Microsoft is making major strides to bring the transformative potential of artificial intelligence to the healthcare industry through a series of new collaborations with leading healthcare organizations and partners.
At the forefront is Microsoft’s partnership with Epic, one of the largest providers of electronic health record (EHR) software used by major healthcare systems. The two companies will integrate Microsoft’s AI capabilities directly into Epic’s EHR platform, opening the door for AI-powered clinical decision support, medical coding assistance, prior authorization intelligence and other AI-driven workflows.
“Putting AI capabilities into the hands of clinicians directly within their EHR can help reduce burnout and make them more efficient,” said Dr. Gregory Moore, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Health Technology and Alliances. “It allows the AI to accompany the clinician through their day.”
Microsoft has also teamed up with Nuance Communications to integrate Nuance’s widely-used medical speech recognition technology with Microsoft’s large language AI models. This will enable physicians to converse naturally with ambient AI assistants that can understand clinical terminology and queries.
“This partnership allows us to move beyond voice transcription to creating an ambient sensing experience that understands the full context and human intent,” said Diana Nole, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Healthcare at Nuance.
On the research front, Microsoft is collaborating with Novartis to develop an AI solution that can read and understand medical literature to provide insights into the mechanisms of diseases. The aim is to accelerate drug development pipelines.
These high-profile collaborations demonstrate Microsoft’s commitment to making AI a reality in healthcare by co-developing solutions integrated into healthcare providers’ existing technology stacks and clinical workflows.
“We are taking an open approach that meets healthcare organizations where they are, integrating AI in a seamless and pragmatic way,” said Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of Cloud and AI at Microsoft. “Our partnerships make the promise of AI a reality that can improve care and reduce costs.”
