AI and Your Practice: Advice From 13 Medical Leaders on Scaling in Healthcare (Part 4 of 5)

This is Part 4 of our five-part series on scaling healthcare practices with tips from 13 medical experts.

You can check out the first installment, Scaling Without Compromise, for background on the expected growth of the healthcare industry and a full guide to the series.

In our last article, Part 3: Managing Surge Capacity, we heard from experts on how they manage the short-term problem of sudden influxes of patients. When this happens, a natural reaction is to try and find ways to improve your efficiency.

As AI settles into more and more aspects of everyday life, many healthcare providers ask if their industry is next. The healthcare professionals we spoke with had differing opinions on how AI can be used to scale their practices and best serve patients, and external research had similar findings.

A 2024 report by Sermo found that while 91% of healthcare leaders believe that AI or machine learning will be an integral part of their organization’s growth and success in five years or more, many were apprehensive about it happening before then.

“Will AI take my job?”

Glen Tullman, CEO of Transcarent, is optimistic about the future of AI in healthcare. 

When healthcare providers ask Tullman if he thinks AI will replace their jobs, he tells them not to worry but to get comfortable with the idea of new technologies entering their workplace. 

“I say to them, AI will not be taking your job, but someone using AI could be – unless you start to learn how to adopt the new technologies,” he explained. 

“Think about AI as a calculator. If you were doing math by hand, and you had the choice to stick with your current method or move over to a calculator, which would make you better at your job? The calculator won’t take your job, but someone using a calculator likely will. They’re simply going to be more efficient and accurate.”

While Tullman strongly advises against practitioners bringing ChatGPT directly into their practices, he does recommend that they get familiar with AI in their personal time.

“I want to be very clear: You shouldn’t be using ChatGPT in your practice yet; it doesn’t meet the quality or confidentiality requirements for patient care. However, it will give you a sense of what capabilities are coming,” he explained.

With the hallucination rate of ChatGPT believed to hover around 30%, many experts may feel unsure about the future of AI in their practices. Becky Zook, RN, BSN, MS and the owner and CEO of NurseWritersGroup, has some advice for healthcare providers who feel hesitant about what’s next.

“My advice is to learn as much as you can. There are lots of free classes and people who are good at these things,” she advised. “Find a technology partner to really help you learn because it really is the wave of the future, whether we like it or not. So, really, my advice is to get on board.

How else can you improve your efficiency?

If AI is not the right fit for your practice yet, it’s worth considering other ways to make you or your team more efficient in their everyday activities. A common one for many practitioners is finding ways to speed up patient documentation and communication.

We’ve pulled together a list of common templates for medical professionals, including:

• 2024 BIRP Notes
• Billing Code Cheat Sheets
• SOAP Notes
• Client Intake Form
• Discharge Summary
• Progress Notes
• Admission Notes
• Medical Dot Phrase
• Patient Appointment Emails
• After Visit Summaries
• Treatment Plans
• and more!

Summary: How to familiarize yourself with AI for healthcare

• Be wary of bringing uncompliant tech (like AI) into your practice preemptively
• Play around with AI in your personal life
• Take classes or courses to familiarize yourself with AI
• Use templates for anything your type repetitively

Up next?

Our final article in the series will highlight how to build equity into your practice and patient experience. The more patients can access care, the more your practice will grow.