Amazon is diving ever deeper into healthcare 

Amazon is showing an increased interest in healthcare and health-related technology. The latest news is with Amazon announcing it has launched a speech recognition tool for doctors.

The objective of Amazon Transcribe Medical is to makes things easier for developers to integrate medical transcription into applications. These apps will assist physicians do perform clinical documentation more effectively, through automation.

On example of the automation function is to rapidly transcribe physicians’ dictations, plus conversations with patients, into text. The text can be relayed to other applications like Amazon Comprehend Medical, which enables medics to extract medical insights and to assess broader health trends.

The new software has been developed so that it can be embedded into any device or an app through the use of an application programming interface (API). This allows the customer to store it in the electronic medical record.

According to Matt Wood, vice president of artificial intelligence at AWS: “Our overarching goal is to free up the doctor, so they have more attention going to where it should be directed…And that’s to the patient.”

To gain an insight into Amazon’s new venture, Digital Journal spoke with Lux Research analyst Nardev Ramanathan, who tells us: “This system not only allows doctors to dictate into the system, but it can also passively be set to monitor doctor-patient interactions.”

Ramanathan also looks at other technology providers operating in the healthcare space: “Google has also been innovating in this space, launching its own EHR documentation tool that aims to make it easier for doctors to search for a variety of metrics and notes.”

In terms of the implications of these technologies, Ramanathan notes: “These developments will transform the doctor-patient experience, freeing up more time for the doctor to be fully immersed in the provision of care, as opposed to being bogged down with administrative tasks.”

There are, nonetheless, privacy issues to content with. Here Ramanathan cautions: “It is important to also monitor how these technologies are implemented, as extreme accuracy in medical documentation is critical.”

In related news, earlier in 2019 Amazon announced the launch of Amazon Care. This is a service that enables employees to take advantage of virtual doctor consultations and in-home follow-ups, helping to reduce time and provide a more direct service to patients.