Boston-based athenahealth introduced an AI-native clinical encounter that uses ambient and generative artificial intelligence to streamline documentation, decision-making and orders during the patient visit.
The experience includes athenaAmbient, an ambient digital scribe that drafts diagnoses, prescriptions and clinical notes from patient conversations. User testing for athenaAmbient will begin in February 2026, with the full encounter experience testing scheduled throughout the first half of the year. It will be included in standard software updates at no additional cost to customers.
athenahealth said the new encounter reflects a fundamental redesign of the EHR, shifting from a recordkeeping system to a real-time clinical assistant. The AI tools, embedded across the athenaOne platform, are designed to reduce administrative burden and elevate patient-centered care by offering context-aware insights, identifying care gaps and accelerating reimbursement.
The company’s Advanced Intelligence Layer integrates data from EHRs, payers and registries, supporting inferences that aid in documentation and billing. athenahealth’s cloud-native platform allows for rapid development and deployment of AI features systemwide.
athenahealth also recently nuanced a new AI-driven clinical copilot, Sage, embedded into athenaOne for clinicians to gather information about patients. Sage can elevate information from patient charts and answer clinical questions on patient medical history.
“The future of healthcare technology isn’t about making doctors work the way the system works – it’s about making the system work the way doctors work,” said Bob Segert, chairman and CEO of athenahealth. “With our new AI-native clinical encounter, we’re ushering in a new era where technology fades into the background. It listens to the visit, understands the context, and engages in real time – so clinicians can focus on what truly matters: the patient.”
