Artificial Intelligence home health

Artificial Intelligence in Home Health

Artificial intelligence is proliferating healthcare. Whether it be talk to text, generative or ambient, AI is here, and it is here to stay.

The time has come for agencies to be aware of the trend and prepare their policies and procedures to reflect the use and guide clinicians and staff to the rules you want your agency to keep.

Many of you have used talk to text for several years with varying success. Physicians and hospitals are on the front line of pioneering generative and ambient AI use in healthcare.

Do you have an agency policy for talk to text? Ambient? Generative?

Do you know what your staff use to assist with documentation? Many are using talk to text whether you have an agency policy or provider in place.

In a healthcare setting, ambient AI may involve sensors, cameras, or other monitoring devices that capture and analyze patient information, environmental factors, and workflow patterns. This data can then be used to improve patient care, optimize processes, and enhance overall efficiency within healthcare facilities.

Generative AI in healthcare refers to artificial intelligence technology that can create new data, content, or solutions based on existing information. Unlike traditional AI systems that rely on rules and patterns to make predictions or recommendations, generative AI can generate original and novel outputs.

Suggested steps to incorporate AI into your agency:

  1. Query staff for current use- recommend an anonymous survey to get the most honest reporting.
  2. Craft a policy around the findings- may need to consider purchasing software and mandating usage to have consistency. Make sure policy has a strong procedure for how you want staff to edit when using talk to text.
  3. Create stem policies (can be refined and completed later) for ambient and generative AI usage.
  4. Consider setting up an AI committee to pursue further time-saving AI uses.

AI use in documentation can assist with the high time consumption of documentation in HH. This can improve employee retention, satisfaction and reduce burnout.

However, the risk you face without policies and auditing is documentation mistakes can be multiplied and you need to guard against garbage in, garbage out phenomenon.