Oracle Health is adding generative artificial intelligence features to its Millennium electronic health record system.
At its user conference Monday in Las Vegas, the company formerly known as Cerner highlighted the addition of a voice-enabled generative AI clinical digital assistant.
Read more: How Epic took over the hospital EHR market
The function will allow clinicians to automate note-taking, order medications, schedule labs and review a patient’s chart through voice commands. The goal is to reduce the number of clicks clinicians make when working in the EHR, said Mike Sicilia, executive vice president of Oracle. Physicians spend an average of 90 minutes after the work day in the EHR catching up on documentation, according to an oft-cited 2017 study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“I think we are on the verge of completely eliminating pajama time,” Sicilia said, referring to intrusions on what could be physician down time. “This isn’t about going from 10 clicks to seven clicks, or six clicks to five clicks. This is about completely eliminating clicks where we can and where it makes sense.”
Patients will be able to use the company's voice-enabled generative AI technology through the patient portal to schedule appointments, review labs and ask clinical questions.
Oracle Health is also adding advanced document recognition technology that will allow patients to upload their driver’s license photo and insurance information into the portal and have it automatically populate into Oracle Health’s systems.
The company said the capabilities will be available within 12 months. The company is shifting all legacy Cerner data to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, which Sicilia said will enable the AI and other features.
Sicilia also said Oracle Health was making all of its application programming interfaces publicly available, which will allow developers to connect into Oracle Health’s software program without restrictions. He called on conference attendees to lobby competitors to follow its lead.
Over the last five years, Oracle Health/Cerner has lost market share to its chief competitor, Epic Systems. The challenges have only increased since Oracle acquired Cerner, a deal finalized in June 2022. In the last 16 months, the combined Oracle/Cerner has faced a delay with its massive Veterans Affairs Department EHR project, renegotiated its contract with the VA at the agency’s request from a five-year deal to five one-year deals, and laid off employees in June.
