Epic, Salesforce, & the Race to Develop AI Tools for Healthcare Operations

Companies are leveraging AI to streamline workflows, enabling healthcare professionals to focus more on patient care.

A growing number of healthcare technology companies are introducing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to automate time-intensive administrative tasks in hospitals, health systems, and insurance providers.

Companies such as Epic, Salesforce, Microsoft, Google, and Innovaccer are rolling out AI-driven solutions to manage patient scheduling, insurance verification, and prescription refills, among other functions.

Dr Bill Fera, principal at Deloitte, noted that the expansion of AI agents in healthcare is driven by ease of implementation. “They’re realizing this is iPhone on steroids,” he said.

“Now that there is a realization that the technology is real and it is something that can change things for the better, there's just a flurry of activity.”

AI Integration Across Leading Healthtech Firms

Epic

Epic introduced AI agents at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference earlier this month. The company is integrating AI tools within its electronic health records (EHR) system to assist with patient communication, lab scheduling, and prescription refills.

The company also launched the MyChart microsite builder, allowing health systems to quickly generate small webpages.

“Something that would take days, [can be] obviously condensed into a really, really short period of time,” said Sean McGunigal, Epic’s product lead of cognitive computing.

Epic expects to release multiple AI agents within this year, but no official launch date has been announced.

Salesforce

Salesforce recently introduced *Agentforce for Health*, an AI-driven system for patient scheduling, clinician matching, and insurance verification. The tool is expected to launch in June.

“Our AI can summarize patient visits and check prioritization status,” said Amit Khanna, senior vice president and general manager of health at Salesforce.

Innovaccer

Healthtech company Innovaccer launched AI-driven tools in February, focusing on patient referrals, scheduling, and care management. The company is testing the product with six healthcare organizations and plans to expand sales by the end of the second quarter.

Microsoft

Microsoft has been integrating AI into its EHR documentation tools for two years. This month, the company announced AI-powered copilots to help clinicians draft referral letters and generate clinical orders during patient conversations.

“Through Microsoft's copilot, clinicians will be able to use AI to draft letters for referrals and extract clinical orders such as imaging tests during the conversation,” said Kenneth Harper, general manager of Dragon products at Microsoft.

Google

Google focuses on AI applications supporting administrative tasks and clinician workload management. The company has partnered with Basalt to integrate AI into medical assistant workflows, such as preparing patient charts and flagging overdue screenings.

Additionally, Google has collaborated with Meditech to develop an AI-powered search and summarization tool.

AI-powered tools are gaining traction in healthcare because they automate repetitive administrative tasks, potentially reducing clinician burnout and operational inefficiencies. Companies are leveraging AI to streamline workflows, enabling healthcare professionals to focus more on patient care.