From augmented intelligence (AI)—also known as artificial intelligence—tools that ease documentation burdens to patient-facing tools that help manage chronic disease, digital health technology is reshaping how care is delivered. Physicians now have AI tools that flag abnormal results in real time, streamline communication across care teams and support faster, more informed decision-making.
Yet behind the buzz, hard questions remain. Do these tools improve outcomes? Can they reduce costs and save time? Are they truly helping patients and physicians, or simply adding new steps to an already complex system?
In The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG), leaders say the difference lies in being disciplined about why technology is adopted in the first place—and in rigorously measuring whether it actually solves real problems. The Permanente Medical Group is part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Kristine Lee, MD, an internist and associate executive director of TPMG, shared insights during a recent webinar moderated by Stephen Parodi, MD, an infectious diseases physician and executive vice president of The Permanente Federation. Dr. Lee’s message was clear: successful AI adoption starts with clarity of purpose.
“It really comes down to being very, very clear about the problem that you're trying to solve,” Dr. Lee said. “One of the things that we face all the time are vendors coming with very pointed solutions, but really for the operational leaders and us as physicians to understand what problem we are trying to solve.”
Burnout as the North Star
For TPMG, that problem has been physician burnout—intensified by the COVID-19 public health emergency and compounded by workforce shortages across health care.
“After sprinting through the pandemic and then having to resume the marathon, our physicians were telling us they were very burned out,” Dr. Lee said. “And then we all sort of faced the great resignation, which I think hit every industry.”
Those pressures have not eased.
“There is a shortage of health care workers in the U.S., and we are not immune to that either,” she said.
Rather than chasing one-size-fits-all solutions, TPMG has taken a deliberate, incremental approach—testing technologies one by one and evaluating whether they meaningfully reduce burden.
“We have really tackled physician burnout as our number one pressing problem to solve,” Dr. Lee said, emphasizing “that there's no such thing as one tool that's going to solve that problem by itself. We've been taking it piece by piece and day by day and tool by tool.”
Having a clear measurement strategy, she emphasized, is essential.
As the leader in physician well-being, the AMA is reducing physician burnout by removing administrative burdens and providing real-world solutions to help doctors rediscover the Joy in Medicine®.
ROI that goes beyond documentation
Ambient scribe technology continues to evolve, shaped by physician feedback and real-world use.
“The technology's developing so quickly,” Dr. Lee said. “The product that we piloted is different than the product that we're using today.”
Customization has been critical, she noted, because workflows vary dramatically across settings and specialties.
“A mental health therapist might have a very different encounter than a primary care physician or an orthopaedic surgeon,” she said. “Having that flexibility with the technology has been absolutely fantastic.”
The impact has extended beyond efficiency.
“We've actually seen physician voluntary turnover go down to pre-pandemic levels, from an all-time high,” Dr. Lee said.
Technology has also become a recruitment asset.
“We get medical students applying for residencies and graduating residents applying for jobs,” she said. “This is absolutely one of the questions they ask—do you have this type of technology available for me?”
From AI implementation to digital health adoption and EHR usability, the AMA is fighting to make technology work for physicians, ensuring that it is an asset to doctors. That includes recently launching the AMA Center for Digital Health and AI to give physicians a powerful voice in shaping how AI and other digital tools are harnessed to improve the patient and clinician experience.
Making data actionable, not overwhelming
Beyond ambient AI, TPMG is using digital health tools to help physicians manage chronic disease across large populations without drowning in data.
“We have millions of patients that we take care of,” Dr. Lee said. “An average physician might have a couple thousand patients. How do you manage the chronic conditions of that? It just sounds completely overwhelming.”
The answer lies in surfacing actionable insights.
“It's using these digital health tools to look at population aggregates, make that transparent, and surface actionable items,” said Dr. Lee. “Care gaps—oh, you haven't done your colon cancer screening. Let's get that booked.”
Importantly, that responsibility doesn’t rest solely with physicians.
“We have physical therapists booking mammograms,” Dr. Lee said. “We're really thinking about the population as a whole.”
For primary care, technology helps physicians see beyond the immediate complaint.
“A patient may come in for foot pain, but actually I can take that opportunity to look at their A1C levels while they are in front of me,” she said. “We're holding the whole patient all the time. We can treat the whole patient in this manner.”
When more data isn’t better
Dr. Lee cautioned that not all digital tools add value—and some risk overwhelming physicians with data that lacks clinical relevance.
“I went to the Consumer Electronics Show,” she said, “there was a commode set up on a stage … and they said, we've developed technology to do a chemical analysis of a person's urine.”
Her question was simple: “What do you do with that data once it's collected?”
She drew a parallel to consumer wearables.
“Think about the Oura ring,” Dr. Lee said. “If all of that data somehow came to me as the primary care physician, what would I do with that?”
Without interpretation and clinical context, she warned, data becomes noise.
“There are a lot of technology solutions that may not have any practicality in their current state right now to the overall health of the patient,” Dr. Lee said.
Digital twins and personalized care
One emerging area TPMG is exploring is digital twin technology—using AI to integrate data from wearables, sensors and patient-reported inputs. The current version tracks data from continuous glucose monitors, activity trackers, blood pressure cuffs, scales and food logs.
“That’s over 3,000 data points per day,” she said. “There’s an AI algorithm in the background learning how you respond to that cheese enchilada logged at 3 p.m.”
The goal is not more data, but personalized insight.
“Maybe you should walk for 15 minutes after this meal,” she said, “because we think your blood glucose is going to go up.”
Early results are promising.
“We're about 60 days in. We're seeing great results—A1Cs coming down, people's weight falling,” Dr. Lee said. “The patients really like it so far.”
Patients as partners—and consent as a constant
TPMG routinely involves patients in the design and evaluation of digital tools.
“We regularly survey our patients,” Dr. Lee said. “And when we do pilots, we make sure to include our patients in the design.”
Consent and transparency are foundational, especially for AI.
“In the ambient scribe example, every patient is consented every time,” she said. “We’ve seen a 95% acceptance rate.”
Many patients see the technology as a sign of progress.
“They actually think it's pretty cool,” Dr. Lee said. “They're like, wow, you guys are cutting edge.”
Bias, language access and the limits of AI
As AI expands, Dr. Lee emphasized the responsibility of health systems to understand how tools are trained—and who they may unintentionally exclude.
“I have to very deeply understand the data set that any tool using generative AI has been trained on,” she said. “For example, a hypertension tool trained only on native Hawaiians won’t be as successful if it’s applied to a Latina population. They have different physiology and different behaviors.”
While many tools today aim for broad applicability, she sees a future where more targeted models emerge.
“If you really want the highest performance, you need that committed data set to address that population,” Dr. Lee said.
For TPMG, AI is not about novelty, it’s about purpose. By focusing on burnout reduction, workflow efficiency, patient partnership and health equity, the organization is demonstrating how digital health tools can add real value when thoughtfully deployed.
As Dr. Lee noted, technology alone isn’t the answer, but when aligned with clinical realities and human needs, it can become a powerful ally in the delivery of better care.
