HIMSS 23: Epic and Microsoft Bring OpenAI's GPT-4 to EHRs
Epic Systems and Microsoft have announced their collaboration to integrate generative AI technology into Epic's electronic health record software. The companies revealed their new development at the HIMSS 23 conference held in Chicago. The integration allows health systems that are using Epic's EHR system to run generative AI solutions by using Microsoft's OpenAI Azure Service that houses OpenAI's language model, GPT-4 capabilities. This is the first time that Epic has used generative AI even though it had worked with machine learning in the past. According to Seth Hain, Senior Vice President of Research and Development, the integration will increase productivity for physicians in the examination room, front office schedulers, and back office employees.
Initial AI-enabled Solutions
Two initial AI-enabled solutions have been developed in the initial roll-out of the integration. One of them is Epic's In Basket communication software system. Clinicians can use generative AI to create a draft response when communicating asynchronously with patients. The first customers for this use case are live on the platform now, while Stanford Health Care in California is expected to add the functionality soon. The second use case allows providers to use generative AI to source recommendations from Epic's Slicer Dicer data visualization tool.
Impact on the Healthcare Industry
Generative AI is having its moment in the healthcare industry, and Epic's move is timely. A rush of digital health companies is seeking to leverage OpenAI's ChatGPT tool, which has accumulated more than 100 million users and is free for everyone to use. However, some experts are unsure how the tool will influence clinical diagnosis and decision making. Medical AI experts noted that the first wave of adoption will take place in areas where there are administrative redundancies. The integration is in line with Epic's thinking. Hain noted that it is critical to do things responsibly, with humans in the loop, particularly in the healthcare context.
The Future of Third-party Software Leveraging Generative AI in EHR
According to Hain, it is too early to determine third-party software's role that leverages generative AI in EHR. However, organizations are starting interoperability standards to build such integrations and applications. As more people acclimate to generative AI, there will be an evolution of those techniques and standards.
