< + > Epic Ambient AI Charting Released and More Updates on Epic’s AI Solutions

Yesterday, Epic held a winter version of their “Cool Stuff Ahead” presentation for their customers that they generally save for their annual Epic UGM conference (See last year’s writeup of Epic UGM).  At the event, Epic announced a number of details on the progress they’re making with their AI tools including the release of their highly anticipated Epic ambient AI charting solution (AI medical Scribe/Ambient Clinical Voice solution if you prefer).

To learn more about these announcements and Epic’s AI efforts, I had a chance to interview Corey Miller, VP of R&D at Epic.  Miller is focused on Epic’s AI charting solution inside Art (Epic’s Clinical AI) and so he offers some great information on what they’ve accomplished and some of where they’re heading with the solutions.  Plus, he also shares some of the progress they’re making with Penny (RCM) and Emmie (Patient) along with sharing that MyChart Central is now available in all 50 states.

Check out our interview with Corey Miller from Epic to learn more.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at Epic.

Corey: As a developer at Epic, right now I’m focused on AI Charting and our inpatient clinical applications, with an eye toward making sure we deploy AI that truly helps health care workers and health systems. I’ve also worked on web infrastructure teams at Epic.

Talk about the pace of AI innovation and why that prompted Epic to do a winter “Cool Stuff Ahead” session for customers when it’s usually held off for Epic’s UGM in the summer.

Corey: When we announced Art, Emmie, and Penny in August, we laid out a clear roadmap—and we just couldn’t wait 12 months to share what we’ve been building. Epic’s AI usage grew by over 40 times in 2025, AI Charting with Art is now released, and there’s a lot more coming. So we wanted to update our customer community on our progress.

What’s included in the new AI Charting feature that’s now part of Art and integrated directly within Epic?

Corey: Today, Art can draft notes and suggest orders based on the clinician-patient conversation. The initial release also includes voice agent capabilities, so clinicians can personalize their note format through natural conversation. They might say they want bullets instead of paragraphs for the HPI, or that they prefer a different documentation style for well-child visits versus acute visits. Art then carries these personalization touches forward to future notes.

We’re moving quickly, and Art is going to become more and more capable. In March, we plan to release diagnosis-aware notes that link assessments and plans to specific diagnoses on the patient’s problem list. AI Charting for bedside nursing workflows is coming in March, too.

What makes Art different is the deep integration across Epic. AI Charting has full context of the patient’s chart—medications, problem lists, prior history—so it can orient documentation and orders to that specific patient. That integration is going to matter even more as we introduce capabilities like updating family history based on conversation and surfacing patient-specific insights during treatment discussions.

Epic spent a significant amount of time on site with clinicians to create AI Charting. What were some of the key things you heard from clinicians that shaped the product into what it is now?

Corey: What we heard consistently is that clinicians don’t just want a note—what they really want is to reclaim time for patient relationships and clinical decision-making. So throughout development, we’ve focused on reducing edit distance, meaning the AI returns notes that require fewer and fewer changes over time. And we’re focused on expanding beyond documentation to become an active assistant in the room.

What are some unique aspects of AI Charting in Art that are worth noting, especially when it comes to workflow and integration?

Corey: AI Charting knows the patient’s medications, problem list, and history. When it suggests orders, it references what the patient has done before and what’s clinically indicated.

That integration is going to become even more important as we release more capabilities. The vision is an intelligent visit where AI surfaces relevant information on the fly, without the clinician needing to go looking for it.

Here’s what that means for the future: If the conversation turns to blood pressure, Art will automatically pull up the patient’s trends. Or it might pull information from Cosmos—our dataset of over 300 million anonymized patient journeys—to support discussion and decisions in real time.

How else are you seeing Art used by clinicians?

Corey: There’s a lot to point to. For example, Art’s Insights feature brings together information from across the patient chart into a concise summary to help clinicians prepare for visits. It’s now used over 16 million times each month—nearly three times what we saw in November 2025. In addition to this, nurses are using AI-assisted end-of-shift notes to make handoffs quicker and easier.

Another big one is actionable follow-ups for radiology. Art can extract lung nodules, Lung-RADS assessments, and recommendations from a radiologist’s impression. At The Christ Hospital in Ohio, Art reviewed routine chest x-ray reports for incidental findings that might otherwise have been overlooked. That led to over 100 cases of lung cancer being detected earlier. The national average for early detection is 46%—they’re identifying it early in 69% of cases. That’s lives saved through timely follow-up.

