WellSpan operates nine hospitals and more than 250 healthcare locations serving patients across central Pennsylvania, along with some patients in northern Maryland.
Ana also offers services to patients in Spanish, which is important since the central Pennsylvania region has a significant Latino population.
WellSpan has also been incorporating ambient documentation tools to help physicians. Powered by AI technology, ambient documentation solutions summarize physician appointments with patients, reducing the amount of time doctors are spending on documentation and enabling doctors to have face-to-face conversations with their patients.
So far, WellSpan has been testing ambient documentation with about 200 doctors, and the system is pleased with the results, Torrence says. WellSpan is planning to roll it out more widely next year, she says.
As WellSpan incorporates more AI technology into the system’s operations, Torrence says the system is thinking carefully about the patient experience.
“WellSpan is really a transformative and very innovation-forward system,” Torrence says.” So, at the heart of everything that we are doing, we are putting that patient really at the center and thinking, how do we design a better, more consumer centric experience for all of our patients and across our footprint? And so, that has led us to deploying early-stage AI and other technology solutions that enable us to engage and interact with our patients in new and enhanced ways.”
Even with the focus on patients, she says the health system is also looking at making life a little easier for its clinicians.
As Torrence says, WellSpan is constantly asking, “How do we help our providers to practice on the top of license through things like ambient technology, so that they can again focus on that patient communication and direct interaction, rather than typing away?”
“We’re using AI here at WellSpan to help take work off our physicians and advanced practice nurses and providers,” Gapstur said in that interview.
With ambient tools, she said, “They’re not spending as much time on their notes and on their documentation, which as you know, tends to be a real drain for people.”
WellSpan has also partnered with
