The decision follows a pilot involving 100 clinicians across multiple specialties, during which Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health rigorously evaluated Abridge as an enterprisewide solution. The 16-hospital system will begin rolling out the technology to its physicians and advanced practice providers across North Carolina in early February.
David McSwain, MD, CMIO of UNC Health, and Sachin Gupta, MD, CMO for the UNC Physicians Network, emphasized the weight of the pilot in making an informed decision — not just for today, but for how AI will evolve within the system.
Dr. McSwain noted that UNC Health had been closely monitoring ambient AI technology for years, but leaders felt it only recently reached a level of sophistication necessary for system-wide adoption. And while the evaluation was rigorous, he emphasized that it was anything but a cold, detached process.
“We developed objective measures that were thoughtful and driven by empathy and a true focus on the wellbeing of our staff,” Dr. McSwain told Becker’s. “That’s actually the best way to move forward with efforts that are truly focused on burden reduction.”
A key consideration in the pilot was Abridge’s linked evidence feature, which allows clinicians to hover over sections of generated documentation and trace information back to its original source in the patient conversation. Dr. McSwain said this capability was important for clinician trust and usability.
“It really gets to one of our primary areas of focus at UNC as it relates to all AI,” he said. “And that is that AI is not meant to replace our clinicians. It’s meant to empower them.” He added that Abridge had integrated this functionality “before we asked,” which demonstrated an understanding of clinician needs.
Dr. Gupta, a family physician who participated in the pilot, said the tool significantly changed his interactions with patients. “It felt somewhat scary in the beginning, like taking your training wheels off,” he said. “But being able to lean in and talk to the patient again — without the barrier of a computer — was really liberating.” He also noted that Abridge’s multilingual capabilities support more inclusive care by improving documentation quality across diverse patient populations.
Data security and privacy were also central to the decision-making process.
“It’s not only about having a platform that works, but also having a platform that’s safe and can protect your data,” Dr. Gupta said. He noted that UNC leaders asked detailed questions about privacy and security and that Abridge was transparent in its responses.
The year has been off to a busy start for Abridge and academic medicine enterprises. In January, Duke Health and Mayo Clinic opted for Abridge as their clinical ambient AI partner. Other health systems that have selected Abridge include Johns Hopkins Medicine in December and UChicago Medicine, which recently moved to scale the tool to more physicians. The company also launched new enhancements and features for emergency medicine in January as part of Epic’s workshop program.
Abridge Founder and CEO Shiv Rao, MD, understands this impact on a personal level. As a practicing cardiologist, Dr. Rao is deeply familiar with the burden of clinical documentation.
“Healthcare professionals go to medical school and nursing school, and it is not an easy journey. What motivates them in the first place, I think, has to be a mission — otherwise they wouldn’t make it through. Having this opportunity now to help them return to some of those principles that inspired them in the first place is the ultimate honor for us,” Dr. Rao told Becker’s.
