3. Investing in the digital health of primary care
- Date: 2024-10-25
- Concurrent Session: Concurrent Session D
- Time: 8:45- 9:30 am
- Room:
- Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
- Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
- Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.) Clinical providers, Administrative staff, Representatives of stakeholder/partner organizations
Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn:
- Understand the role AI can play in reducing the administrative load for primary care providers and enhancing the focus on patient care.
- Understand legal, regulatory, and ethical obligations for the responsible implementation of AI technologies in primary care.
- Discover AI tools — including document management, diagnostic aids, and support systems — that can be integrated into every stage of the patient visit to optimize primary care workflows and improve delivery of patient care.
- Learn about strategic approaches to integrating AI into primary care to harness its benefits responsibly and ethically for improved patient outcomes and an enhanced overall health-care experience.
Summary/Abstract:
OntarioMD (OMD) has developed a multi-faceted AI strategy to foster a culture of learning, facilitate integration of AI technologies, and establish partnerships for sustained innovation.
Ontario’s primary care system faces significant challenges, including a crisis in health-care human resources, physician burnout, and overwhelming administrative tasks compromising patient care. AI offers promising solutions by optimizing clinical and administrative workflows, enabling health-care professionals to focus on delivering care.
OMD’s strategy includes establishing stakeholder alignment on legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements, educating clinicians, evaluating AI's effectiveness, and developing implementation plans for broader adoption. AI tools such as document management systems, diagnostic aids, automation, and decision support systems can be integrated at every stage of the patient visit for enhanced care delivery.
A key component of OMD's strategy is evaluating AI technology. As a use case, AI scribe efficiently transcribes clinician-patient dialogues into medical notes, significantly reducing documentation time and cognitive fatigue. OMD’s study observed a 71% reduction in in-visit documentation time with AI scribe, allowing greater physician focus on patient care.
However, integrating AI scribes presents legal and privacy challenges to be addressed practically. Key considerations include data privacy requirements under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, medical legal obligations set by the CPSO, algorithmic bias, and patient comprehension of the new tools and input regarding their use. Tailored contractual agreements must define obligations on limiting use and disclosure of data, retention periods, liability allocation, and confidentiality. Robust privacy and security safeguards are essential to protect patient information and comply with applicable regulations.
Presenter:
- Simon Ling, Executive Director, Partnerships and Stakeholders, Corporate Services, OntarioMD
- Ariane Siegel General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, OntarioMD