TigerConnect CMIO Dr. Will O’Connor

The patient billing experience isn’t exactly known for being frictionless, and shifting regulations in the wake of a new administration haven’t made it any smoother. In the latest Digital Health Wire Show, we sat down with Inbox Health CEO Blake Walker to discuss new ways to streamline the billing experience in healthcare, as well as the emerging technologies empowering patients during this critical step of their care journey.

Artificial Intelligence

Stress Testing Ambient AI Scribes

Providers are lining up to see if ambient AI can live up to its promise of decreasing burnout while improving the patient experience… and researchers are starting to wonder the same thing.

A new study in JAMA Network Open investigated whether ambient AI scribes actually decrease clinical note burden, following 46 clinicians at the University of Pennsylvania Health System as they used Nuance’s DAX Copilot AI ambient scribe from July to August 2024.

• Researchers combined EHR data with a clinician survey to determine both quantitatively and qualitatively whether ambient scribes actually make a positive impact.

Here’s what they found. Over the course of the study, ambient scribe use was associated with:

• 20.4% less time in notes per appointment (from 10.3 to 8.2 minutes)
• 9.3% greater same-day appointment closure (from 66.2% to 72.4%)
• 30.0% less after-hours work time per workday (from 50.6 to 35.4 minutes)

It’s tough to argue with the data. Ambient scribing definitely moves the needle on several important metrics, and even the less clear-cut stats still had a positive spin to them.

• Note length was 20.6% greater with scribing (from 203k to 244k characters/wk)
• However, the percentage of documentation that was typed by clinicians was 29.6% lower compared to baseline (from 11.2% to 7.9%)

The qualitative feedback told a different story. Even though clinicians reported feeling more engaged during patient conversations, “the need for substantial editing and proofreading of the AI-generated notes, which sometimes offset the time saved” was a recurring theme in the open-ended comments.

Ambient AI received a net promoter score of 0 on a scale of -100 to 100, meaning the clinicians were as likely to not recommend it as they were to recommend it.

• 13 clinicians would recommend ambient AI to others, 13 wouldn’t recommend it, and 11 didn’t feel strongly either way.

The mixed reviews could mean that the ambient scribe performed better/worse for different users, but it could also mean that some clinicians were more diligent at checking the output.

The Takeaway

The evidence in favor of ambient AI scribes continues to pile up – even if the pajama-time reductions in this study didn’t live up to the promise on the box. Big technology shifts also come with adjustment periods, and this invited commentary did a great job highlighting the “real risk of automation bias” that comes with ambient AI, as well as the liability risk of missing its errors.

Top Systems Scale Primary Care With K Health

Leading health systems are turning to K Health’s AI-driven primary care solution to give their patients access to high-quality care with wait times measured in hours, not months. Find out why K Health is the only clinical AI company partnering with top systems to scale fully integrated primary care experiences.

Lift MA Plan Performance by Impacting SDoH

Social factors and non-medical issues strongly influence health outcomes, and addressing these contributing determinants of health can not only improve the lives of patients, but also enhance Medicare Advantage plan success. Learn how Clear Arch Health’s remote monitoring services are helping MA plans deliver cost-effective care while enabling more seniors to age independently.

The Wire

• Mayo Clinic Record Performance: Mayo Clinic’s annual financial results included record operating income of $1.3B for 2024, almost a 20% jump from the year prior. Revenue also climbed 10% to $19.8B, driven by a double digit increase in both outpatient and hospital visits since 2022. The strong performance will help fund Mayo’s ongoing expansion in Rochester, as well as a just-announced $1.9B project to beef up its presence in Arizona (which will apparently increase clinical space by 60% through 11 new operating rooms and 48 hospital beds).

• Inbox Health AI Support: Inbox Health debuted new AI patient billing support services that resolve 90% of all questions patients ask about their medical bills. When patients have a billing inquiry, Inbox automatically connects them to a human agent in under a minute. The new enhancements then equip these agents with AI-driven insights to help them personalize support and answer a wider range of questions (including how the claim was processed through insurance), leading to most inquiries getting resolved after the first touchpoint. CEO Blake Walker gave us a great rundown of the launch. 

• Rising Medical Debt: A new report from Gallup found that Americans borrowed $74B to cover healthcare costs in 2024. Over 31M U.S. adults borrowed to cover care for themselves or a family member, with six in 10 borrowing more than $500, and 14% borrowing over $5,000. A majority of Americans (58%) are now worried that a single major health event could lead to personal medical debt, raising concerns that more people are feeling pressured to either skip care or make other tradeoffs that put their health at risk.

• Teladoc Prism Enhancements: Teladoc rolled out new capabilities to its Prism care delivery platform geared toward improving care coordination with digital health partners and community providers. The upgrades include advanced referrals that let clinicians see members’ eligibility and seamlessly refer them to one of its Connected Care Partners, as well as new data integrations that automatically surface recommended screenings and diagnostic evaluations. 

