"A new AI tool at Denver Health means your doctor will see you now (and not their screen)"
Two Department of Family Medicine doctors in the Colorado Sun (Feb. 7, 2025):
Daniel Kortsch [associate professor of family medicine at CU School of Medicine] is a pretty popular guy these days in the hallways of Denver Health, the hospital where he works in primary care. Colleagues come up to him for spontaneous hugs. He’s received at least one box of chocolates.
The reason for this affection has to do with Kortsch’s other job at the hospital — as chief medical information officer, sort of a guru at the intersection of technology and patient care. After months of testing, Denver Health is now widely rolling out an artificial intelligence program that helps doctors transcribe conversations with patients and then convert them into notes that can be entered into the hospital’s electronic medical records system.
At Denver Health’s Montbello Family Health Center, physician assistant Jessica Wallace [assistant professor of family medicine at CU School of Medicine] said she typically sees 10 to 12 patients during every half-day shift. That comes out to about 15 minutes per patient. “The demand in terms of what we’re expected to do within primary care have increased exponentially over time, and our patients have become a lot more complicated,” she said.
(Header photo by Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)
