As clinicians become busier each day, Google and Ascension are working to make the world of clinicians easy so that they can help more people. These two companies collaborated on a project that will help bring together patients records from different EHR programs.
The program, which Google dubbed Care Studio, works as a search tool for health care workers. Instead of spending a few hours every day looking for and at patients’ records, Care Studio brings the records closer to the doctors. If doctors then need a report, they can work with a medical transcription company for the stats and report they need.
Think of Care Studio as a Google search for health care professionals. Instead of searching websites, the system searches EHR tools. For many years, Google has been able to organize complex data, and they bring that knowledge in the creation of Care Studio.
To make the system more efficient, Google developed it to recognize clinicians’ shorthand and medical terms. This way, the system can access notes from caregivers and entered records within a short time.
The program, which launched in April 2021, aims at cutting down the time clinicians spend looking for data. Google notes that healthcare professionals might spend half of their working days looking at the EHR system. This is not a good use of their time, and it leads to burnout at the end of the day. With Care Studio, it will take less time to access electronic health records.
Before the system rolls out for the entire country and the world, Google wants to test it with clinicians in Jacksonville, FL, and in Nashville, TN.
Ascension and Google started working on the pilot project in 2018. When word came out that these two had a project that involved patients’ records, the news houses ran with the rumors and alleged that Google employees had access to millions of patients’ data. Ascension released the truth about the program and the news houses, clinicians, patients, and litigators calmed down.
The program has not been out for long, but Google already plans to expand it to help even more people. With the discovery of new and more deadly diseases, Google seeks to make clinicians avoid burnout and work more efficiently.
Dr. Peter Clardy said that the system will revolutionize how health care centers operate as they will have the expertise from Google. Google’s popularity as a search engine gives faith to clinicians about the power of Care Studio.
Care Studio gives all electronic health records of a patient. When you enter the patient details, the tool shows:
It shows health data in graphs, tables, and other analytics tools for easy reading. According to Google, privacy was the main consideration during the development process. The tool is HIPAA compliant and observes all industry standards on privacy. If clinicians then outsource reports to a medical transcription service, they will have more time to focus on their patients.