What patients need to know about AI doctor visit summaries

As artificial intelligence continues to advance in seemingly all facets of life – including healthcare – experts say it’s important for patients to know that AI can be used in their care.

“I think we will see significant progress in AI use and AI capacity in the coming years,” says Dr. Sian Tsuei, a family physician at Metrotown Urgent and Primary Care Center in Burnaby, BC.

“I think we’re just seeing the beginning. So I would really encourage patients to stay informed all the time and for doctors to stay informed as well.”

Here are some AI risks and benefits. Tsuei and other experts recommend discussing this with your healthcare provider.

Ask first

The next time you have an appointment with your doctor, ask if they use AI.

If so, chances are it’s an AI writer. Medical schools and associations, including in Ontario and BC, have released guidelines for doctors interested in using the technology to transcribe their conversations with patients instead of manually taking notes themselves.

In a recent study in Ontario, doctors used AI writers 70 to 90 percent less time spent on paperworkwhich saves an average of three to four hours per week.

In addition to saving doctors time, AI writers can also improve the quality of patient visits, says Muhammad Mamdani, vice-president of data science and advanced analytics at Unity Health Toronto.

“Many of them will spend quite a bit of time in your doctor’s office, not just looking at you, but also staring at their computer screen. They are busy typing away the conversation so that it is recorded,” says Mamdani, who is also the director of teaching and research in artificial intelligence in medicine at the University of Toronto.

“But that means you spend a lot of time not really listening to them with perhaps the attention they should have.”

How safe is my data?

Tsuei said cybersecurity is one of the most important factors as he considers using an AI writer in his practice.

“To what extent has technology developed appropriate cybersecurity measures? Do we actually understand and are we aware of cybersecurity threats? [there] appropriate ways to defend against it?”

Some doctors may store patient data on-site, while others upload it to a cloud server or another location, says Nadia Shaikh-Naeem, vice president of programs at Digital, an “innovation cluster” dedicated to AI development and funded by the federal government.

It’s important to ask about “digital residency,” Shaikh-Naeem said, noting that Digital requires its healthcare partner organizations to store data in Canada.

That’s because the data must be protected by national information privacy laws, such as the Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act.

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Terry Stepien, CEO of Expeflow — one of Digital’s partner organizations that provides AI services to a Toronto psychology practice — said it’s important to ask if your data is encrypted.

If the data is transferred to a cloud server or a remote server, “how does it move between your location and the end location? Is it encrypted at all times as it moves?” he said.

Stepien said it is also important to know who has access to patient data within the healthcare practice – and to have a log documenting all activity in the patient records to ensure that people without permission have not attempted to access this data.

What exactly am I agreeing to here?

According to both Doctors of BC and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, your doctor must get your permission before using an AI writer to record your calls.

But it’s also a good idea to ask specifically how the recorded and transcribed information will be used, Shaikh-Naeem said.

“Do I agree to research? Do I consent to my data being used to train the AI? Do I consent to it being used internally for diagnostic purposes, my own broader diagnostics?” she said.

If the recording is used solely for documentation in your electronic medical record, the AI ​​model is “closed,” Shaikh-Naeem said.

But some AI models are “open,” meaning they learn from your data to improve their accuracy in future transcriptions.

Is the information about me transcribed by AI accurate?

Doctors should review AI transcripts of patient visits, said Unity Health Toronto’s Mamdani, noting that writer technology requires a “human in the know.”

“What actually happens is the scribes will do their job, but obviously the doctor will have to review what the scribe has written,” he said.

In their professional guidance on AI posted online, Doctors of BC warns that not all AI writers can accurately transcribe the speech of accented patients.

“If a significant number of your patients are non-native speakers of English, it is critical to prioritize an AI writer known for its ability to handle different accents, or one that supports multiple languages,” says the guidance.

Experts say the onus is on the healthcare provider to make an informed choice of AI technology and be aware of potential patient concerns.

“It is always important that a patient feels empowered with our data and how our data will be used,” said Shaikh-Naeem.

“The doctor needs to be able to answer those questions to provide patients with comfort around their data and the use of AI.”