Ambient AI Documentation and Patient Satisfaction in Outpatient Care: Retrospective Pilot Study

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
• Patient Experience Research

Background:

• Patient experience is crucial for healthcare institutions.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly prioritized for improving healthcare delivery.
• Ambient AI documentation systems, such as Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX), may impact patient perceptions of provider communication and overall experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of implementing an ambient AI documentation system (DAX) on Press Ganey (PG) patient experience scores.
• To evaluate the relationship between provider utilization of DAX and patient satisfaction metrics.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study analyzed data from 49 healthcare providers between January 2023 and December 2024.
• Three patient experience domains were assessed: overall experience, provider concern, and likelihood to recommend.
• Pretest-posttest score differences and P values were calculated to determine statistical significance.

Main Results:

• Aggregate patient experience scores increased by 0.9 to 1.9 points after DAX implementation.
• Provider concern for patient questions/worries saw the largest increase (1.9 points, P=.01).
• Subgroup analysis indicated a significant increase in concern scores (3.2 points, P=.03) among providers using DAX less than 50% of the time.

Conclusions:

• Implementation of the DAX ambient AI system led to observed increases in PG patient experience scores across all assessed domains.
• These findings are encouraging for the increasing integration of AI in healthcare settings.
• Healthcare providers may benefit from utilizing AI note-taking software to enhance patient communication and interaction.