What are some of the results of healthcare organizations adopting Penny for RCM? What are some of the key features that are making this impact?

Corey: Organizations are seeing significant gains—20% reductions in coding denials, and denial appeals created over 20% faster than they used to be. That all translates to health systems getting paid for the work they do more quickly.

How are patients embracing Epic’s AI for patients called Emmie? What are the top things that they’re doing with Emmie?

Corey: Emmie is helping patients schedule appointments, understand their bills, make payments, set up payment plans, and generate detailed statements for reimbursement. It can even explain why patients owe what they owe by pulling together the relevant details from their account. So patients get answers faster, and our customers can refocus staff time on the truly complex cases.

What’s been patients’ and provider organizations’ reaction to Epic MyChart Central providing a single Epic login experience across healthcare organizations?

Corey: Since launching last August, MyChart Central is now live in all 50 states. Patients get a consistent identity across all their Epic providers, so when they show up at a new organization, the system already knows who they are.

What can we expect from Epic between now and Epic UGM?

Corey: We’re continuing to move at a rapid pace. With over 160 AI-related projects in progress, there’s a lot more to come between now and then.

< + > How RapidAI Is Rethinking Resilience in Radiology Workflows

Karim Karti, CEO of RapidAI, joined Healthcare IT Today to talk about why radiology AI platforms need to be more adaptable to the realities of modern healthcare. Radiologist shortages, staff burnout, cyber incidents, fragile connectivity, and tight budgets all shape how imaging technology is used day to day, often in ways product roadmaps did not originally anticipate.

Key Takeaways

1. Cloud architecture is helpful to radiologists for many reasons. We must assume downtime will happen and design for it; RapidAI’s ability to toggle seamlessly from cloud to on-prem is a direct response to real cyber events.
2. The goal of AI in radiology is prediction, not just productivity. Workflow efficiency is only the stepping stone; the real strategic shift is toward predictive imaging that supports earlier intervention and prevention.

Why Resilient Cloud Architecture Matters Beyond Cybersecurity

Cloud adoption in healthcare is often framed around efficiency and scale, while downtime planning gets treated as an edge case. RapidAI took a different approach with its Edge Cloud infrastructure, designed to operate in the cloud while also supporting on-prem when needed, without interrupting clinical workflows.

That flexibility acknowledges the operating reality that many other vendors miss: healthcare organizations experience many forms of disruption, from cyber incidents to connectivity gaps, and patient care does not pause for any of them.

Karti explained that the approach was driven directly by customer experience and feedback, especially in high-stakes settings like stroke care.

“We built it based on customer needs and the requests we received. In the case where customers are experiencing a cyberattack or need to disconnect from the cloud, they still need our application, especially for acute patients.”

That capability has already been used in real-world situations.

“We already have many instances where actually customers had to use this capability. We were one of the few applications actually running the hospitals and allowing patients to be treated.”

As healthcare IT infrastructure becomes more complex and interconnected, interruptions are increasingly part of the operating environment. Systems that can continue functioning without full connectivity are no longer just safeguards. They are part of how care gets delivered reliably under less-than-ideal conditions.

How Predictive AI Is Becoming the Real Endpoint for Radiology

Efficiency gains often dominate AI discussions in radiology, but Karti pointed to a longer horizon. As imaging volumes rise and workforce constraints persist, productivity improvements alone are not enough. The greater opportunity lies in using AI to help radiologists move from reactive interpretation toward predictive insight.

“Ultimately where all this is going is helping them get into more predictive capabilities, because that’s what patients are looking for, that’s what physicians are looking for.”

Early AI adoption has focused on removing repetitive tasks and accelerating reads. As the technology matures and trust grows, those gains create space for more advanced use cases. Earlier detection, better tracking over time, and more informed intervention all become possible when radiologists can focus less on volume and more on what comes next.

What Infrastructure Choices Reveal About the Future of Care Delivery

RapidAI’s approach highlights a factor that will become an important factor in how healthcare technology is evaluated. Cloud solutions increasingly need to account for continuity, not just convenience. At the same time, AI platforms are being measured by their ability to support long-term clinical insight, not just short-term efficiency.

