https://mailchi.mp/d29febe6ab3c/the-weekly-gist-august-25-2023?e=d1e747d2d8

On Tuesday, Verona, WI-based Epic and Redmond, WA-based Microsoft announced a suite of new AI-powered solutions available to users of Epic’s electronic health records (EHR) system.

In April 2023, Epic began integrating Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, which utilizes GPT-4 capabilities, into its EHR. This next phase builds on that collaboration, introducing tools that support ambient notetaking, create clinical documentation summaries, and offer medical coding suggestions, all through generative AI. Epic is rolling out these services as it debuts its revamped third-party app market, which now hosts programs developed by Microsoft-owned Nuance as well as smaller startups. 

The Gist: Given the massive datasets required to train these AI programs, the competition to deploy AI-powered healthcare workforce at scale will likely be driven by the largest tech and healthcare data companies rather than smaller start-ups. 

Epic’s new app marketplace for third-party vendors is meant to ensure just that, by positioning it as the primary hub for many healthcare-specific AI programs in development. 

Health systems will race to take advantage of the cost savings unlocked by these technologies, which they will hope integrate seamlessly into their EHRs. 

As physicians stand to benefit from eased administrative burdens, but also have justified concerns over generative AI’s reliability, health systems should keep an open dialogue with frontline providers as they implement these new tools.