AI is a game changer for office admin tasks!

[randomdoc1]

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Holy...moly....moly. I just set up the AI for fielding messages for the clinic. Tested it out. So basically for new and established patients who email, text, even voicemails, the AI is insane now. Email for example, it will summarize long threads. When you hit the reply button, basically the whole email is written out and it does a great job of anticipating what you plan to say. I read it over of course. I'm curious to see if it will learn and incorporate what changes I make. But the game changing aspect is not necessarily to leave everything to AI. But the workflow goes faster (huge time saver) and you don't have to hire as many non-clinical staff, turboshooting our financial margin. Makes the job much easier than manually typing out and (gasp) thinking through the whole thing. You guys gotta look into things like copilot. But also, this will be wicked for generating patient leads and getting conversions while the interest is still hot. It can gather the info and a person comes in to add the final human touch.

 

[Bartelby]

Interesting, I think this is one of the most positive reviews I have heard for any of these AI systems. They do seem to keep getting better day by day.

Which one are you using?

 

[randomdoc1]

Interesting, I think this is one of the most positive reviews I have heard for any of these AI systems. They do seem to keep getting better day by day.

Which one are you using?

Using Copilot from Microsoft. Apparently you can also have casual conversations with it. There's some other tools I looking forward to trying out like writing tools. I do my own SEO in addition to having a great SEO team. But only us providers can make good clinical content for general population awareness. Some of the tools can be good for sparking ideas and thinking through different ways to take a blog post. There will never be a replacement. But it can save a lot of time and reduce costs.

Some of the writing tools look promising: keyword optimization, seo readability, meta descriptions. All has an affect in how your content shows in the digital frontier--making your more or less discoverable.

 

[randomdoc1]

I got a new patient interest form on our website and I hit the compose button on copilot and this is what it spit out, just need to hit "send"

Thank you for completing the self-assessment form on Randomdoc1's clinic. We appreciate you reaching out for support, and we are here to help you on your journey towards better mental health.

Based on the information you provided, we understand that you are seeking therapy to address self image, overthinking, and anxiety. Our team of experienced therapists is well-equipped to assist you with these concerns and help you achieve your goals.

The next step is to schedule an initial consultation with one of our therapists. During this session, you will have the opportunity to discuss your concerns in more detail and develop a personalized treatment plan. Please let us know your availability, and we will do our best to accommodate your schedule. We will also need your
-legal name as it shows on the insurance card
-DOB
This allows us to validate your insurance and most plans in this family cover your visits free of charge to you.

We look forward to working with you and supporting you on your path to improved mental well-being. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Best regards,

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Not to burst your bubble, but that sounds like a generic form letter that you could’ve made years ago to auto reply to any patient that fills out the form. Literally the only thing that needs to change from patient to patient is the part after why they’re seeking treatment.

I’m not exactly sure why this is impressive.

 

[randomdoc1]

Actually, it's pretty close to the template we use and it drives conversions. It is one less step and it's saving on average 45 min a day. Paid labor is $30 an hour. It adds up. I've managed to cut down paid office staff hours. So yes, it's more than a bubble. It's savings.

 

[randomdoc1]

Not to burst your bubble, but that sounds like a generic form letter that you could’ve made years ago to auto reply to any patient that fills out the form. Literally the only thing that needs to change from patient to patient is the part after why they’re seeking treatment.

I’m not exactly sure why this is impressive.

there's also a summary feature for threads with many replies, into several or more. So we have different staff each day and it saves a little time to know where threads left off. That so far has been saving 80 minutes a day. My last pay period I paid out $800 less and had the same patient traffic and revenue.

I'm thinking some areas it can be concretely,measurably, and consistently used:
-repetitive, cut and dry tasks
-->gathering prospective pt data: CC, insurance info (to do benefits and eligibility), scheduling times----important to collect leads while interest is still hot
-->explaining invoices and what charges are for (e.g. copay, coinsurance, deductible, date of service)
-->elaborating/repeating clinic policies: late cancellation, no show fees
-->eventually moving into scheduling/rescheduling if it can be integrated with the EHR calendar

These are paid, simple, repetitive tasks that live humans do. Thing is that AI works 24/7. It does not call in sick or complain. It does need trial and error and always a layer of oversight though.

The more complex situations that need more in depth thinking and a human touch, the live staff can devote more of their time and energy to get it done accurately.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Actually, it's pretty close to the template we use and it drives conversions. It is one less step and it's saving on average 45 min a day. Paid labor is $30 an hour. It adds up. I've managed to cut down paid office staff hours. So yes, it's more than a bubble. It's savings.

Why would it save 45 minutes a day though? How much time does it take to copy/paste that form letter?

I mean I don’t doubt your numbers but I feel like that just means someone was really inefficient at copy/pasting before lol.

I saw your added use cases above and I agree. Basically if staff is using up time or saying they’re using up time doing repetitive copy paste or basic info gathering stuff like this, is a good natural language way to gather that info or spit form letters back out. Like nobody should be telling you now they spent an hour replying back to all the new patients inquires when you know it should take 5 minutes to reply with Copilot.

I would be worried if I was an office staff member who spent most of my day doing the above stuff.

there's also a summary feature for threads with many replies, into several or more. So we have different staff each day and it saves a little time to know where threads left off. That so far has been saving 80 minutes a day. My last pay period I paid out $800 less and had the same patient traffic and revenue.

Again don’t doubt this but do you mean new inquiries or existing patient messages? Like why do you have threads with patients with many replies?

 

[randomdoc1]

Why would it save 45 minutes a day though? How much time does it take to copy/paste that form letter?

