YNHHS, Yale Medicine Adopt Leading Technology to Make Clinical Documentation Faster, Easier

On April 9, Yale New Haven Health and Yale Medicine launched Abridge, an artificial intelligence tool, for user acceptance testing in selected clinics and practices within YNHHS Northeast Medical Group, Yale Medicine and Yale Health.

So far, providers have been deeply engaged, and the tool has been met with great enthusiasm, said Lee H. Schwamm, MD, YNHHS senior vice president and chief digital health officer.

Abridge enables providers to create clinical notes instantly and effortlessly. Instead of wasting time and energy dictating or typing notes, providers can use Abridge to capture key information from patient visit conversations and generate structured and organized notes in seconds. Abridge also helps providers document exam findings, medical and social history, medications, treatment plans and lab work in a clear, concise way. The tool will be phased in at other YNHHS and YM locations in the coming months.

“Providers have been asking for this, and are extremely excited about its arrival,” Dr. Schwamm said.

“Documentation requirements are a significant contributor to physician burnout,” said Lisa Stump, senior vice president and chief information officer, YNHHS and Yale Medicine. “We now have a tool that significantly minimizes that burden and enables physicians to focus on the conversation with their patient, without focusing on typing into the electronic medical record.”

The tool works like this: Once a patient provides verbal consent, the provider uses the Abridge smartphone app to record the visit. Abridge’s AI filters out parts of the conversation that aren’t relevant and transforms the remaining concepts into an electronic note in the traditional format. The provider reviews and, if necessary, edits the note. If they have a question about something discussed during the visit, they can click a word or sentence in the note to see the conversation transcript and hear the original, recorded conversation.  Because it is integrated with Epic, once a provider approves the clinical note, it automatically embeds itself into the patient’s visit note in Epic.

By using Abridge, providers can reduce their cognitive and administrative burden and focus on what matters most: caring for their patients face-to-face. Abridge also aligns with the SPACE2CARE advanced Epic optimization initiative, which aims to support providers in delivering high-quality, compassionate and personalized care by optimizing and augmenting use of the electronic medical record and digital solutions.

“Abridge is not just a note-taking tool; it is a game-changer for health care,” Dr. Schwamm said.