Artificial intelligence transforms patient care and reduces burnout, physician says

Dr. Daniel Kortsch, associate chief of artificial intelligence and digital health at Denver Health, said that ambient listening technology has made a big difference since his practice began using it in fall 2024.

"It really shifts the doctor-patient interaction, so they can actually just talk and be humans," Kortsch told Fox News.

"We saw that our providers who used Nabla were working less at home. They had less 'pajama time,'" said Kortsch, referring to the time doctors spend at home in their pajamas, typing on their computers.

For patients who may be skeptical of AI, tech companies are emphasizing that doctors remain fully in control, and that there is a system of checks and balances between physicians and the AI devices writing up patient summaries.

There are currently 600 healthcare organizations - in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas and Pennsylvania - using Dragon Copilot, Microsoft's ambient listening technology, according to a company spokesperson.

While AI is easing the workload for providers, Kortsch said patients are also benefiting from more direct engagement during visits. 

"People become doctors not because they want to write notes and fill out paperwork," he said. "It's because they want that interaction - and ambient AI gives it to them."

The United States is projected to face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, according to an estimate from the Association of American Medical Colleges.