I mean I don’t doubt your numbers but I feel like that just means someone was really inefficient at copy/pasting before lol.

I saw your added use cases above and I agree. Basically if staff is using up time or saying they’re using up time doing repetitive copy paste or basic info gathering stuff like this, is a good natural language way to gather that info or spit form letters back out. Like nobody should be telling you now they spent an hour replying back to all the new patients inquires when you know it should take 5 minutes to reply with Copilot.

I would be worried if I was an office staff member who spent most of my day doing the above stuff.



Again don’t doubt this but do you mean new inquiries or existing patient messages? Like why do you have threads with patients with many replies?

No worries, we actually get inundated with patient inquiries.
-legit med management
-legit therapy
-malingering for lawsuit/ssdi
-drug seeking
-kicked out of various clinics
-complexity our staff is not the best fit for
-out of network insurance or no insurance

So the volume adds up. The AI will at least ensure that everyone gets a courtesy response because I have a hard time with us giving a response to all the inquiries and a polite response is just good PR. With the automated responses with Copilot, we can get the patient info quicker and then in bulk read through them at once, and decide to onboard a prospective patient or recommend another office that is a better fit. So it will probably allow for better specialization of labor. The providers here can focus on their subspecialties. And the AI can likely be trained to respond algorithmically of next steps to take and eventually language and tone we use that sounds more personable and more human like.

I also think live humans should be more efficient but human labor is morbidly unmotivated and unreliable. Don't get me started on why I have privacy compliant recorded phone calls for quality reasons. A lot of staff will say you are not taking new patients when you are. Having the surveillance has greatly improved the clinic reputation and brand, with patients saying the whole experience from the desk to the professional service has been very professional and polite. That's another discussion.

For the threads, some of them are back and forth discussions about a bill or they come from prospective patients asking about provider specialties and other services.

 

[TexasPhysician]

there's also a summary feature for threads with many replies, into several or more. So we have different staff each day and it saves a little time to know where threads left off. That so far has been saving 80 minutes a day. My last pay period I paid out $800 less and had the same patient traffic and revenue.

I'm thinking some areas it can be concretely,measurably, and consistently used:
-repetitive, cut and dry tasks
-->gathering prospective pt data: CC, insurance info (to do benefits and eligibility), scheduling times----important to collect leads while interest is still hot
-->explaining invoices and what charges are for (e.g. copay, coinsurance, deductible, date of service)
-->elaborating/repeating clinic policies: late cancellation, no show fees
-->eventually moving into scheduling/rescheduling if it can be integrated with the EHR calendar

These are paid, simple, repetitive tasks that live humans do. Thing is that AI works 24/7. It does not call in sick or complain. It does need trial and error and always a layer of oversight though.

The more complex situations that need more in depth thinking and a human touch, the live staff can devote more of their time and energy to get it done accurately.

Many EMR’s have most of this integrated. My website has a scheduling widget built into it (provided by the EMR). Patients (new or follow-up) can select a clinician from the website, then choose a date/time that is available, complete a screening tool, and provide basic information. Staff then review the request before EMR sends initial patient paperwork with further details. Many aspects of the initial paperwork feeds into the EMR like patient input of current medications, contact info, allergies, etc.

This could also be completed in 10 seconds by a staff member with the patient doing almost everything themselves. The problem is that patients like to call and speak to a live person, don’t follow instructions, don’t read before answering questions, etc.

 

[allantois]

I’m somewhat excited about AI; however, what a testament to a society that has become both addicted as well as unable to function without technology. When a lot of the jobs are gone because of AI - who is going to be able to afford medical services?

 

[randomdoc1]

I’m somewhat excited about AI; however, what a testament to a society that has become both addicted as well as unable to function without technology. When a lot of the jobs are gone because of AI - who is going to be able to afford medical services?

Interesting discussion indeed. I suspect the job market will still be there but there would just be different job descriptions that are harder to replace with automation. There's interesting discussion about how it can affect the market in general and if it will actually advance productivity. I think certain types of fields will really thrive and the sky is the limit. I think practices like ours in mental health, we get less reliant on human labor and with the right automation our profit margin can really shoot through the roof. I've been using tech for my own automation for medical billing, claims, appeals, accounts receivable -- saved a ton of money and never had to hire a billing person and my collections were 98% at minimum which is unheard of for a lot of clinics. It's been a big catalyst to the growth, it's only a 6 year old practice and far surpassed the PP involved in my residency which has been around for over 20 years. Other fields may struggle, especially if the company will be fixed and unwilling to step up to the changes in competition. In the end, the thriving and losing companies will probably just balance each other out and we would likely still be at the 8-11% market return. For over 100 years, that is how the market/economy has been performing and even the Great Depression was just a tiny blip on the graph. btw, i highly recommend indexing and investing, massive financial augmenting tool. Exponential ; ).

 

[Bartelby]

Your post encouraged me to try Copilot again, and I'm pretty impressed! It feels like it keeps getting better. I have noticed the Google AI search results are getting better too.

Still, I would love to hear as you come up with more examples of ways it improves your practice.

For example, that response to a new patient inquiry is pretty solid. Still, you could easily write up such a response one time honing it to the exact wording you prefer. You can then paste it in to respond to each inquiry, or get even more streamlined with a program like TextExpander so you can basically create your own "dot phrase" (similar to Epic dot phrases) to automatically paste the response in for you. You can choose something like ".inquiryinfo" to have the program auto-populate your form response letter. That becomes, I suspect, even more efficient than AI. And for most of my workflows, I still find these non-AI approaches faster and easier than anything I have found with AI.