• Surgery’s Weekend Effect: Patients who get surgery on a Friday face a significantly higher risk of complications than those who get them on a Monday. New research in JAMA Network Open analyzed data from 430k patients undergoing 25 common surgical procedures, finding that patients with Friday operations were 5% more likely to experience the composite outcome of death, complications, and readmissions at both 30 days and one year. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that doctors aren’t immune to “the weekend effect.”

• Caregility Platform Upgrades: Caregility debuted a trio of new solutions designed to keep bedside and remote care teams in sync, including: (1) the iCare Coordinator command hub for virtual care coordination, which streamlines task management, bedside alerting, and communication; (2) Clinical Notes AI scribing capabilities for patient-provider conversations; (3) Ambient Listening AI acoustic monitoring that detects and alerts staff to aggressive tones in patient care settings to reduce response times for safety interventions.

• Usher AI Agent for Member Service: CX automation startup Ushur introduced its AI Agent for Member Service to help health plans scale service delivery while handling more call center volume. By delivering empathetic assistance in real-time, Ushur’s AI Agent guides members to quicker resolutions to cut down on turnaround times and operational costs. Usher reportedly helped one of the largest state-run Medicaid plans automate 21% of requests from the four “top drivers” of call center volume: PCP changes, ID card replacements, address updates, and contact info updates.

• AI Cybersecurity Threats: A HIMSS survey showed that nearly a third of healthcare organizations allow their staff to use AI without any formal guardrails, while half allow AI use as long as the model has been pre-approved. Among 273 healthcare cybersecurity professionals (half working at provider orgs), only 31% reported that their org actively monitors AI usage across its systems, while just 42% said their org has an AI Acceptable Use Policy in place. The biggest cybersecurity concerns related to AI were data privacy (75%), breaches (53%), and model bias (53%).

• Juno Partners With Avo: Juno Health is integrating Avo’s AI scribe technology into its cloud-based Juno EHR for acute care and behavioral health settings. On top of generating notes for clinicians, the partnership gives Juno EHR the ability to combine the captured transcript with EHR data like past medical records or lab results to generate “new documentation that reflects the next best steps of patient care and maximizes reimbursement potential.”

• Cedar + Twilio: Cedar is bringing Twilio’s SMS capabilities to its patient financial experience platform to enhance bill notifications and appointment reminders. The SMS features add to new integrations with Twilio’s Voice API and Stripe Connector, which allow patients to perform secure transactions over the phone with interactive voice response (IVR). Cedar will also be debuting inbound patient call automations built on Twilio’s ConversationRelay service later this year.

Simplify RPM & Maximize Patient Engagement

Engaging patients at critical moments is essential for success. With Withings Health Nudges feature, care teams can send tailored messages to the screen of the blood pressure monitor— offering personalized support when they need it most.

The First 30 Days: What to Expect With AI

Implementing AI documentation tools promises significant benefits, but how do you ensure a smooth transition? Playback Health has you covered with this comprehensive 30-day roadmap outlining what to expect, industry best practices, and its own proven implementation approach.

The Resource Wire

• How Nabla Transformed Care at Denver Health: As Colorado’s primary safety net health system, Denver Health knows that technology like Nabla’s ambient AI platform plays a vital role in keeping its patients healthy and its clinicians happy. Find out why Denver Health clinicians are calling Nabla “the most transformational technology they’ve seen in their medical practice, ever.”

• The State of Payer Enrollment & Credentialing: Rising costs, slow automation, and evolving regulations are creating new challenges for credentialing and enrollment. Medallion’s latest report uncovers the biggest trends shaping the future – and how AI and automation are driving change. Don’t fall behind – get the full report now.

• New Abridge AI Infrastructure Powers Clinically Useful and Billable Notes: The new Abridge Contextual Reasoning Engine is a leap forward in AI architecture that enables clinically useful and billable notes at the point of care. Health systems are plagued by incomplete notes that delay billing processes. Generating comprehensive, billable notes that support appropriate claims at the point of care creates administrative efficiencies, reducing costs and freeing doctors to focus more on patient care. Learn more.

The Industry Wire

1. CMS rescinds Medicaid’s health-related social needs guidance. 
2. Ownership of HHS and CMS headquarters stuck in limbo. 
3. CVS terminates ACO REACH contracts, offloads MSSP business to Wellvana. 
4. HHS workers offered early retirement as high-ranking officials resign. 
5. How health systems are faring in a high-cost environment.
6. Measles Outbreak: Cases In Texas Near 200. 
7. Fewer attendees, more focus on AI at HIMSS 2025.
8. Walgreens to be taken private for $10B. 
9. Bird flu spread is slowing down.
10. Cano Health CEO steps down.