Amazon to take on Google and Microsoft with new AI tools for healthcare workers: How it will help doctors and patients

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched Amazon Connect Health. This new set of AI tools is designed to reduce the administrative workload for medical practices. The product can automatically convert a doctor-patient conversation into a note, apply billing codes and procedures, gather data from existing medical records, verify patient identity, book appointments, and even schedule procedures. This marks Amazon’s entry into a burgeoning business in which Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and many others are pouring money into artificial intelligence tools designed to ease healthcare professionals’ headaches. In a blog post, AWS noted that medical staff at large health systems currently spend up to 80% of their call time manually compiling data across fragmented tools, a problem the product is designed to directly address.“We know that health care is absolutely drowning in administrative complexity,” said Dr Rowland Illing, chief medical officer for Amazon Web Services.The core function of Amazon Connect Health is to reduce the documentation burden on medical staff. As the consultation progresses, the tool eavesdrops on the real-time conversation between the doctor and the patient. In the process, it generates clinical notes in real time. Every detail is based on the exact moment the conversation in the chat occurred.Before the appointment, the tool reviews the patient's entire medical history. In the process, it presents the doctor with a brief overview of the upcoming appointment. After the appointment, it generates summaries for the patient. In the process, it also generates the billing codes that the doctor needs. This used to take hours or days.On the patient-facing side, Amazon Connect Health handles identity verification, insurance checks, and appointment scheduling in a single call, without hold music or callbacks. A patient who calls and says they want to see their doctor after work next week will have their preferences understood, their availability matched against their provider's schedule, and an appointment booked while still on the line.The system is available around the clock and integrates directly with Electronic Health Records systems. When a situation requires human involvement, whether it is a medical concern or a complex request, it escalates to staff, and health systems can customise when and how that handoff occurs.Some features of Amazon Connect Health are integrated with Amazon Connect, the company's existing call centre software, which Amazon said in October was on track to generate $1 billion in revenue for the year.UC San Diego Health, which handles 3.2 million patient interactions annually, has begun deploying capabilities from Amazon Connect Health and reports saving 1 minute per call, diverting 630 hours weekly from patient verification to direct patient assistance, and reducing call abandonment rates by 30%, up to 60% in some departments.Amazon One Medical, which has deployed the tool across its primary care network, has used ambient documentation across more than one million visits. Netsmart, one of the largest Electronic Health Records providers for community-based care with more than 1,300 client organisations, has seen ambient documentation adoption increase by 275% since deploying Amazon Connect Health.The documentation feature of Amazon Connect Health costs $99 per month, while patient identity verification costs 15 cents per conversation. The company has not yet disclosed the pricing for the remaining features, currently in preview.Over 130 HIPAA-eligible services and certifications for global IT and compliance standards form the foundation of AWS's product. An "evidence mapping" feature links every piece of AI-generated output back to its source, whether a conversation transcript, a patient's medical records, or billing guidelines, allowing clinicians to audit and approve outputs before they are finalised.For Amazon, the launch represents an attempt to extend its cloud business into workplace software, an area where AWS has had mixed results. While the company wound down video conferencing and file-sharing products recently, Amazon Connect has been a relative success, and Amazon Connect Health builds directly on that foundation.