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

Patient experience is a critical consideration for any health care institution. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to improve health care delivery has rapidly become an institutional priority across the United States. Ambient AI documentation systems such as Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) may influence patient perception of health care provider communication and overall experience.

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the implementation of an ambient AI documentation system (DAX) on Press Ganey (PG) patient experience scores.

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between provider use of DAX (N=49) and PG patient satisfaction scores from January 2023 to December 2024. Three domains were analyzed: (1) overall assessment of the experience, (2) concern the care provider showed for patients' questions or worries, and (3) likelihood of recommending the care provider to others. Mean pretest-posttest score differences and P values were calculated.

A total of 49 health care providers across 9 departments participated in the DAX pilot. Aggregate scores for individual items increased between 0.9 and 1.9 points. Care provider concern for a patient's questions or worries increased the most (1.9 points; P=.01), followed by overall assessment of the experience (1.3 points; P=.09) and likelihood of recommending the provider (0.9 points; P=.33). Subgroup analysis showed a larger increase in concern scores among providers using DAX <50% of the time (3.2-point increase; P=.03).

This pilot study aimed to investigate the relationship between provider use of DAX and PG patient experience scores in the outpatient setting at a large academic medical center. Increases in PG scores after implementing DAX were observed across all PG items assessed. As technology and AI continue to improve and become more widespread, these results are encouraging. Health care providers may consider leveraging AI note-taking software as a way to enhance their communication and interactions with patients.