Epic is incorporating AI into charting in its EHR to make clinicians’ jobs easier, the company said.
“AI in Epic is like a new digital workforce that’s part of the care team,” Brad Fox, MD, director of clinical informatics at Epic, said in an Aug. 6 company video. “It’s built into the activities they already use. It’s always by their side, and it never takes a coffee break.”
Generative AI brings key details about a patient’s care to the surface of the chart to quickly bring clinicians up to speed, “like a summary from a trusted colleague,” Dr. Fox said.
“Summaries help clinicians understand the care that’s taken place since they last saw the patient, even when that care didn’t happen at your organization,” he said. “While they’re rounding in the hospital, they can get a summary of information for patients they’ve seen recently, or get briefed on the full story for new patients.”
AI extracts important findings from radiology reports, highlighting them for primary care providers and care coordinators for follow-ups, he said. The technology can also help with note-taking and billing accuracy. Clinicians can ask AI to “turn shorthand into paragraphs, turn paragraphs into shorthand, or translate medical jargon into approachable language for patients,” Dr. Fox said.
“AI can draft end-of-shift notes by pulling data from the chart based on the care plan for the day,” he said. “With those details covered, nurses can focus on adding their clinical expertise instead of combing through the chart.”
Epic will soon be able to queue up orders and diagnoses for nurses, and the company is working on features such as test results summarization, balance explanations, and AI agents for questions and appointments, Dr. Fox said.
