Do Practices Really Need An AI Officer?
When you hear about AI in healthcare, you might imagine a high-level executive in a fancy office leading everything related to artificial intelligence. But at a recent health innovation conference, experts challenged this idea. They suggested that instead of creating a new executive role, health systems should focus on making sure that the whole team understands the basics of AI - what it is, how it works, and how it can be used. The goal isn’t just awareness, but practical understanding that allows physicians, administrators, and staff to use AI tools in their daily work more effectively. In this blog we will explore why empowering the entire team with AI knowledge may be more beneficial than relying on just one AI officer.
Why Not Just One AI Officer?
Dr. Brett Oliver, a family physician and chief medical information officer at Baptist Health Medical Group in Louisville, Kentucky, explained the reasoning behind this view. When a single person is named as the AI leader, there’s a risk that everyone else assumes the AI is “taken care of” and stops paying attention to it. He gave an example too. Imagine a vendor upgrades a cancer treatment machine with AI features and tells the practice’s users, “This upgrade will be automatic and no action is needed.” Without enough AI knowledge among users, they might accept it without question. But if doctors and staff understand AI basics, they would ask, “Has this AI been tested and approved for safety and effectiveness?” This shows the importance of raising everyone’s AI literacy rather than depending on one AI executive to handle everything.
Building AI Awareness Across Departments
At Baptist Health Medical Group, instead of hiring a Chief AI Officer, they formed an AI oversight committee with representatives from many parts of the organization including the clinical, legal, finance, and marketing teams. They spent about 12 weeks working with a consultant to interview and survey staff, learning what people hoped to achieve with AI. From this process, they created an “AI Enablement Center” that reports to the committee. This center acts as a hub where people can bring ideas or challenges that AI might help solve. The committee ensures that AI projects are thoroughly reviewed and managed across the entire organization. This “democratized” approach spreads responsibility and knowledge about AI instead of putting it all on one person.
AMA’s Role In Guiding AI Use
The American Medical Association has developed guiding principles for how AI should be developed and used in health care. These cover important topics like
- How AI should be overseen.
- When and what information should be disclosed to uphold AI transparency.
- Policies for generative AI technologies.
- Physician responsibility when using AI tools.
- Privacy and cybersecurity around AI data.
- How payors use AI in decision-making.
These principles help health systems safely bring AI into patient care while protecting patients and providers.
AI In Clinical Care - Radiology Leads The Way
Today, radiology is the clinical area where AI is most widely accepted. AI in radiology is used to analyze and interpret images quickly and accurately, helping radiologists detect abnormalities and make better-informed decisions. In fact, more than 90% of the AI tools cleared by the FDA for clinical use are designed to assist with medical imaging. Radiologists are comfortable using AI to help confirm diagnoses, but always with a “human in the loop”. This means a physician reviews and approves the AI’s suggestions before making any decisions. AI doesn’t replace a physician but it supports them by improving accuracy and efficiency.
AI In Reducing Administrative Burdens
One of the most promising uses of AI in healthcare right now is in easing administrative burdens, especially the heavy documentation load that many physicians struggle with. Dr. Oliver shared how Baptist Health has been using AI scribes for about four years. These tools listen to physician-patient conversations and automatically create clinical notes using machine learning and natural language processing. Physicians then review and finalize these notes. Recent improvements in the speed and accuracy of these scribes have led to much wider adoption. Many physicians say these tools are “career changers” because they save so much time and reduce stress.
How AI Scribes Help Physicians
Physicians using AI scribes just hit record at the start of a visit and stop at the end – then get a detailed note almost instantly. The system even queues up prescriptions or imaging orders for the physician to review, eliminating extra administrative steps. Dr. Oliver praised the technology’s ability to tell apart casual small talk from important clinical details. For example, a question about golf is ignored, but a mention of shoulder pain while playing golf is included in the note. Using AI scribes helps physicians focus on listening to patients instead of typing notes during visits, a big change in behavior that improves both care and provider satisfaction.
Other AI Uses In Administration
AI is also helping draft prior authorization letters and responses to patient questions. Baptist Health recently ran a pilot with about 15 physicians using AI to create draft replies to patients’ messages. Physicians review the drafts and can edit, delete, or send them as-is. Interestingly, a 2023 study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients often felt the AI-generated replies were more empathetic than those written by physicians under time pressure. This kind of AI support is proving to be a valuable way to improve communication without overloading physicians.
Concluding Thoughts
If you’re part of a health care organization considering how to bring AI onboard, the lesson is clear. Invest in AI literacy for all, build inclusive governance structures, and use technology to assist physicians without replacing their judgment. This way, AI can truly help physicians focus on what matters most — caring for patients.
To put this into practice and ease the administrative burden your physicians face every day, consider hiring Scribe4Me AI. Our AI-powered scribes quietly take care of note-taking, giving your physicians the breathing room they need to focus on care, not clicks. The kind of shift that changes careers and practices! Start a free trial today to see if it works for you!