Microsoft Corp. and Epic have forged a deep partnership to leverage generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve healthcare. The two tech giants are combining the capability and reach of Azure OpenAI Service with Epic’s industry-leading electronic health record (EHR) software. The goal of this co-innovation is to offer a comprehensive package of generative AI-powered solutions that are combined with Epic’s EHRs to achieve higher productivity, improved patient care, and greater financial stability for healthcare systems around the world.
At the initial stage, the collaboration has produced a set of groundbreaking solutions that three renowned healthcare organizations—UC San Diego Health, UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin, and Stanford Health Care—are already working with to automatically author message responses. The initiative also includes the integration of natural language queries into Epic’s SlicerDicer, which is a self-service reporting tool. This optional tool, when enabled, makes it easier for clinical teams to explore data, reply to queries, and draw unbiased conclusions.
The stakes in healthcare operations are high due to workforce shortages, rising labor costs, and disruptions in the supply chain. For that reason, healthcare organizations are striving to boost their operational efficiency and profitability. This can at times be a challenging mission. Chero Goswami, the Chief Information Officer at UW Health, acknowledged this reality, adding: “Technology can help defeat this problem by simplifying workflows for the workforce. Our intention is to use generative AI in our daily operations to promote productivity and free our providers from carrying out mundane tasks.”
Microsoft, Epic, and the partnering healthcare organizations are looking to make a difference amid the current crisis in healthcare. With the help of their innovations, they aim to provide solutions that enhance patient care while reaching greater financial efficiency. As noted by Eric Boyd, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of AI Platform, this project can broaden and strengthen Microsoft, Nuance, and Epic’s long-running collaboration of running Epic environments on the Microsoft cloud platform.
Microsoft is dedicated to developing and deploying responsible AI that contributes to a better society. To ensure the technology is used correctly, the Seattle-based tech giant adheres to a set of core principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability.
Microsoft is a renowned American multinational technology company, primarily associated with the production of computer software and hardware. For more than 40 years, Microsoft has been at the forefront of the technological development and digital transformation, providing innovative software products, building enterprise solutions, and developing cloud-enabled services to enable businesses and individuals to run more efficiently.
Eric Boyd is an AI expert with two decades of experience in the tech world. After studying computer science at the University of Florida, he served as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for AI Platform. In addition, Boyd has been a Computer Science professor at Georgia Tech and founder of the startup StreamScape. His expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, databases, distributed systems, and software engineering have allowed him to make substantial contributions to the field — especially during his tenure as Vice President of Azure AI.
