Epic and Abridge partner on generative AI for clinical documentation

Photo: Mike Miliard/HITN

Epic is collaborating with Abridge for generative AI for clinical documentation in the EHR.

Abridge, a generative AI company for healthcare, summarizes medical conversations and structures them in real-time for providers, payers and patients inside the medical record. The core technology produces note drafts that accelerate clinical documentation and is integrated into the EHR to streamline documentation, billing and coding. 

Abridge's generative AI-based documentation gives providers the ability to generate real-time, structured summaries of their patient conversations with complete auditability, according to Abridge. 

WHY THIS MATTERS

Administrative burden is often cited as one of the factors in clinician burnout.

Abridge claims that providers who use its AI integration currently save two hours per day on average on documentation.

Deeply integrated EHR tools take up to 75% less time for a physician to use than an external app or web site, Abridge said.

In addition, patients get a better understanding of their conversations with providers with notes that flow directly into their record.

Health systems get a simplified, consistent experience with generative AI after as little as two weeks of implementation, the company said.

Abridge becomes the first company in Epic's new Partners and Pals program. 

"The Partners and Pals program creates new value for healthcare by curating unique collaborations," said Alan Hutchison, vice president at Epic. "Epic works with companies like Abridge to develop deep integration for their products and services, helping them innovate quickly for the benefit of more patients and providers."

THE LARGER TREND

In 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services implemented changes to evaluation and management CPT billing codes with the aim to reduce the administrative documentation burden on providers.

A study looking at early outcomes related to these changes from January to April 2021 did not observe any decrease in note length, according to Epic Research released this July. Two years later, researchers wanted to know whether the E/M coding changes had any influence on documentation length.  

Epic evaluated 1.7 billion clinical notes written by 166,318 outpatient providers in the U.S. from May 2020 to April 2023 to determine the average length in characters for each note. It found that the average note length across all clinical notes has increased 8.1%, from 4,628 characters in May 2020 to 5,002 characters in April 2023.  

A Health Affairs study released last year showed that between 15% and 30% of all medical spending in the U.S. is attributable to administrative spending. The report added that much of this spending – at least half – doesn't contribute to health outcomes in any significant way.

ON THE RECORD

"I have used Epic through all my medical training and since then as an attending cardiologist. It's a privilege for Abridge to partner now with Epic, the electronic medical record I know and use most," said Dr. Shivdev Rao, cofounder and CEO of Abridge. "It's one thing to see the power of generative AI, but another to experience draft notes and structured data directly returned into the clinical workflow – from documentation to order entry and beyond – all inside Epic."

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org