Sutter Health, a large Northern California healthcare system, has announced a partnership with Abridge, a leader in generative AI for medical documentation. This collaboration aims to improve physician workflows and patient experiences by leveraging Abridge’s AI-powered platform.
Sutter Health, known for its 22 hospitals and over 57,000 staff members, aims to utilize Abridge’s technology to reduce administrative burdens for physicians. This will allow for more focused patient interaction and improved care delivery.
“We are highly focused on innovation as a lever to help us achieve our vision and mission of delivering safe, high quality, equitable care to all of our patients. Sutter is equally committed to the thoughtful integration of emerging technologies like AI in healthcare that support our physicians to help deliver on that mission,” stated Warner Thomas, Sutter Health President and CEO.
Abridge’s AI streamlines medical note-taking, leveraging a massive dataset of medical encounters to generate accurate and real-time drafts within existing electronic health record (EHR) systems. Once reviewed and verified by clinicians, these notes become finalized, saving significant time. Notably, Abridge caters to a diverse patient population with its support for over 14 languages and 50 specialties.
Reducing Physician Burnout with AI
Physicians nationwide struggle with excessive administrative tasks, including time-consuming clinical note writing. Generative AI tools like Abridge offer a solution by alleviating documentation burdens. Studies suggest this translates to reduced clinician burnout.
“The technology is designed to fit easily into our teams’ day-to-day workflows inside Epic and will help us better serve our patients by eliminating the burden of clinical documentation that can detract from patient-clinician interactions,” explained Laura Wilt, Sutter Health’s Chief Digital Officer.
Patient Engagement through AI-powered Summaries
Abridge’s collaboration with Sutter Health extends beyond physician-focused solutions. The partnership also plans to implement a generative AI feature for patients. This feature involves integrating patient-facing summaries into the EHR system.
Considering that patients often forget key details from medical visits, these summaries provide concise post-visit information about diagnoses or treatments. Dr. Shiv Rao, Abridge’s CEO, emphasizes the value of patient summaries for generative AI.
“Clinicians often don’t have time to write detailed patient instructions and summaries that reflect the details from their conversation that would most benefit the patient,” Dr. Rao noted.
Epic Integration and Continued Innovation
Abridge’s success is further solidified by its integration with Epic, a leading EHR vendor. This integration brings Abridge’s AI capabilities directly into Epic’s workflow.
Looking ahead, Abridge is actively developing new functionalities. These include features for personalized notes, deeper EHR integration, and after-visit insights for clinicians.
The company recently secured a significant $150 million Series C funding round. Investors include prominent names like Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Nvidia. This strategic partnership with Nvidia will leverage Nvidia’s computing power to bolster Abridge’s research and development efforts, ultimately aiming to establish a multilingual clinical conversation platform across the US healthcare system.
With generative AI playing an increasingly prominent role in healthcare documentation, Abridge’s partnership with Sutter Health signifies a significant step towards enhanced physician workflows and improved patient experiences.
