Physicians Tout Augmented Intelligence, with Caveats, at Business of Medicine Conference
By Phil West

Augmented intelligence took center stage at the Texas Medical Association’s 2025 Business of Medicine Conference, with real-world physician testimony illustrating the potential for reduced burnout and positive patient outcomes.  

Presentations throughout the weekend covered both artificial intelligence (AI), or tools which do not necessarily inform medical decisions, and augmented intelligence, referring to tools that inform clinical care used with human oversight. 

The conference, held Sept. 18-20 in El Paso, saw presentations on applying augmented intelligence for documentation, clinical decision support, patient education, and more. Ogechika Alozie, MD, an El Paso infectious disease specialist, who moderated the conference’s general session panel “AI in Action: Practical Uses in Health Care,” likened augmented intelligence to any of medicine’s technological developments. 

“Technology is a good challenge,” he said, reiterating the message he shared in a Border Health Conference presentation the day before. “You can decide how you want to deal with the challenge. You can embrace it and love it, or you can kick it out like a baby with the bath water. But change is coming.” 

Joseph Schneider, MD – chair of the ad-hoc predecessor to TMA’s current Committee on Health Information Technology and Augmented Intelligence – similarly encourages physicians not to hesitate in making both technologies work for them.  

“If you haven’t already, use AI once a day and get used to it,” the Dallas pediatrician said in his presentation “Patient Education Materials and AI.” For instance, he demonstrated how to strategically prompt large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini to personalize handouts and instructions for patients. 

In his “Don’t Fear AI” CME presentation, Dr. Alozie lauded his experience with OpenEvidence, an medical information platform driven by artificial intelligence, which touts content agreements with the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. He’s developed myriad uses for the tool, including clinical decision support, treatment recommendations, and crafting Spanish-language patient education handouts.  

For R. Todd Richwine, DO, augmented intelligence is an ally against persistent burnout related to managing electronic health records (EHRs). Namely, ambient scribes that listen to patient-physician conversations and document them “bring the joy back to practice.”  

“It operates without disrupting your care, and it helps with a lot of the burdens of what the EHR has always been,” the Fort Worth family physician said. 

Fighting more common areas of burnout, in his CME session on large language models and chart summarization, Jawahar Jagarapu, MD, described uses such as:  

• Front office work, including scheduling appointments and issuing reminders to patients;  

• Intake and documentation, including using ambient scribes to capture physician-patient conversations and generating notes;  

• Care coordination, including drafting letters and patient education materials; and  

• Billing and coding.  

Even while showcasing augmented intelligence uses, Dr. Jagarapu emphasizes the need for physicians to carefully review what the technology generates.  

“As I engage with AI more, the more cautious I am rather than blindly relying on it,” the neonatal-perinatal medicine physician said.  “Implementation requires careful planning.” 

That planning should include learning risks inherent to artificial and augmented intelligence, according to Shannon Vogel, TMA’s associate vice president of health information technology.  

She recommends all staff in a practice using augmented intelligence receive adequate training, establish policies and procedures, understand HIPAA compliance and other liabilities tied to AI and augmented intelligence, and keep up to speed on state laws governing the technology.  

Learn more about health information technology laws passed in the 2025 legislative session and explore TMA’s resources on artificial and augmented intelligence.