Latest news with #OracleCerner
Miami Herald
27-05-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Ambience Healthcare's AI Platform Surpasses Clinician Performance by 27% in Medical Coding, Powered by New OpenAI Breakthrough
Ambience's latest AI model reduces coding errors and targets $266 billion in annual administrative waste SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / May 27, 2025 / Ambience Healthcare today announced a major advancement in ambient AI, unveiling the first AI model that outperforms board-certified physicians in ICD-10 coding accuracy. Trained using OpenAI's Reinforcement Fine-Tuning (RFT) technology, Ambience's AI platform achieved a 27% relative improvement over physician benchmarks-reducing coding errors by approximately one-quarter and offering a powerful tool to tackle the $266 billion in annual administrative waste, including $19 billion in diagnosis coding & documentation substantiation errors. This new model identifies precise ICD-10 codes based on patient encounters, which feed into Ambience's 'coding-aware' scribe. By leveraging these codes first, the scribe generates a fully informed note-allowing clinicians to review and confirm accurate documentation and coding in real time. "Think of this technology as a scribe that fluently speaks both clinical language and the intricate healthcare billing rulebook from day one," said William H. Morris, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer of Ambience Healthcare. "Our platform helps clinicians finish their notes faster and ensures that revenue cycle teams receive cleaner, more accurate, and audit-ready charts." Ambience is live across inpatient, outpatient, and emergency settings at health systems throughout the United States, supporting over 100 medical specialties with real-time, compliant documentation. Clinicians at more than 40 organizations including UCSF Health, St. Luke's Health System, Houston Methodist, John Muir Health, and Memorial Hermann Health System leverage Ambience before, during, and after patient encounters to generate compliant documentation, alleviate burnout, and enhance care quality. How Ambience's "Coding-Aware" AI Scribe WorksAmbience Healthcare's platform streamlines the clinical documentation and coding process: Clinicians simply tap 'Record' on their device, conduct patient visits as usual, and then review a draft note, complete with suggested ICD-10 and CPT codes;Ambience integrates natively with major EHRs-including Epic, Oracle Cerner, and athenahealth-ensuring that after clinicians review and sign off, the complete and coded documentation is automatically filed back into the patient's record;By addressing coding at the point of care, Ambience eliminates downstream compliance issues and the time-consuming back-and-forth queries between clinicians and coding/billing departments. "We built for compliance at the core of our platform because health systems need assurance that AI technology in the workflow can stand up to audits, protect reimbursement, and support clinical documentation integrity," said Michael Ng, CEO and Co-Founder of Ambience Healthcare. "The stakes of getting this wrong are too high for compliance to be an afterthought." Validated Results with RFT TechnologyTo validate its AI's mastery of the "coding rulebook," Ambience assembled a "gold-panel" test dataset of complex clinical cases spanning multiple medical specialties. Each encounter was meticulously labeled by a consensus of four or more expert clinicians to establish a high-quality ground truth. "Reinforcement Fine-Tuning lets developers align powerful AI models with the precision and robustness that high-stakes domains like healthcare demand," said Shyamal Anadkat, Head of Startup Solutions at OpenAI. "Ambience's results show how RFT can lift the performance of AI systems in safety-critical environments". The Ambience model was benchmarked against 18 experienced, board-certified physicians on ICD-10 coding accuracy. The results were significant: Ambience's AI demonstrated a 27% relative improvement in coding performance compared to the expert physician baseline, suggesting the model could help eliminate up to one quarter of the coding errors even the most seasoned clinicians make. About Ambience HealthcareAmbience Healthcare is the leading AI platform for clinical documentation, CDI, and coding-built to ensure compliance, eliminate administrative burden, and improve care delivery. Trusted by top health systems across North America, Ambience's platform is live across outpatient, emergency, and inpatient settings, supporting more than 100 specialties with real-time, coding-aware documentation. The platform integrates directly with Epic, Oracle Cerner, athenahealth, and other major EHRs. Founded in 2020 by Mike Ng and Nikhil Buduma, Ambience is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI Startup Fund, Kleiner Perkins, and other leading investors. Media ContactKarina StabileAria Marketing for Ambience Healthcarekstabile@ SOURCE: Ambience
CBC
15-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Health minister not concerned about delays to electronic medical records launch
Social Sharing Health Minister Michelle Thompson says she doesn't love that there are more delays with the launch of Nova Scotia's new electronic medical records system, but she says it's important to get things right. Officials with Nova Scotia Health recently announced the $365-million system will now begin rolling out at the IWK Health Centre in December, as opposed to this summer. Rollouts at subsequent health-care sites would follow. Thompson told reporters on Thursday that the delay is only with the start date, and that the development of the clinical information system, also known as One Person One Record, remains on track. "It's going to be a very important tool for us and it's going to make a big difference and, you know, we only get one shot to do it first and I want it to be as smooth as possible and this is the path," she said. After the system launches, the work done to prepare will be applicable for the other rollout stages and so the minister said people should not be worried about further delays beyond that. What the program will do When it launches, the system will allow health-care professionals anywhere in the province to see what's happening in real time with a patient who's entered the acute-care system. The program, which is being designed by Oracle Cerner Canada, a division of U.S.-based tech giant Oracle Corp., will replace dozens of systems health-care professionals use now to view patient records, many of which are unable to communicate with one another. It's also important to ensure there's capacity in place to support the people using the system, said the minister. She recalled touring a hospital in Vancouver where a similar system had been recently introduced at the site's intensive care unit. "I thought it would be pandemonium when I went in there, to be honest, and it was so calm, people were so happy because of the preparatory work that was done," she said. Despite the delays, Thompson said there would be no change in the cost of the system. Opposition reaction New Democrat MLA Susan Leblanc said it's been a long wait for the system to be ready and it's disappointing there are further delays. Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said a lot of money is going into the initiative and he's taking a wait-and-see approach on things.
