Salesforce releases new AI tools for doctors

Salesforce on Thursday announced new data and artificial intelligence solutions that could help reduce administrative burdens for healthcare workers.

The first tool, called Einstein Copilot: Health Actions, will allow doctors to use conversational language to prompt the AI to schedule appointments, summarize patient information, and send referrals, according to a press release. Salesforce also announced Assessment Generation, which allows companies to digitize health assessments such as surveys without having to manually enter or code them, the press release said.

The company’s Einstein 1 Platform, on which both features are based, allows health institutions to centralize medical data from many sources, such as electronic health records and insurance claims systems.

For healthcare workers, labor-intensive administrative duties like filing paperwork are a major issue. A recent Athenahealth survey found that it’s one of the main causes of burnout among doctors. According to the survey, 64% of doctors claimed they are overwhelmed by administrative responsibilities, and over 90% of doctors say they experience stress on a “regular basis.”

Health-care data is stored in a variety of databases and formats, making it difficult and time-consuming for physicians to track the information they need, often increasing office workloads. Integrating data across health systems is therefore a huge opportunity for technology companies like Google, Amazon Web Services, and Salesforce, which offer cloud-based customer relationship management tools.

According to Salesforce, a doctor can use his Einstein Copilot: Health Actions to create a patient summary that includes details about a patient’s medications, requests for clinical services, diagnoses, tests, and more. By using AI to create summaries, physicians no longer have to waste time examining all of these components individually.

Salesforce said that Einstein Copilot: Health Actions will be used by the end of the year, and that its Assessment Generation tool will be widely accessible this summer. As of this summer, the business stated, all features and functionalities of Einstein Copilot should be consistent with HIPAA rules.