Sutter Health & Abridge Partner to Roll Out Gen-AI for Physicians & Patients

In addition to primary and specialty care, the partnership aims to introduce Abridge's innovative platform to nurses, physicians, and physician assistants.

Northern California-based prominent healthcare system, Sutter Health has joined forces with Abridge, a startup specializing in generative AI technology to roll out Gen-AI for physicians and patients.

The partnership aims to introduce Abridge's innovative platform to physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants across various primary and specialty care settings within the health system.

Sharing thoughts, Warner Thomas, president & CEO, Sutter Health, "Sutter is equally committed to integrating emerging technologies like AI in healthcare that support our physicians in helping deliver on that mission."

He further highlighted that this move aligns with their vision of delivering safe, high-quality, equitable care to patients. 

Streamlining Clinical Documentation

Abridge's AI-based solution streamlines the process of medical note-taking by converting patient-clinician conversations into structured clinical note drafts in real time. 

This integration into the electronic health record system alleviates the administrative burden on clinicians, allowing them to focus more on patient interactions. 

With over 1.5 million medical encounters informing its proprietary dataset, Abridge's technology offers speed and accuracy in documentation across more than 50 specialties and 14 languages.

Sharing insights, Laura Wilt, chief digital officer, Sutter Health, said, “The technology is designed to fit easily into our teams’ day-to-day workflows inside Epic and will help us better serve our patients by eliminating the burden of clinical documentation that can detract from patient-clinician interactions.”

Objective Behind the Collaboration

Beyond improving physician workflows, the collaboration between Sutter Health and Abridge also aims to enhance the patient experience. Abridge plans to introduce a generative AI feature for patients, providing concise summaries of diagnoses and treatments. 

Recognizing patients' challenges in retaining medical information post-visit, the 'patient summary' tool seeks to bridge this gap by offering accessible and understandable information.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr Shivdev Rao, CEO & founder, Abridge, said, "Clinicians often don’t have time to write detailed patient instructions and summaries that reflect the details from their conversation that would most benefit the patient.”

After collaborations with notable institutions such as UCI Health and Yale New Haven Health System, Abridge's partnership with Sutter Health underscores its growing presence in healthcare. 

Backed by a recent $150 million series C funding round, supported by investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures, Abridge is poised to advance its AI-driven solutions in clinical documentation further.

Adopting generative AI tools for medical documentation reflects a broader trend within the healthcare industry. 

With players such as Microsoft's Nuance dominating the market, investors are increasingly backing startups including Abridge and Ambience Healthcare, recognizing the potential to alleviate clinician burnout and enhance patient care through innovative technology solutions.

As healthcare systems continue to embrace AI-driven advancements, the collaboration between Sutter Health and Abridge marks a significant step towards improving efficiency and quality of care delivery for healthcare providers and patients.