Southeastern hospitals awarded $1 million to help overwhelmed physicians with AI

Hospitals in southeastern Ontario will be receiving an award of $1 million to explore the effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the burden associated with administrative work for physicians.

The award is part of the Health Care Unburdened Grant program. It is funded by The Canadian Medical Association (CMA), MD Financial Management Inc. (MD) and Scotiabank, said the KHSC in a news release on Wednesday.

"Administrative burden has been increasing over the last decade. Physicians report working more than 10 hours per week outside of the normal workday on administrative tasks, a direct contributor to burn out," said Dr. Kathleen Ross, president of CMA. "The Health Care Unburdened Grant program is one of the ways our organizations can modernize the health system to increase time to focus on patient care and improve physician quality of life."

The study will be led by principal investigator Dr. Siddhartha Srivastava -- an internist at KHSC and assistant professor at Queen's University – who will investigate the effectives of the implementation of AI measures to improve doctors' well-being, efficiency and productivity, reads the release.

"We have a physician shortage that is being felt across Canada," said Dr. Srivastava. "We must work smarter, not harder, to reduce the administrative burden on physicians and prevent them from leaving the profession. Artificial intelligence holds promise to tackle many of the challenges we face."

It will include doctors from Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), Brockville General Hospital, Lennox and Addington County General Hospital, Providence Care, Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital, and Quinte Health. A new health information system will be implemented in the six hospitals before the study begins, adds KHSC in the release.

"As a multi-site initiative, it will capture feedback across the health-care system, ranging from rural community hospitals to large acute tertiary care hospitals, and post-acute care facilities," reads the release.

More information is available online.