Alex Hogan/STAT
Artificial intelligence companies offering automation for tasks like clinical documentation and medical coding have announced nearly $1 billion in funding so far this year. Companies like Ambience and Abridge are pitching their AI scribes — which listen to patient visits and then draft doctors’ notes — as a way to give patients the full attention of their doctors. But there’s another selling point for the tools: When used in combination with automated coding, they can ensure providers get paid the most money the notes justify.
AI coding and billing software vendors told STAT’s Brittany Trang that patients won’t foot the bill for the larger invoices their tools create. That will fall to the insurer, they say. But some experts disagree. “Individuals end up paying for everything one way or another,” said health economics professor James Robinson.
Read more from Brittany on how AI-enhanced billing could raise our health care costs. And check out this week’s video on the topic, which features some great additional insights from Brittany.
For more AI reading, we’ve got a new First Opinion essay arguing that AI should come with green, yellow, and red lights for mental health. Take a read.
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from AXIOS:
| Docs mount vax safety review to rival feds’ |
| By Maya Goldman |
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| Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios |
| An ad-hoc group of doctors and health researchers yesterday held a public meeting to review recent studies on the safety and effectiveness of COVID, RSV and flu vaccines, in the belief the data isn’t being adequately considered by federal health officials.
Why it matters: The online gathering of the newly formed Vaccine Integrity Project was intended to provide an evidence base for doctors and public health officials as they update recommendations for kids, pregnant women and immunocompromised people.
What they’re saying: “Over the last few months, we’ve seen policy changes by federal officials based on evidence that has been shown as flawed, analytically fraught, or flat-out wrong,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and a leader of the initiative. What they did: The group of 24 doctors and researchers from across the country examined scientific studies published since mid-2024 for COVID and RSV vaccines, and mid-2023 for flu.
More here from Politico: MEDICAL MISINFORMATION ON THE RISE? Doctors are seeing more patients who, they say, are influenced by mis- or disinformation, according to an online survey of more than 1,000 physicians — both primary care providers and specialists — by The Physicians Foundation, a nonprofit group. Details: The survey found that 86 percent of doctors who responded believe that the incidence of medical misinformation, disinformation or both has increased compared to five years ago. Around half reported a significant rise. And the misinformation is influencing those patients’ health decisions, according to the survey, which found that more than half of doctors report that it’s had a moderate or major impact on their ability to deliver “quality patient care.” Doctors in rural areas reported encountering more misinformation than those in suburban or urban areas. |
