ACR Convergence Sessions on AI, APPs Can Boost Practice Efficiency

If you’re looking to strengthen your business acumen, you’ll have your choice of sessions to do so at ACR Convergence 2024, taking place Nov. 14–19 in Washington, D.C.

The business of rheumatology track will cover a wide range of topics targeted toward improving business operations for any rheumatology practice. Two sessions to be held Sunday, Nov. 17, will help you make your rheumatology practice more efficient, from using artificial intelligence (AI) to working with advanced practice providers (APPs).

• AI: The Next Breakthrough in Documentation for Rheumatology (Nov. 17, 10:30–11:30 a.m. EST)
• Successful Onboarding and Integration of Advanced Practice Providers into Your Clinic (Nov. 17, 3–4 p.m. EST)

Two sessions on Saturday, Nov. 16, will help attendees learn strategies to handle payer challenges and and other workflow issues. Also, be sure to check the networking lounge program for opportunities to talk with peers and ACR staff about topics including work-life balance, handling practice challenges and more.

Ambient Listening

As part of the session AI: The Next Breakthrough in Documentation for Rheumatology, Michael A. Pfeffer, MD, FACP, will describe ambient listening and how to use it in a rheumatology practice. Ambient listening involves the use of AI to listen to a patient encounter and create a clinical note from it.

Dr. Pfeffer

“AI-enabled ambient documentation enables clinicians to focus on the patient while reducing their documentation burden,” says Dr. Pfeffer, senior vice president, chief information and digital officer and associate dean, Technology and Digital Solutions; and clinical professor of medicine at Stanford Health Care School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif.

Dr. Pfeffer will share his experience piloting and deploying this technology with clinicians at Stanford Health Care.

“I hope attendees will learn about the benefits and opportunities related to AI-enabled ambient documentation, as well as learn about the potential of AI in healthcare,” he says.

Dr. Pfeffer encourages potential attendees of his session to get started now by trying a generative AI app for ambient listening to see how it might help them.

Adding APPs to a Practice

Adding APPs to a practice is another hot topic in rheumatology as the specialty faces physician shortages.

Dr. Soloman

In the session Successful Onboarding and Integration of Advanced Practice Providers into Your Clinic, Nehad Soloman, MD, of Arizona Arthritis & Rheumatology Associates in Glendale, will focus on the proper and efficient use of an APP and how they add time and revenue to a practice.