Together, those priorities reflect where radiology is heading: toward systems designed for real-world conditions, and toward care models that emphasize anticipation over reaction.

Learn more about RapidAI at https://www.rapidai.com/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

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RapidAI is a proud sponsor of Healthcare Scene.

< + > How to Reduce No-Show Appointment Rates in 2026 With One Button

The following is a guest article by Joep Leussink, Head of Growth at AddEvent

There is no busier time of the year for most of us than the holiday season. Shopping, office parties, family time, and any number of other commitments are heaped onto our already stacked to-do list, and even our most important tasks and appointments can slip through the cracks or be squeezed out by a school play, a music recital, or a volunteer night at a soup kitchen.

Yet the reality is that even when the snow settles in January, and all throughout the calendar year, most of us overbook our schedules or are guilty of forgetting key dates from time to time. That may turn out to be a small inconvenience for individuals, but when each of those missed engagements begins stacking up at a healthcare facility, it becomes a massive drain – financially and otherwise – on an entire operation.

With healthcare operations setting goals and evaluating their needs for 2026, now is the right time to take a closer look at an often-overlooked challenge in the industry: no-show medical appointments. No-shows in the industry cost an average of $150K per physician annually, and beyond the significant financial losses, they cost healthcare operations in other immeasurable ways, including wasted resources (staff, rooms, equipment, etc.), delayed patient care, increased wait time for others and, often, strain on the patient-provider relationship.

There is no foolproof method for ensuring patients show up and arrive on time for their healthcare appointments. But there is at least one measure that can drastically improve any facility’s patient turnout rate and operational efficiency: Add to Calendar functionality.

Why an Add to Calendar Button Is Needed in Healthcare Settings

No-shows cost the healthcare industry as a whole an estimated $150 billion every year, and one recent study found that the average wait time for a new patient in 15 of the largest cities in the United States was 26 days. That figure is up 8% since 2017 and 24% since 2004. It’s a quiet logistical epidemic in the healthcare setting, and it not only costs practices money but is also keeping more patients from being seen, cared for sooner, and walking away satisfied with their experience.

Reminder cards, phone calls, text messages, and email notifications require real-time and budget from the front desk, reception, and operations teams. They also depend on staff consistently following through to ensure patients actually come to the appointment. Each has already proven to be minimally effective in reducing no-show rates. Patients lose cards, ignore incoming calls from numbers they don’t recognize, and overlook emails in a sea of inbox spam. What healthcare operations are coming to find is that one of the most effective ways to combat appointment no-shows is by integrating Add to Calendar functionality into scheduling confirmation and appointment reminder workflows.

Why the Add to Calendar Function Works

One of the most common reasons patients miss appointments is that they forget about them or have a scheduling conflict. Add to calendar tools allow them to click and add appointments to their personal digital calendar with one click. Meanwhile, the back end of the tech allows healthcare providers to customize appointment information for patients with low-effort, minimal-touch functionality.

Dynamic add to calendar links personalize each appointment for patients, pulling their specific details (time, location, telehealth link, time zone, etc.), ensuring that their information is in their calendar and accurate so that they are most likely to make their appointment. It doesn’t require continuous manual intervention, so healthcare teams can focus on other value-added tasks.

But the differentiator for the add to calendar button is, of course, the calendar. When a patient clicks, they allow a healthcare facility access to space on their personal calendar, allowing for additional reminders and notifications, but also a presence on premium real estate where most patients check their to-do lists, day-to-day deadlines, and engagements frequently.

As no-show figures continue to grow across U.S. healthcare operations of all kinds, providers must find ways to essentially meet patients where they’re at and simplify the appointment process as much as possible for both sides. A drag on office wait times, delayed new-patient intakes, and a heavy financial burden for healthcare operations are all part of the fallout, but the stakes are even higher. Delayed patient care puts the health of patients at risk by curtailing and putting off opportunities for early intervention for aggressive illnesses and diseases.

Meanwhile, there is a tool available to healthcare operations that helps reduce no-show appointment rates and improve the overall patient experience. Add to calendar buttons offer rich appointment and notification functionality that other alternatives can’t match, while also being essentially a simple, single-use, easy button for patients.

