Investment in AI-driven medical note-taking apps surged in 2024, doubling to $800 million from $390 million the previous year, according to data from PitchBook. The funding boom reflects the healthcare sector’s growing adoption of artificial intelligence, as start-ups and tech giants vie for a share of the $26 billion AI healthcare market.
As reported by the Financial Times, companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle are introducing AI-powered tools to assist physicians, alongside start-ups such as Nabla, Heidi, Corti, and Tortus. These digital “scribes” use large language models and speech recognition to auto-generate transcripts of patient visits, highlight key details, and create clinical summaries.
Dr. Harpreet Sood, a primary care physician in South London, has been trialing Nabla’s app for over a year and described it as transformative. “In a full-day clinic of 40 patients, traditional note-taking takes at least two hours. This tool easily saves 3-4 minutes per consultation and helps capture the essence of patient interactions,” he said.
Nabla’s app, powered by OpenAI’s Whisper transcription tool, has processed over seven million medical visits as of late 2023. Similarly, Microsoft’s Nuance DAX Copilot, launched in 2023, now documents more than 1.3 million physician-patient encounters monthly across 500 U.S. healthcare groups. Studies, such as one conducted at Stanford Medical School, show that while AI tools save time, around 90% of notes require manual editing for accuracy.
While AI tools reduce doctors’ administrative burden and enhance patient interactions, concerns remain. Researchers at Cornell University and the University of Virginia found instances of AI “hallucinations,” with roughly 1% of audio transcriptions containing fabricated content, some of which could be harmful in a medical context.
Dr. Sood acknowledged these risks, emphasizing the need for vigilance in reviewing AI-generated notes. However, he lauded the tools for reducing the cognitive load of simultaneous note-taking and patient listening. “You can focus more on the patient, listen better, and be more present,” he added.
Despite challenges, institutions like Stanford plan to expand their use of AI note-taking tools, seeing potential for long-term improvements in healthcare delivery. The Financial Times highlights how the rapid development of these technologies marks a pivotal shift in the intersection of AI and medicine, with Big Tech and start-ups racing to shape the future of digital healthcare.
