Purpose
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in business and within healthcare companies is to supplement professional judgement, not replace it. All AI-assisted text must be reviewed, edited and approved by the responsible Virtual PA carrying out the work, then approved by the therapist / clinician before being shared or filed.
This policy is to confirm that all staff members (employed, associates, volunteers, interns or third party partners) and those involved with the company and its clients, remain accountable for the content and accuracy of any notes, letters and reports produced with AI assistance.
This policy applies to everyone mentioned above using company or personal devices for work purposes.
Virtual Administration has a positive and embracing approach to the use of AI tools in assisting with the tasks of asking questions, researching and running queries using AI platforms, along with the Ambient Scribing Tools (Heidi Health) for the dictation of notes, letters and minutes of meetings.
Acceptable Uses of AI
Virtual Administration encourages its team members to use platforms like ChatGPT, CoPilot and Perplexity in helping them to be knowledge based but it must be carried out within these parameters:
- To improve the clarity and structure of sentences/paragraphs written for creating well written emails.
- Research questions e.g. gaining 3 quotes from companies to provide their services to a client e.g. domestic cleaning, childcare, taxi service, gardener or finding tailored information for an acquired brain injury client going on holiday who will need wheelchair access and lifts in hotels, along with activities to take part in.
Unacceptable Uses of AI
Virtual Administration does not permit the use of uploading any documents or reports to any AI tool or AI platform that has personal information within the context of the document.
This can relate to any identifiable personal details about an individual, to include:
- The individual’s medical information and history.
- The names of clinicians, support workers, MDT members, GP’s working with Virtual Administration and the client.
Virtual Administration prohibits using AI outputs as a way of fact checking without double checking and confirming the information is from a reliable source e.g. government or NHS website.
AI Governance Lead
Tracey Clarke-Macleod, Director at Virtual Administration is the AI Governance Lead and can be contacted on:
T: 07939 935755
E: tracey@virtual-administration.com
Ambient Scribing Tools
Ambient scribing tools when combined with generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), can convert speech directly into structured medical documentation, such as notes and minutes of meetings. These tools are sometimes referred to as ambient scribes or AI scribes and include Ambient Voice Technologies (AVTs) used for clinical or patient documentation and workflow support. Many of which have been adopted for use by NHS England.
NHS England backs the use of Heidi Health in assisting clinicians and doctors with their AI scribing. The NHS lists 19 suppliers in meeting their stringent criteria for the use of (AVT) registry, the list can be found at this link: https://transform.england.nhs.uk/digitise-connect-transform/digitising-the-frontline/ambient-voice-technology-self-certified-supplier-registry/
Proofreading and quality checking will be carried out by a Virtual PA team member at Virtual Administration, ensuring that all AI generated content from a pre-recorded MDT meeting uploaded to Heidi Health is carefully checked and corrected where necessary.
Heidi Health AI
Many of Virtual Administration’s clients record accurate data about patient interactions using a new technology known as Heidi Health.
The primary purposes include improving clinical documentation, aiding healthcare professionals in notetaking and generating summaries. Heidi technology enables clinicians to focus on patients during the consultation, contributing to improved patient care. It acts as a valuable tool for healthcare professionals, saving them hours of administrative time per week.
Heidi works by transcribing speech into text from a healthcare encounter such as conversations between clinicians and clients or during meetings with other MDT members. This system is designed to alleviate the administrative burden on healthcare professionals, allowing them to focus more on patient care rather than paperwork. The Heidi Scribe will leverage natural language processing (NLP), speech recognition technology and machine learning algorithms to understand and interpret complex medical dialogue.
The individual’s consent will be sought for consultations/meetings that are transcribed using the Heidi AI tool. Heidi also uses aggregated de-identified information from these consults to improve its models and outputs, ultimately improving both client care and clinician experience.
All Data that identifies an individual stays within the healthcare company and its servers which are UK based, no identifiable data is used by the Heidi Health tool for machine learning or training.
Heidi AI will not make decisions about an individual’s care, it only transcribes verbal interactions with your consent. For more information about Heidi visit the website here: https://www.heidihealth.com/uk
Data Protection and Anonymisation
All AI tools and platforms used by Virtual Administration must comply with UK GDPR data protection and professional codes of conduct. For example, Heidi Health meets the verified requirements of the NHS’ AVT registry. See list of approved AI suppliers above.
It is a requirement that no identifiable details about a client or staff member are entered into any AI tool or platform, pseudonymisation, minimisation, retention limits and logged data flows is always adhered to. For example, removing names, dates of birth, addresses and any unique identifiers.
Consent
The use of AI tools like ChatGPT for research and Heidi Health for the scribing of notes and meeting minutes, is clearly mentioned and added to our terms and conditions and privacy policy.
Any changes in relation to AI applications being used within the Virtual Administration, will require an update to the business terms and conditions, sending out to current clients, making them aware of the changes.
Security
Staff members must not connect AI tools to their emails, any patient record management systems, cloud based platforms or systems used by Virtual Administration without explicit authorisation.
Requirements for using strong passwords, two-factor authentication and company logins for AI platforms are essential. It is important to update and change your passwords regularly for security reasons.
Human Oversight and Accountability
It is imperative with our team of Virtual PAs:
- That all AI-assisted text must be carefully reviewed and edited by the Virtual PA supporting the client before being shared or filed.
- The client being supported by a Virtual PA is responsible for ensuring accuracy, clinical reasoning, risk considerations, tone and clinical sign off.
- AI generated outputs must never be pasted directly into reports without reading and checking them first.
- Proofreading is a human-based task which is carried out by our Virtual PAs.
- The client remains fully liable for any errors, misinterpretations or omissions, even if AI was involved.
Record Keeping and Transparency with our clients
To manage clinical risk and medico‑legal exposure, in using AI tools:
- Clinicians should be prepared to explain, if required (e.g. in a complaint or court report), that AI was used only for language support, not clinical decision-making.
- Where appropriate, internal documentation may note that a tool was used for drafting/grammar support, but clinical content remains the client’s own.
Training, Governance and Incident Reporting
Staff will be provided with training on how to use the list of approved AI platforms and Ambient Voice Technologies (AVTs) e.g. Heidi Health.
Any suspected breach of confidentiality, inaccurate AI-generated content that leads to risk or misuse of AI must be reported immediately to Tracey Clarke-Macleod, Director at tracey@virtual-administration.com.