Assuta, Microsoft develop AI medical assistant to reduce relieve doctors' documentation tasks

Assuta Medical Centers and Microsoft are collaborating to develop an AI-powered medical assistant designed to streamline doctors' documentation tasks. This system will summarize medical information, document patient meetings, and draft visit summaries, aiming to free up doctors' time for patient care rather than administrative work. The AI will provide doctors with pre-visit summaries of patient history and, with consent, transcribe and process conversations during visits to create medical documents for doctor review and approval. The goal is to reduce time spent on documentation, potentially shortening visit times without decreasing doctor-patient interaction, and increase appointment availability. The system will also assist with scheduling follow-up appointments. Assuta emphasized that the AI is a decision support tool and will not replace medical judgment. A pilot program is expected to begin within a year. Sarit Sass, healthcare organizations director at Microsoft Israel, stated, "We believe that the future of the healthcare system relies on combining the human expertise of medical teams with the capabilities of artificial intelligence."