In 2023, the American Medical Association (AMA) overhauled coding guidelines with the goal of reducing clinician administrative burden. The new guidelines no longer require burdensome documentation and instead focus on the most important part of the chart: medical decision-making (MDM).
This change tackles a major challenge for physicians: spending excessive time on documentation and other administrative tasks. In fact, doctors reported spending an average of 5.8 hours actively working in the electronic health record (EHR), per 8 hours of scheduled patient care. That’s 72% of their time spent on administrative duties, that could otherwise be spent seeing patients. With the new requirements, the AMA aims to minimize note-taking burdens, “freeing physicians and care teams from time-wasting administrative tasks that are clinically irrelevant to providing high-quality care.”
AI can have a transformative impact in supporting these new documentation guidelines. AI solutions can pull data from the EHR and from each patient visit to automatically complete the majority of the medical note. In this way, doctors can focus their attention on medical decision-making, improving patient experiences and outcomes.
This is particularly crucial in the emergency department (ED), where medical notes need to be created even quicker than in inpatient visits. AI tools allow ED physicians to reduce errors in medical notes while spending more time with patients, helping to improve both patient outcomes and satisfaction.
AI’s Exponential Impact on the Shift in Care Delivery
Advancements in AI technology can support the new guidelines and help relieve clinicians from the burden of medical documentation in various ways. Effective technology that compiles and structures data—from both the patient’s visit and medical records—enables clinicians to spend less time on clinical documentation and administrative duties that detract from their focus on MDM.
When doctors spend less time in the EHR, they can spend more meaningful time on patient care—ensuring patients feel heard, informed, and involved in treatment decisions. This aligns with the goal of providing high-quality care by emphasizing patient comfort and communication, which are top priorities for both doctors and patients.
The new guidelines, supported by advanced generative AI technology, represent a significant step toward reducing administrative burdens and minimizing clinician burnout.
Why This Especially Matters in the ED
The implications of the new guidelines are particularly evident in the fast-paced environment of the emergency department (ED). In this setting, doctors often face the challenge of balancing rapid, life-saving patient care with the demands of documentation.
“Given that EHR time can significantly detract from face-to-face interactions, the support of Augmedix Go ED can lead to faster note completion and improved patient satisfaction, directly addressing challenges identified in recent studies,” said Alex Stinard, Chief Clinical AI Officer at Augmedix.
Under the new guidelines, the integration of Augmedix Go ED, a leading AI medical scribe, offers several benefits. These include faster and higher quality note completion, with doctors having the ability to spend more time with patients, as well as reducing medical errors in the documentation.
Looking Ahead
The healthcare landscape is changing rapidly, and it’s essential for clinicians to trust in new guidelines and technologies designed to ease administrative burdens. Addressing the pressures of EHR demands is critical not only for efficiency but also for clinician well-being.
Augmedix, a Commure company, is reshaping how clinicians work. Now, doctors can get back to what brought them to medicine in the first place—caring for patients.
But that’s only part of the story. Stay tuned for Part Two, where we’ll dive into how upcoming product features will further enhance MDM capabilities and align seamlessly with the latest coding updates. The next evolution in medical documentation is just around the corner.