About Joep Leussink

Joep Leussink is the Head of Growth at AddEvent, a San Francisco-based platform that provides event and calendar marketing solutions. With a proven track record in driving growth for B2B SaaS companies from Series B to post-IPO, Joep leverages his expertise in demand generation and growth marketing to make AddEvent known and accessible to everyone.

< + > Acuvance Acquires ROI Healthcare Solutions | Rapid Care Acquires DeepDoc

Check out today’s featured companies who have recently completed an M&A deal, and be sure to check out the full list of past healthcare IT M&A.

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Acuvance Acquires ROI Healthcare Solutions, Building a Dedicated Healthcare ERP Practice

Acuvance, a national healthcare advisory platform backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, today announced the acquisition of ROI Healthcare Solutions, a leading provider of hospital enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation and optimization professional services. Through this acquisition, Acuvance will build a dedicated Healthcare ERP practice focused on helping organizations successfully implement and optimize core enterprise systems across finance, supply chain, and human capital management, including workforce management solutions. 

Hospitals and health systems are under increasing pressure to modernize their ERP environments while maintaining day-to-day operations. Industry forecasts estimate the U.S. healthcare ERP market will grow from about $2.2 billion today to nearly $3.8 billion over the next decade. ROI’s 25+ years of experience in ERP implementation, optimization, and program management strengthen Acuvance’s ability to support healthcare organizations through these complex transitions. 

“ROI has built an exceptional business grounded in real-world ERP experience and a strong focus on client outcomes,” said Josh Nazarian, Chief Executive Officer at Acuvance. “Their work fits naturally with our broader advisory services and allows us to better support healthcare organizations as they modernize critical systems. Just as important, ROI brings a team with deep ERP experience and a disciplined, client-focused approach to delivery.” 

ROI maintains a longstanding formal partnership with Infor, a leading provider of healthcare ERP systems, along with more recent partnerships with Workday and Oracle, two of the most widely used enterprise software platforms in healthcare.  

“This partnership marks an exciting next chapter for ROI,” said Bill Starks, President at ROI Healthcare Solutions…

Full release here, originally announced January 20th, 2026.

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Rapid Care Acquires DeepDoc to Expand AI-Powered Medical Record Intelligence

Acquisition Strengthens Rapid Care’s AI Roadmap and Accelerates Smarter, Faster Healthcare Decision-Making

Rapid Care, an AI-driven healthcare technology company focused on addressing the industry’s most complex operational and financial challenges, announces the acquisition of DeepDoc, an advanced artificial intelligence platform for medical record analysis and summarization.

DeepDoc leverages machine learning, generative AI, and data intelligence to automate the intake, organization, and synthesis of large volumes of unstructured medical records. The platform converts complex clinical documentation into concise, searchable summaries with accuracy exceeding 99 percent, significantly reducing manual review time while improving consistency, visibility, and insight.

The DeepDoc platform is widely used across the insurance and medicolegal sectors to support claims processing, independent medical examinations, utilization review, and legal case preparation. By extracting and structuring critical clinical information, the technology enables faster, more informed decision-making and helps organizations manage administrative complexity more effectively at scale.

“DeepDoc represents a powerful combination of advanced AI and deep healthcare domain expertise,” said Venkat Laxman, President and CEO at Rapid Care. “Its ability to rapidly synthesize complex medical records into accurate, actionable summaries delivers immediate value to our customers and aligns with our mission to remove friction across healthcare workflows.”

The acquisition expands Rapid Care’s growing portfolio of AI-enabled solutions designed to streamline patient-to-payment processes, strengthen clinical and administrative decision support, and improve operational efficiency across the healthcare ecosystem.

“This acquisition represents a strategic step forward as we continue to execute our vision of delivering intelligent, end-to-end solutions for healthcare operations,” Laxman added…

Full release here, originally announced January 21st, 2026.

< + > AI Enhances Outreach to Blood Donors

While collecting blood, Versiti collects data. Versiti is a nonprofit founded in 1947 with the two goals of providing a sustainable blood supply to clinical settings and advancing research. Over the past 20 years, the company has tripled in size and provides blood to more than 400 hospitals. The company is now using AI and partnering with Lenovo to improve donor outreach and research.

On the blood donation side, Versiti tries to treat donors as well as a good clinician treats their patients. CIO Lynne Briggs says “we know who you are when you come in the door.” Versiti integrates the data from all its partners. CEO Chris Miskel says they get more than 300,000 blood donors every year, so they are using AI to improve engagement and “be more donor-centric.”

