What You Should Know:
– Abridge announced an enterprise-wide agreement with CHRISTUS Health, an international, not-for-profit health system based in Texas with 15,000 physicians and more than 600 care centers.
– With Abridge’s generative AI solution for clinical documentation in use over the last few months, CHRISTUS clinicians have already experienced a significant reduction in burnout and now give more undivided attention to patients.
Abridge: Transforming Healthcare Documentation with AI
Founded in 2018, Abridge’s mission is to enhance understanding in healthcare through its AI-powered platform, which is specifically designed for medical conversations. The platform improves clinical documentation efficiencies, enabling clinicians to focus more on their patients. With support for over 14 languages and 50 specialties, Abridge caters to a wide range of clinician and patient encounters.
Earlier this year, CHRISTUS Health piloted Abridge to study its impact on clinicians. Following overwhelmingly positive feedback and a study demonstrating the platform’s benefits on clinician wellbeing, CHRISTUS Health signed an enterprise-wide agreement to implement Abridge. Survey results revealed significant time savings, reduced burnout, and increased uninterrupted time with patients. Clinicians now spend an average of 60% less time on documentation outside of work hours, achieving a better work-life balance. Additionally, there was a 40% decrease in physician burnout, measured using the Mini Z Burnout Survey, an industry-validated measure of work-life and wellness in practicing physicians. Moreover, there was a 41% increase in clinicians giving undivided attention to patients, leading to improved communication and patient satisfaction.
The platform has also been effective in reducing cognitive load, a measure of the mental effort required to complete tasks, which has been linked to increased rates of burnout and patient safety issues. Traditionally, cognitive load increases when doctors rapidly switch between documentation and patient care. With Abridge, clinicians at CHRISTUS experienced a 78% reduction in cognitive load, contributing to a more focused and efficient approach to patient care.
Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and founder of Abridge, highlighted the significance of these outcomes, stating, “The remarkable outcomes and resoundingly positive feedback from clinicians at CHRISTUS Health underscore the profound impact of generative AI on the future of medicine. By alleviating cognitive load and creating space for more meaningful patient interactions, we will improve the lives of clinicians today and draw the next generation of patient care providers to the profession.”
Abridge’s success at CHRISTUS Health is part of a broader trend, with successful deployments at UChicago Medicine, Sutter Health, Yale New Haven Health System, UCI Health, Emory Healthcare, The University of Kansas Health System, UPMC, and dozens of other health systems. Recently, Abridge announced a $150 million Series C financing, which includes a strategic investment from NVIDIA. Within a few months, CHRISTUS plans to make Abridge available to all ambulatory clinicians, further expanding its impact on healthcare.
