Say with an airgapped Mac mini. That never connects to the internet.
They record a .wav, transcribe same day, run the transcript through another LLM to form clinical notes and then delete the audio recording within 5 business days.
I myself am against AI transcription in medical services but I’m thinking that this is something I could actually be on board with. I can’t really see a problem with it.
I think there are several questions around this particular situation. Like, is recording a medical session verbatim a good idea, ever? I know personally there are times when I ask my doctor (who I now know pretty well) not to put something in the record as we talk, for example. If recording is happening, I think patients should be able to pause it.
Does freeing the doctor from having to type everything mean they’re more attentive and can process more information… or is the act of slowing down for the doctor to live-summarize your conversation actually make them focus and listen more? I kinda lean towards the latter, but I don’t know if this has been studied.
But to the original question… I think it’s possible to do truly private transcription, and you pretty much described it: local only processing, remove the audio file when complete. I would add that the doctor should immediately review it and correct any mistakes while the conversation is fresh in his/her mind. And finally, I think the conversation should be summarized, not stored verbatim.
My problem is that I don’t trust my doctor or the person in the practice making buying choices to be able to vet the claims of the transcription device vendor. My doc is smart, but he’s no computer security wizard.
Maybe if we had specific privacy regulations around medical transcriptions and AI processing, of PHI, and then vendors were tested for compliance, then maybe.
Doc also doesn’t have time to mess with the intricacies of computer systems and evaluate products, even if they do understand it. We essentially have to trust every employee involved at any step of the process to make a mistake or be unethical, which I don’t.
I would have the same reservations I would have with an audio recording. Recording can be done on an opt in basis in some contexts, like to teach medical students at a teaching hospital, but it isn’t the default for a reason.
Would you allow your doctor to transcribe your session with local AI?
noooooooo!
The answer is no. I recently made an appointment with a doctor, and was emailed forms to fill out days before. In it was their privacy policy, and it send that they use AI. I emailed them to say I was not comfortable with that.
On the day of the appointment, I filled out the form manually with a pen at the doctor’s office, and in it, it said that the patient (me) had reqThe answer is no. I recently made an appointment with a doctor and was emailed forms to fill out days before. In it was their privacy policy, and it said that they use AI. I emailed them to say I was not comfortable with that.
On the day of the appointment, I filled out the form manually with a pen at the doctor’s office, and in it, it said that the patient (me) had requested that no AI be used. I appreciated it that my doctor respected my privacy. uest that no AI be used. I appreciated it that my doctor respected my privacy, which is starkly better than what happened to me with a different doctor.