EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 1/29/26

The Journal of the American Medical Association published a research letter this week that looks at how authors are disclosing their use of AI when preparing submissions to professional journals. The JAMA Network has required such disclosures since August 2023. The authors reviewed the data to better understand how AI is being used and disclosed.

Papers in which AI use was declared increased from 1.7% to 6%. Common uses were creating drafts, searching the literature, editing language, developing statistical models, and evaluating data. AI use was more likely in Viewpoints and Letters to the Editor submissions than in Original Investigations.

The paper concludes that without a standard for confirming AI use, it’s difficult to know if authors are underreporting. They add that the results may show a greater need for journals to confirm how authors are using AI and whether it’s appropriate and accurate.

Clinician burnout continues to be a major focus for care delivery and professional organizations. One of the top symptoms that I hear about from colleagues is their inability to disconnect in the digital age. Physicians feel that they need to check their inboxes for patient results and respond to portal messages during off hours to avoid having them piling up.

A new article in the Journal of Medical Systems describes a randomized controlled trial around Reducing Work-Related Screen-Time in Healthcare Workers During Leisure Time (REDUCE SCREEN). Researchers used a straightforward intervention to examine whether a link exists between clinician wellbeing and the use of work-related apps on personal devices. A cohort of 800 physicians, residents, and nurses was divided into a control group and one whose members were instructed to take specific steps to reduce after-hours work, such as using out-of-office notifications and removing work apps from personal devices.

They found that after a scheduled weekend off, those in the intervention group had double the reported reduction in stress compared to those who weren’t instructed to make changes in device use. The intervention group also had an overall reduction in screen time compared to the control group. The study was limited by the fact that one-third of participants failed to complete the post-weekend assessment.

The authors plan additional research to look at interventions that force disengagement from work during non-scheduled hours to see if they are linked not only to less stress, but to improved productivity during working hours.

From Home Care: “Re: AI solutions. My daughter’s college is working on AI solutions that could help individuals with cognitive decline live independently longer. This seems like a much better use of AI than some of the options currently out there.”

The article covers a project that brought computer scientists together with occupational therapists to create an AI assistant to help solve this problem. The team captured videos of patients with and without cognitive decline performing a specific task, then created models to identify cognitive sequencing errors during task completion. The system is cheekily named CHEF (Cognitive Human Error Detection Framework) as it looked at the executive functions needed to prepare oatmeal on a stove.

While a camera captured the subject’s movements, occupational therapy students also provided cues about safety concerns or other errors. The system’s vision-language model integrates videos along with text and images to identify both obvious errors and those that are difficult to detect. The team states, “This is an excellent example of applying the cutting-edge AI to a vital health problem with tremendous public health impact.”

As a family physician who has had many difficult conversations about aging patients who are struggling to remain independent, this is some of the most exciting AI-related work that I’ve seen in recent memory. I hope these types of solutions are a reality by the time I might need them.

HIMSS has announced that the keynote speaker for the upcoming meeting will be actor Jeremy Renner. The announcement promises “a thoughtful look at the intersection of determination, care, and innovation and the impact they can have when people come together in moments that matter most.” Those who register before Friday, January 30 have a chance to win an opportunity to meet him personally.

I did something that I haven’t done in a very long time today. I wrote a paper check to pay for a medical bill. The entire process was frustrating. I received a patient portal message that told me that I had a bill, but I wasn’t able to log in. I thought it was an expired password, but I could access the portal from a different link.

It turns out that the practice operates as two separate entities. They use the same EHR, but each practice has its own patient portal. Going back to the portal that I could access, I saw the billing statement with the header for the other entity.

Clicking the payment link took me to a “page not found” error, so I typed the link manually, with the same outcome. I repeated this process the next day, thinking that maybe it was a site outage, and had the same result. 

I called the number on the bill. They told me that they can’t take payments over the phone, so I was off to find the checkbook. If providers want to be paid in a timely manner, they need to make sure that their systems are working to make it easy for patients to pay.

I received two separate mailings from that practice today. The first was a check, which I assume was mailed by their billing service, that refunded me for an overage for the patient co-insurance portion of a procedure that I had last month. The second was a letter from the practice of the physician who performed the procedure featuring red “Second Notice” stickers to remind me that I was overdue to have the procedure and that they would make no further attempts to schedule it. This right here is US healthcare at its finest.

The American Academy of Pediatrics released its own childhood vaccination schedule this week, breaking with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine guidance. States are also issuing their own guidance or joining coalitions to discuss common recommendations.

The EHR where I practice most often continues to display legacy recommendations, and I haven’t heard of any plans to update them. I’m not sure if that’s because the work to do so wasn’t slotted into the IT build budget or if facility leadership is making a statement. Some days it’s refreshing to be outside the circle of decision- making, after having done it for so long.

How is your organization approaching the task of updating vaccine recommendations in your EHR? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.