sudbury doctor helps create app that assists patients with medical visits
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dr. joel moktar is a sudbury orthopedic surgeon who helped create visitrecap. sunnybrook research institute
a medical app created by doctors from sudbury and london uses artificial intelligence to help patients better understand and act on information delivered during visits with their physician.
visitrecap is a “patient-facing” app that uses ai to transcribe conversations during doctor visits and “really helps as a communication tool” by generating plain-language summaries for patients to take with them, said co-founder pavel antiperovitch, a london health sciences centre cardiologist and electrophysiologist.
“i think that’s why it’s important, because it’s just the idea of being overwhelmed at a doctor’s office, and i do think it impacts everybody, myself included,” antiperovitch said. “when we see doctors, we generally might forget parts of the visit.”
among the benefits of visitrecap are helping patients remember what they’re told during appointments, keeping track of upcoming consultations, following tasks recommended by physicians, and staying on top of daily medications and health reminders, said co-founder joel moktar, a sudbury orthopedic surgeon.
“the goal is to empower patients to take care of their health through informing them about what their healthcare providers have said,” dr. moktar said. “typically, after a lengthy encounter, patients leave empty-handed … they’re expected to remember everything that was discussed.”
launched three months ago, visitrecap – which can be downloaded through google and apple platforms – is mainly being used in the pair’s practices, but they hope to see the technology adopted by patients across canada.
both moktar and antiperovitch said they have received positive feedback from patients who have downloaded the app.
“you push a button, and all of a sudden, there’s a plain-language summary of what was discussed, and also concrete next steps,” moktar said. “the feedback, even from much older patients, is that they seem to understand the app well.”
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patients at antiperovitch’s clinic have had a favourable perception of the app, he said, noting some who have downloaded visitrecap have been “excited to use it for their other doctors’ visits.”
like moktar, antiperovitch also said the app can be especially helpful for older patients recalling information provided by their doctor to family members.
he gave the example of an elderly patient with whom he’d discussed implanting a pacemaker. antiperovitch said the man was concerned his family wouldn’t know what was going on and that he couldn’t reach them by phone during his clinic visit.
“i said, ‘here, download this,’ and he (downloaded visitrecap) on his phone,” antiperovitch said. “it took notes and it created a summary for him, so he could show it to his family . . . the plan that was discussed.”
visitrecap is the second healthcare app founded by antiperovitch and moktar.
the pair also created quickchart, a doctor-focused app that drafts structured notes from conversations between patients and physicians to help doctors reduce administrative bottlenecks and increase patient contact time.
antiperovitch and moktar envision integrating the two apps.
“we’re building integration with quickchart so that physicians using our quickchart software can easily send things like handouts and summaries to patients who use visitrecap,” moktar said.
“the goal is really to empower patients,” moktar said. “if they remember what was said, then they can make changes in their health. but if they don’t remember, then the visit is effectively pointless.”
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