Ambient Listening: Helping Us Focus More on You

At Jefferson Health, we know one-on-one time with your clinician is invaluable and we want that time to feel personal and focused. It’s common these days for care teams to spend time on their computer during office visits – they take notes, update your health record and outline next steps in your care. 

To help with this, our care team members may use our ambient listening technology to help create notes for them. This tool temporarily records your conversation and automatically creates notes, allowing your care team to spend more face-to-face time with you.

Baligh Yehia, MD, President, Jefferson Health and Executive Vice President, Jefferson, advocates for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology in a way that puts people first and enhances their overall experience. 

“Of course, we all want the most advanced technologies available when it comes to our health care, but patients and clinicians both prefer when those technologies don’t interfere with basic human interactions.” - Dr. Yehia

“Of course, we all want the most advanced technologies available when it comes to our health care,” Dr. Yehia says, “but patients and clinicians both prefer when those technologies don’t interfere with basic human interactions.”

Just as medical scribes used to sit with you during doctor’s visits, ambient listening is an AI technology that works quietly in the background so your clinician can focus more on you. Clinicians always review the notes and make any necessary edits before they become part of a medical record, ensuring accuracy and quality.

“Ambient listening allows clinicians to focus more on you and less on documenting your visit in the electronic health record,” said Jennifer Stephens, DO, Chief Medical Officer, Ambulatory Quality & Population Health, Jefferson Health.

It’s important to note that ambient listening simply helps capture details of your discussion – it does not make medical decisions.

Our clinicians can choose to use the ambient listening technology and when they do use it, they will ask for your preference. Ambient listening can be turned off or on throughout the visit at your clinician’s discretion and at your request. 

Your clinician will ask for your permission to use the tool – you can say no or ask to stop at any time. Participation is always optional.

Our ambient listening tool is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and information is stored securely. 

“We believe that we need to be high-tech and high-touch,” Dr. Yehia says. “Most of my career as an infectious diseases physician was spent taking care of people from all backgrounds, and as I talk to fellow clinicians, we know there is nothing that can replace how you interact with a patient.”