Hospitals urge smarter AI, seamless workflows in next-gen EHRs
ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES — Major American health systems are pushing electronic health records (EHR) vendors to deliver advanced AI and predictive analytics tools that integrate seamlessly into clinical workflows.
Becker’s Health IT asked seven healthcare executives to reveal their insights for next-generation systems that reduce clinician burnout while improving patient outcomes.
Invisible AI: Enhancing care without extra clicks
MUSC Health’s Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Dr. Crystal Broj, emphasizes tools like real-time predictive analytics and automated summaries that reduce friction for care teams.
Similarly, Yale New Haven Health’s Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Health Officer, Dr. Lee Schwamm, highlights their integration of the ambient documentation tool Abridge within Epic, allowing clinicians to focus on patients rather than data entry.
The demand centers on context-aware AI that surfaces critical information when needed. UW Health’s Senior Director of Digital Health and Emerging Technologies, Frank Liao, notes that systems must balance speed and long-term value with safety.
At the same time, Endeavor Health’s Associate Chief Medical Informatics Officer of AI and Innovation, Dr. Nirav Shah, seeks AI that aligns with strategic goals like early disease detection, without creating new administrative tasks.
Open architectures enable faster EHR innovation
Health executives prioritize EHR platforms equipped with open APIs and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) to facilitate the integration of top-tier solutions. Dr. Broj warns vendors must either advance native capabilities or allow third-party integrations, citing MUSC’s “platform-first approach.”
Montefiore Einstein’s Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Sudipto Srivastava, echoes this, noting partnerships with startups and academia are essential to keep pace with innovations like AI radiology tools.
Vendor collaboration is equally critical. BayCare’s Vice President and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, Nicole Gitney-Fahey, works closely with EHR providers to bake AI into core systems, while Yale’s Dr. Schwamm co-develops tools like sepsis prediction algorithms with Epic.
However, Emily Jacobsen, University of Maryland’s Vice President of Clinical Systems and Chief of Clinical Informatics, cautions that technology must first address clinician burnout, noting that EHRs were meant to help. Still, too often they’ve become a source of frustration.
