Saykara named Fierce Innovation Awards finalist for mobile AI assistant that automates physician charting

The Seattle-based startup is pushing the boundaries of conversational artificial intelligence to reduce the clinical documentation burden and combat physician burnout.

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AI—Saykara is pleased to announce the company has been named a finalist in the Digital/Mobile Health Solutions category of the Fierce Innovation Awards – Healthcare Edition 2020. The peer-reviewed program from the publisher of Fierce Healthcare aims to “identify and showcase outstanding innovation that is driving improvements and transforming the industry.”

Merits of the Saykara voice-enabled mobile AI assistant were evaluated by a judging panel comprised of executives from major healthcare organizations.

“There is a tremendous level of innovation taking place in the healthcare industry and we are honored to be among this group of finalists,” says founder and CEO of Saykara, Harjinder Sandhu, PhD. “Our team is laser focused on advancing the capabilities of conversational artificial intelligence and long-form natural language understanding to help remediate the amount of time and effort physicians spend charting.”

It is not unusual for physicians to spend two to three hours a night working in the electronic health record system (EHR), commonly referred to as “pajama time.” Use of the Saykara mobile AI assistant has shown to completely eliminate after-hours charting and reduce the overall time spent charting by an average of 70%. Testimonials to its impact on productivity and work-life balance have included statements such as, “Now, with Saykara, I can see a patient in 15 minutes and I chart for 30 seconds. It’s just been a game changer.” Also, “My spouse can tell you that I’m a much happier person when I come home knowing that I don’t have this weight of charts over my head.”

Myriad studies and surveys have shown that physicians’ interactions with EHRs are extremely onerous and click-intensive. “We hear over and over again that EHRs have absolutely overwhelmed the practice of medicine and have made physicians’ lives a misery,” says president and chief medical officer of Saykara, Graham Hughes, MD. “Moreover, they erode from physicians’ ability to connect with patients and build meaningful relationships. Having to enter data to a computer during encounters and worrying about how best to document to maximize reimbursement is not a recipe for high-quality care, and patients feel the brunt of this.”

Although tens of thousands of U.S. physicians have turned to scribes to assist with documentation, this is too costly an option for most. As well, the training process for scribes is lengthy, turnover is frequent and many patients are uncomfortable with their presence in the exam room. “Our solution is not only more affordable, it never takes a sick day and is very easy to use,” says Hughes. “All a physician has to do is talk naturally.”

The Saykara mobile AI assistant has two primary modes. In the ambient mode, it listens in real time to the conversation between a patient and physician during an on-premise or telehealth visit. In the recap mode, it listens to a brief reflective summarization following a visit. Underlying machine learning algorithms interpret and transform salient content required for notes, orders, referrals and more. A human-in-the-loop reviewer performs a quality check before the final data (both structured and unstructured) is populated to the EHR. The physician experience is truly hands free and hassle free. No keyboard, no mouse, no computer screen, no data entry — just voice.

Saykara is able to accommodate physicians in virtually all medical specialties. The company currently contracts with hospitals, health systems, ambulatory surgery centers and independent practices nationwide.

About Saykara

Saykara is helping combat physician burnout with a mobile AI assistant known as Kara that automates clinical documentation. Kara is proven to reduce time spent charting by 70%, eliminate after-hours charting by 100%, and enhance note quality and completeness by 25%. Plus, with no need for computer data entry during visits, the physician-patient interaction is less hurried and more personalized. Kara is specialty agnostic, scalable at the enterprise level and available through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription. For additional information, visit www.saykara.com.

Contacts

Joy Efron

Vice President Marketing

Saykara

jefron@saykara.com
425-298-5202