Today, the promise of technology to helping us solve some of the biggest challenges we face is very real, and generative AI is needed even more, and may have more impact, than in the health sector. Epic and Microsoft have paved the way for bringing generative AI to the forefront of the healthcare industry. Together, we’re working to help doctors provide better care for their patients and address some of their most pressing needs, from workforce burnout to staff shortages.
We combine Microsoft’s large-scale cloud and AI technologies with Epic’s deep understanding of the healthcare industry and clinical workflows to address many of the current issues affecting physicians. Today, we announced the expansion of our strategic initiative to bring AI to healthcare at scale, by integrating conversational, ambient, and generative AI technologies across Epic’s electronic health record (EHR) ecosystem. Aimed at accelerating the development of solutions for healthcare’s most critical needs, this initiative will expand secure access to clinical insights and AI-powered administrative tools in Epic’s modules to enhance patient care, improve operational efficiency, improve healthcare experience, and support healthcare. . financial integrity of healthcare systems globally.
We’re working together to quickly deploy dozens of co-pilot solutions that securely unlock the potential value enabled by our Microsoft Cloud and AI technologies as healthcare systems work to address the pressing staffing, financial, and clinical access challenges they face today. Epic will showcase many of the new capabilities built into our Azure OpenAI Service and Nuance DAX Express solution at today’s annual User Group Meeting, including:
- Increase physician productivity with note summaries: Based on the previously announced AI-powered Epic In Basket, this new solution is targeted at increasing clinical efficiency for doctors and nurses, helping them to be more productive in everyday clinical workflows. This solution will help support faster documentation through suggested text and quick reviews with contextual summaries.
- Increase clinician productivity with embedded ambient clinical documentation: Leveraging Nuance’s Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) technology, which has already been deployed to hundreds of Epic customers and currently supports thousands of physicians, Epic will showcase AI DAX Express technology embedded in Epic Hyperdrive’s native platform and Haiku mobile app, further enhancing a experience seamless workflow for users. In addition, Nuance has been appointed by Epic as one of the first Partners in Epic’s Partners and Friends third-party vendor program.
- Promote administrative efficiency through reducing manual and labor-intensive processes: Revenue cycle management is one of many areas where generative AI can significantly increase efficiency. For example, Epic will be demonstrating an AI-powered solution that provides advice to medical coding staff based on clinical documentation in EHR to improve accuracy and simplify the entire coding and billing process.
- Advancing treatment for better patient outcomes: Using Azure OpenAI Services, Epic is now bringing generative AI exploration to a select group of early adopters via SlicerDicer to fill gaps in clinical evidence using real-world data and to study rare diseases and more.
Our efforts to integrate Azure OpenAI Service and Nuance ambient technologies within the Epic ecosystem demonstrate that broader strategic collaborations can rapidly accelerate the availability of actionable AI-based solutions for healthcare organizations and the patients they serve.
By 2025, the US Department of Health and Human Services predicts there will be a shortage of 90,000 doctors nationwide. Additionally, 40% to 60% of physicians report that they experience fatigue. In addition to these challenges, healthcare providers are also facing financial pressures and are also trying to provide quality services efficiently and effectively. According to McKinsey & Company, nearly a quarter of US national health spending is spent on administrative costs, which can be reduced through technology.
In addition, the urgent need to improve operational and clinical efficiency was again highlighted in a recent UPMC Connected Medicine Center/KLAS Research survey of 58 executives in provider and payer organizations. The survey found that healthcare systems are prioritizing investments over the next two years in AI solutions focused on operational optimization, health/disease management and prediction, diagnostic imaging, public health management, value-based care, patient engagement, and clinical research.
The expanded Epic and Microsoft collaboration will build on integrations we announced recently, including Azure OpenAI Services into Epic’s EHR to automate message responses, as well as solutions that will bring natural language queries and interactive data analysis to SlicerDicer, a reporting tool Epic self-service. Microsoft and Nuance also recently collaborated to integrate the Nuance® Dragon® Ambient eXperience™ Express (DAX Express™) solution into the Epic platform for a comprehensive approach to combining a wide range of AI-powered capabilities for clinical and administrative users.
Epic’s approach to leveraging Microsoft’s technology and infrastructure was unprecedented in terms of its timing and scope. Together, we are bringing generative AI to healthcare at scale as quickly as possible, responsibly, and in partnership with service providers, to address ongoing issues affecting healthcare.
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