Artificial intelligence is now being used by Australian specialist doctors to reduce patient wait times and experts say it could be a game changer for the health sector, where some patients are waiting months or even years for an appointment.

Leading Australian tech company Medow Health has developed an AI “co-pilot” technology which automates medical reports for specialist doctors while operating in the background during patient consultations, saving clinicians hours  which allows them to see more patients each day. 

“This technology transforms the way medical reports are formulated and processed, helping specialists reduce their paperwork and freeing up valuable time and resources which can be better spent on patient care,” said Joel Freiberg who co-founded Medow Health with his brother after his own experience with a chronic illness coupled with watching their father who is a respiratory specialist dictate reports until 10pm from the dinner table, prompting them to come up with a more efficient way for clinicians to work.

“The idea was to improve what really is an archaic reporting system, which saw specialists taking notes with their back to the patient during consultations or having to speak into a dictaphone to be transcribed later, instead of solely focusing on the patient in front of them,” Mr Freiberg said.

The uptake from specialists utilising the new technology has been swift, with doctors reporting the technology is giving them back two to three hours a day, reducing burnout and allowing them to see multiple more patients in that time if they choose.

“Instead of your doctor staring into the computer typing notes, they can really concentrate on your needs and wellbeing while the technology does the note taking in the background and creates an almost instant report that the doctor just has to review rather than formulate from scratch,” Mr Freiberg said.

Data from the Australian Medical Association on “hidden waitlists” for a specialist outpatient appointment shows some people are languishing for years for an initial consultation - up to 800 days for an initial appointment for an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon, up to 898 days for an urgent appointment with a  neurosurgeon, while waitlists for a gastroenterologist or ophthalmologist can be as long as five years and up to 36 months to see a paediatrician.

Mr Freiberg said the new cutting edge technology could supercharge a reduction in waitlists and speed up the appointment process.

“We’re not trying to replace doctors, we’re trying to help them. Manually producing medical reports is a time-consuming and complex process that requires extensive paperwork and hours of labour-intensive work,” he said.

“By using cutting edge AI specific to each medical specialty to examine patient interactions, formulate reports, and provide valuable insights we can enable doctors to do what they do best - focus on patient care,” Mr Freiberg said.

Chris O’Brien Life House Chief Executive and medical oncologist Professor Michael Boyer who is on the Medow Health Clinical Advisory Council agreed the technology will improve patient care and help reduce waiting lists.

"Any piece of technology that allows doctors to focus on the patient, helps deliver better care,” Prof Boyer said.

"This technology helps the health professional to really turn their attention to the patient and what matters, instead of worrying about what notes they need and what letters they need to write. It allows them to focus on what is important.

"There's no doubt this technology saves time and while it might only allow a single doctor to see an extra one of two patients a day, if you multiply that across the health system then it makes a big difference,” Prof Boyer said.

Engagement with Medow Health is taking off in Australia, with the company reporting growth of more than 50 percent month on month across 15 different specialties including Cardiology, Gastroenterology, ENT, Geriatric, Orthopaedic Surgery, Paediatric, Neurology, General Surgery and Breast Surgeons, with some of Australia’s leading specialist doctors among the investors and Medtech Entrepreneurs to invest in its recent Seed round.

About Medow Health AI

Medow Health AI is a pioneering Australian based healthcare technology company dedicated to revolutionising the medical industry through the power of artificial intelligence to streamline processes, improve patient care, and enhance overall efficiency in healthcare settings.

 The company was founded by Joel Freiberg and soon after his brother Josh and former CTO and colleague Andrew joined as co-founders using their combined 30 years experience in technology and software to help build the business into the leading Specialist AI platform it is today.

Joel lives with Crohn’s disease and has experienced long waits to see a specialist. The pair recognised there was a need for change growing up as they watched their father, a respiratory physician spend endless hours doing admin after work. 

The company has just completed a $1M funding round in the first half of 2024, grown the team to 10 full time employees and signed a partnership with Magentus the owner of leading specialist electronic medical record systems Genie & Gentu (who Medow Health integrates with).

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