Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare scales its AI safeguards to each tool’s risk level and sometimes decides a technology isn’t ready for use, Chief AI Officer Mangesh Patil said in a Q&A published by the health system.
HCA’s Responsible AI governance program pulls together clinical, operational, technical and risk management experts to evaluate AI tools. Higher-risk applications get added review and monitoring.
“In healthcare, ‘not yet’ can be an important decision,” Mr. Patil said in the Nov. 3 article.
HCA’s ambient clinical documentation tool was used by 4,950 physicians across 116 hospitals and 575 ambulatory sites in September and generated more than 360,000 notes that month. The system expects about 10,000 physicians on the tool by year-end, Michael Schlosser, MD, told Becker’s Nov. 4. In a 2025 case study at HCA’s North Texas Division, providers using the tool gained one to two hours per shift and spent five fewer minutes per patient on history and physical notes.
Nurse Handoff, which organizes EHR information for shift changes, was beta tested at eight hospitals. Nurses rated it 99.87% accurate and 99.85% helpful, with the helpfulness score reflecting their preference for the tool over the existing EHR workflow.
Timpani, HCA’s machine learning-based scheduling platform, is live at more than 125 hospitals and 2,250 nursing and nursing support departments. It has cut schedule-building time from eight to 15 hours to roughly two to three hours per cycle.
HCA has deployed more than 30 lower-risk use cases through a “low-code” program in which business teams co-develop tools with its AI engineers. Employees also have access to an enterprise version of ChatGPT. The system is also working with GE HealthCare on CareIntellect for Perinatal, a maternal and infant care platform.
HCA operates 189 hospitals and more than 2,600 other sites of care in 19 states and the U.K. and handles about 47 million patient encounters each year.
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