Value of Free Time

The Legal Considerations of AI in Healthcare: How One Software Company May Be the Solution

Written by Kathy Lightner, FNP | May 16, 2024 11:01:25 AM

The Case for FreeTime

The healthcare industry has been integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its landscape, which has generated both excitement and concern. According to Grimm (2023), there is a pressing need for regulatory frameworks to oversee and limit AI's patient interactions, address healthcare system fraud, waste, and abuse. Grimm (2023) also expressed concerns regarding AI's unreliable medical advice, how it handles patient health information (PHI), and the ethical implications of the loss of human touch in healthcare delivery.  Although AI, specifically generative AI, has shown promise in healthcare, there are advantages to using FreeTimeTM over AI dictation tools, especially when it comes to delivering personalized and high-quality patient care.

Reference: Grimm, Douglas. (Year, Month Day). "AI’s Increasing Role in the Health Care Delivery System: Key Legal Considerations." The National Law Review. Retrieved from https://natlawreview.com/article/ai-s-increasing-role-health-care-delivery-system-key-legal-considerations

1. Improved Efficiency and Accuracy

By automating administrative processes, FreeTimeTM reduces the time physicians spend on paperwork, allowing them to focus more on patient care. Additionally, it can help reduce errors in tasks such as transcription, leading to better overall care quality.

2. Complementing Human Care

FreeTimeTM is a useful tool that works alongside human care to provide extra support and guidance to patients. It can assist with a variety of tasks such as creating a personalized patient-centered history of present illness (HPI), developing healthcare plans, and proposing potential diagnoses for consideration during appointments. With FreeTimeTM, diagnoses are triggered based on the type of scheduled visit as well as diagnoses that may have been missed in previous appointments. Ultimately, FreeTimeTM helps physicians deliver more thorough care to their patients.

3. Enhancing Communication

FreeTimeTM enhances communication between healthcare providers and patients by actively involving the patient in their visit. By utilizing patient-specific inquiries triggered through integration with the electronic medical record (EMR), it creates opportunities for comprehensive follow-ups. This fosters a sense of confidence from the patient towards the provider, ultimately enriching the patient experience and strengthening the patient-provider relationship.

4. Reducing Costs and Improving Revenue 

FreeTimeTM enhances efficiency, optimizes comprehensive follow-ups, and reduces errors. Its unique capabilities have the potential to significantly reduce administrative expenses in healthcare, leading to cost savings for both healthcare providers and patients. By optimizing visit times, FreeTimeTM has been proven to improve coding levels compared to clinics that do not use it. 

Evaluation & Management (E & M) Coding: Internal Medicine FreeTimeTM User

The graph shows a comparison of the usage of level 4 Evaluation and Management (E&M) codes in April 2023 and April 2024. In April 2023, before the implementation of FreeTimeTM, there were 744 instances of code 99214. In contrast, in April 2024, after the implementation of FreeTimeTM,  the count increased to 818. The use of FreeTimeTM allowed practitioners to spend more time on comprehensive patient evaluations, resulting in higher usage of level 4 E&M codes. This demonstrates the link between adopting FreeTimeTM and practitioners' ability to conduct more thorough patient encounters.

5. Privacy and Security

FreeTimeTM is designed with robust data privacy and security measures to protect patient information, ensuring compliance with regulations like HIPAA. Providers can also implement additional security measures to safeguard patient data.

6. Fraud Avoidance

Utilizing FreeTimeTM enables healthcare providers to create well-structured encounters that transparently showcase and substantiate billing levels, a crucial aspect during any chart audit process. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, AI certainly has its place in healthcare, but there's no denying that the personal touch and empathy provided by FreeTimeTM are essential for delivering truly high-quality care. By utilizing FreeTimeTM, healthcare providers can significantly improve the efficiency, accuracy, and overall quality of their care in healthcare settings. Moreover, FreeTimeTM addresses concerns around privacy and security, making it an excellent option for both healthcare providers and patients, and one that we're confident will continue to revolutionize the healthcare industry.