Epic Systems is launching several new artificial intelligence tools for medical care providers and patients while working with health insurers to improve the patient experience.
Epic, which has been led by its 82-year-old founder Judy Faulkner for 46 years and is best known for its dominance in the electronic health record software space, is pushing deeper into AI in a healthcare industry known for its complexities, fragmentation and consumer frustration. Epic’s technology is already used be more than 3,000 hospitals, more than 71,000 clinics and some 325 million patients worldwide.
Meeting this week at its Verona, Wis., headquarters for its annual users group meeting, Epic executives said the AI tools will help all aspects of healthcare and include the virtual assistant “Emmie” that can act as a “digital concierge” that answers patient questions a week before appointments to help improve patient education.
The three-day meeting, which included a three-hour presentation Tuesday open to the press at headquarters and virtually, included exchanges and role play between employees acting as patients and providers. As one example, executives talked about a broader launch of Epic’s Emmie virtual assistant for scheduling and understanding visits to providers.
“Available in the future, Emmie will answer his call with voice and to provide billing assistance and will make outbound calls to help him schedule his appointment,” Karsten Smith, Epic’s vice president of health plan applications said Tuesday of a potential patient experience with the virtual assistant.
Epic’s well-known MyChart patient portal that is already used by millions of people, doctor’s offices and health systems will be adding AI features that include the ability for patients to get questions about test results answered.
Meanwhile, Epic is also working on ways to reduce “manual chart extraction” that takes up valuable clinician time the company said will help improve patient care and help alleviate medical care provider burnout. The AI tool will extract a summary for a doctor so the physician wouldn’t have to scroll through years worth of records, potentially.
And a new area for growth for Epic is working with some of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, including several who met with Faulkner and her team earlier this year.
A tool to help with coding and writing prior authorizations and making sure that the patient meets any medical criteria for prior authorizations is being adopted by health insurers. The AI tool includes ways to let the doctor know the patient meets all of the health plan or employer criteria for coverage.
Doctors complain prior authorization has delayed needed treatment and put patient health in jeopardy while wasting physician and patient time to jump through hoops. Over the past several years, prior authorization increasingly has become a concern for patient access to needed services, according to almost 30% of physicians responding to an American Medical Association survey in 2023.
Epic’s work with health insurance companies comes in a year that more than 50 health insurers including Cigna, CVS Health’s Aetna, UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare and Humana committed to “streamline, simplify and reduce” prior authorization, the process of insurers reviewing hospital admissions and medications.
