Lawyer. “The innovators understand the nuances of technology and user experience, but the expertise in medical care—from both a physician and patient perspective—is best understood by the healthcare institutions.”
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