Ambient listening/AI technology and oncology documentation: Impact measured in a comprehensive cancer center.
Abstract
736 Background: Documentation burden in electronic health records (EHRs) contributes to clinician burnout and may reduce provider engagement during oncology encounters involving complex treatment decisions and serious illness communication. Ambient listening (AL) technology can generate structured clinical notes from patient-clinician conversations. Evidence from use of AL in the oncology setting is limited. To understand the impact of AL on clinician experience, we evaluated pre- and post-AL deployment using a nationally validated survey to measure response. Methods: This project applied a mixed-methods natural experiment design to evaluate enterprise deployment of an ambient AI documentation platform integrated with EHR at a comprehensive cancer center. Eligible participants were oncology physicians and advanced practice providers with ambulatory encounters documented before and after adoption. Providers responded to a nationally validated survey pre- and post-usage to assess perceived impact. Results: Post-implementation assessment of AL, providers reported high usability and favorable workflow impact. Among 86 respondents, the Net EHR Experience Score was 73.3, corresponding to the 97th percentile among academic health systems. reported ambient speech was easy to use (97%), integrated well with the EHR (88%), and positively affected documentation time (85%). Physicians most commonly reported reduced documentation burden (60%) and after-hours workload (57%). Conclusions: Ambient listening AI technology shows positive qualitative impact on the practice perceptions of oncology providers. The use of AI technology also shows promise in enhancing the patient experience, although this outcome is more difficult to measure. These findings may help inform implementation and adoption standards for ambient AI documentation in comprehensive cancer centers. Impact of ambient listening/AI technology. Metric Post-AL Reduction in Cognitive Load (% Effort Reduction) 60% Net EHR Experience among Academic Health Systems 73.3 score (97th percentile) Positive Impact on documentation 85% Reduced after-hours workload 57%