CBC
11-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Rollout of electronic medical records system delayed until December
The rollout of a new $365-million electronic medical records system for Nova Scotia is being pushed back until December. In a memo to staff earlier this month, Dr. Nicole Boutilier, executive vice-president of medicine for Nova Scotia Health, said officials have been re-evaluating the status of the clinical information system. "This is not uncommon when building a system as significant as the [One Person One Record system]," she writes, adding that the design and build of the new medical records system will be completed this summer. One Person One Record, or OPOR, will allow health-care professionals anywhere in the province to see what's happening in real time with a patient who's entered the acute care system. In a note from January, Boutilier said the system was on track to go live at the IWK Health Centre at the end of August, with a second wave at five additional hospital sites to follow in November. The Halifax Examiner first reported on the delay. Officials have not provided an explicit explanation for the delay. Interview requests for officials with the IWK and the Health Department were declined. New rollout date is Dec. 6 In her memo this month, Boutilier writes that the first site to use the new system will be the IWK, and it is now scheduled to begin on Dec. 6. When Health Minister Michelle Thompson first announced the deal in February 2023 with Oracle Cerner Canada, a division of U.S.-based tech giant Oracle Corp., the expectation was that OPOR would begin a staged rollout within two years. The decision to delay means further impacts to launch dates, as the second wave was supposed to begin Nov. 22. Officials are still determining the plan for Nova Scotia Health sites and zones as a result of the decision to push back the start of the first wave. When it's complete, One Person One Record will replace or connect more than 80 systems that health-care professionals use to view and record patient information. The problem has been that many of those systems do not or cannot communicate with each other. Important to get it right A Health Department spokesperson said that health-care professionals must use an average of five systems to gain a full picture of a patient's health information. The spokesperson said the budget for the project remains unchanged. The province has yet to reveal details about operating costs. In a statement, an IWK spokesperson said "great progress has been made" but the start date was adjusted to allow for more training and preparation time. The president-elect of Doctors Nova Scotia said delays in a project of this scope are not unexpected. "Implementing a modern hospital-based clinical information system is a large undertaking and will be foundational to improved patient care," Dr. Shelly McNeil said in a statement.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
VA to speed up health records system rollout, with new sites this year
Veterans Affairs officials plan to rapidly accelerate the rollout of the department's new electronic health record system this year, adding up to 12 new sites to the deployment schedule by the start of 2026. In December, department leaders had announced plans to resume deployment of the controversial Oracle Cerner system in mid-2026, with a few sites implementing training and software over the next 18 months. But in an interview with Military Times this week, VA Secretary Doug Collins called that schedule too short-sighted and slow. He promised quicker delivery on the pledge of a revamped health records system for patients and employees. 'This has been a $10 billion project that's not going anywhere,' Collins said. 'So I'm pleased to announce right now that we're moving forward on a new plan that is going to bring by next year double or almost triple the number of hospitals online. 'We've worked through standardization. We've got some plans now that, after almost two and a half years of nothing, we're now moving forward to get this project done. There's a lot going on here that I'm excited about.' VA secretary insists massive staff cuts needed to refocus department The health records overhaul project, launched by President Donald Trump in 2017, was designed to bring veterans' health records in line with military files for the first time. The project was originally scheduled to take 10 years and cost $16 billion. But nearly eight years later, only six of VA's 170-plus medical sites are using the software. That's because of repeated rollout challenges surrounding the software. Former VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced a full pause of the rollout in April 2023 after concerns from investigators and lawmakers over patient safety regarding lost or missing files from active patients. Staffers also complained to federal investigators about poor training, frequent system outages and lackluster support programs. The total cost of the program has already reached $16 billion, with outside advocates warning that figure could rise even higher. Still, VA and Oracle officials testified to the House Veterans' Affairs Committee two weeks ago that they were confident the program was back on track. They expressed optimism about the mid-2026 rollout plan. Collins said since then, he has met with Oracle and VA leaders to push for a more aggressive schedule. 'They're going to have to face me every week that they don't get it done,' he said. 'Our folks are going to understand that we have to do our part in the contract, and Oracle understands that they want to do the best job they can on their end of the contract.' Collins did not say whether the next sites for the rollout have been selected. He did say he is confident that VA staffers will be able to get the right training and preparation ahead of any new sites being brought online. 'I think the problem was that we didn't have enough leadership to say, 'Let's bring you two together and actually do it,'' he said. 'I talk to people. I'm not management by email. I'm management by talking to you. I'm management by hearing from folks. And leadership is about setting a vision, saying this will get fixed.' Collins' pledge comes as VA is reviewing its entire workforce organization, with a goal of reducing staffing by roughly 80,000 employees this year. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have warned that trying to install the new records system without sufficient support staff could result in employee frustration and patient safety issues.
