In the near future, the advancement of technology could offer a solution to eliminate the need for scribes. AI can be used to draft a wide variety of practice documents and provide translation services as more of our population continues to have English as a second language. Some health systems are currently using automated technology to replace or augment staff that would deliver supplies to nursing units and other parts of the facility, indicating that industry changes have already started to take place.

Perceived challenges of AI
The biggest challenge that all industries will face is an overreliance on the results generated by AI. At a fundamental level, today’s society has become heavily dependent on spell check to correct spelling errors. Without second-guessing, we readily place our trust in the provided results. This reliance could carry over into the healthcare industry, which could pose a challenge due to the nature of the material being drafted by medical professionals. For example, AI has the ability to take collected clinical data and turn it into clinical documentation for billing. However, the final documents and codes still need to be reviewed by billing providers to ensure the information is reflective of the care provided and avoids fraudulent mistakes.
The biggest takeaway is that anything written by AI still needs to be thoroughly reviewed. Even though this technology can eliminate a great amount of the work that goes into drafting policies and information, that does not mean we can put our full faith in AI to be fully correct every single time.

Stay up-to-date on technology trends
Ultimately, in order for organizations to be successful, they need to stay up-to-date on technology trends. As of now, practices should be spending a significant portion of their professional development time and resources on understanding AI. Every practice should appoint professionals from each sector — such as one physician, one nurse or non-physician leader and one admin professional — to be responsible for handling administrative and infrastructure developments from all different aspects of the organization. Understanding AI will be the key to success as the industry continues to advance.

The future of the healthcare industry will undoubtedly undergo a great amount of change as the uses of AI become more widely implemented and standardized. While it will take time to fully apply this new technology, the benefits will be substantial. We can all look forward to AI giving us the ability to diagnose patients more quickly, provide personalized treatment plans, and improve the overall quality of care that we provide to our patients.

About the author: Ron Holder, chief operating officer of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), brings decades of experience to his role as a seasoned healthcare and medical practice executive. His background includes driving financial growth, leadership development, operational process improvement, increased employee engagement, and elevating patient satisfaction scores at healthcare organizations large and small.

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