MD Health System Launches AI-Driven Collab to Tackle Clinician Burnout

Maryland-based TidalHealth and artificial intelligence (AI) software company Regard have launched a collaboration designed to increase patient diagnosis accuracy, reduce clinician burnout, and enhance revenue through improved documentation.

TidalHealth will implement Regard’s software across its network in Maryland and Delaware to optimize practitioners’ workflows. The software, which uses AI to help physicians diagnose medical conditions, is intended to help TidalHealth clinicians automate EHR chart reviews and enhance patient safety by ensuring all diagnoses are identified.

Regard’s algorithms aggregate and mine the patient's medical history through their EHR, decreasing room for diagnostic error and optimizing billing, according to the press release. By enhancing these processes, the software has the potential to help TidalHealth improve the overall quality of care and allow for accurate hospital reimbursement.

Regard states that its software can identify approximately 50 of the most common medical conditions and has been used on over 40,000 patients.  

"Providers need to focus on the patient and not the technology. When we bring technology like this forward we can have a real impact on provider happiness," said Mark Weisman, MD, chief information officer, and chief medical information officer at TidalHealth, in the press release.

Clinician burnout is a major issue plaguing health systems. Physician burnout was reported as a significant problem in 83 percent of healthcare organizations in 2018, and the issue appears to have worsened. The US Surgeon General issued a report on the worsening state of healthcare worker burnout in June. In addition, burnout and primary care physician turnover create around $979 million in excess healthcare spending annually.

Various solutions to mitigate healthcare worker burnout have been proposed, including enhanced EHR use measures and improved clinician engagement. Leveraging AI technology and refining clinical decision support tools to bolster efforts in this area have also become growing trends in recent years.

"From workflow optimization to technology adoption and facility design and development, we're always looking to provide our providers with a constant improvement of quality care," Weisman said. "We're excited to join forces with Regard to empower our providers with groundbreaking technology which will allow them to streamline their workflows and maintain our standard of excellence."

In practice, some providers have had significant success using AI to reduce clinician burnout and improve the quality of care.

Earlier this year, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) released new data showing that an AI-based scheduling tool greatly improved physician engagement and curbed burnout. Prior to the tool’s implementation, creating a schedule generally required an average of 60 to 75 hours every month, compared to 14 hours using the tool.

After using the new scheduling system for six months, anesthesiologists’ engagement scores rose from an average of 3.3 to 4.2 out of a possible five. The tool allowed clinicians to take one or two mornings and afternoons off a month, encouraging increased work-life balance and decreased burnout.