One simple application is AI-drive chat, but Justin T. Collier, MD, Healthcare CTO in North America at Lenovo mentions also the use of AI to automate documentation and mundane tasks such as engaging with insurers. He says that the value of AI makes it worthwhile to collect more data and keep it “forever.” AI can lead to meaningful insights and better research outcomes.

Briggs also cites the use of AI to analyze their donor base so they can adjust their messaging to reach key demographics and to personalize their outreach. She also mentioned that AI is useful in security.

On the research side, Miskel illustrates the use of AI through a bioinformatics project they led to seek more precise diagnoses and better treatments. Briggs says that NIH now expects the use of AI to find cures.

Briggs mentioned the logistical difficulties of collecting blood in corporate lounges, churches, college dining halls, etc. The technology needs to be rugged but easy to set up, so that it can’t get in staff’s way. Each setup is an “almost military operation.”

At the end, Collier mentions a few of the hot topics in health IT: digital twins, virtual reality, and gaming to entertain patients.  Check out our interview with Versiti and Lenovo at the CES conference to learn more.

Learn more about Lenovo: https://techtoday.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/healthcare

Learn more about Versiti: https://versiti.org/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter and YouTube.

Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.

< + > HTI-5: Less Red Tape, More AI Flexibility for HTI-4’s Complex Requirements – Regulatory Talk Series

The following is a guest article by Nick Barger, PharmD, Vice President, Product at DrFirst.  This article is the next in the Healthcare Regulatory Talk series.

On December 22, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC) dropped the Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability (HTI-5) proposed rule.

And while the timing lived up to the ONC’s nickname as the “Office of No Christmas” (for its history of announcing regulatory changes toward the end of the year), the rule isn’t the “bah humbug” that EHR and health IT vendors have come to expect. Instead of adding compliance requirements, it takes some away.

With HTI-5, the ASTP/ONC seeks to “reduce burden, offer flexibility to both developers and providers, and support innovation through the removal and revisions of certain certification criteria and regulatory provisions.” If finalized, it would eliminate 34 of 60 criteria in the Certified Health IT Program, relax requirements around AI systems, and make it easier for patients to access their own health data.

The public comment period runs until February 27, 2026, with the final rule expected to match up with existing compliance timelines.

HTI-4 Deadlines Still in Place

Mandates for real-time prescription benefit (RTPB) checks, electronic prior authorization (ePA), and National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) SCRIPT Standards remain in place.

A reduction in administrative overhead from HTI-5 means vendors can increase their focus on improving e-prescribing workflows, benefiting prescribers, pharmacies, payers, and, most importantly, patients.

The goals of HTI-4 are unchanged, so it’s full speed ahead for the timeline and deadlines:

• Now through 2027. Complete RTPB and ePA development, certify all required features, and begin the testing phase.
• From 2026-2027. E-prescribing systems can still use SCRIPT 2017071 or 2023011.
• January 1, 2028. SCRIPT 2023011 required.
• January 1, 2028. RTPB becomes mandatory for Base EHR certification.

Beyond Checking the Box

As a vendor, you have a great deal of work to do in the next two years but also some intriguing opportunities for innovation. Now is the time to make thoughtful decisions — will you meet minimum requirements or will you aim to improve real-world clinical workflows in a way that goes above and beyond?

Despite advances, physicians and pharmacists continue to grapple with interruptions and rework. Without key information readily available in the prescribing workflow, patients encounter delays that prevent timely access to therapy. This leads to the time-consuming ping pong of back-and-forth communications: phone calls to verify prescription information, faxes requesting prior authorization, and messages about formulary alternatives. Each exchange delays fulfillment and adds more friction for providers and patients.

Prescription orchestration capabilities from DrFirst address the needs of pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), electronic health records (EHRs), providers, and patients.

Real-time workflow alignment ensures that all healthcare stakeholders automatically access necessary information—resolving issues pre-emptively so prescriptions reach the pharmacy ready to fill.  Simply passing data between doctor and pharmacy doesn’t cut it anymore, and recognizing that a new approach is needed is where the real opportunity lies.

The Bottom Line

HTI-4’s medication management requirements remain unchanged and urgent, and whether you decide to build or buy, the clock is ticking. RTPB and ePA will enable fundamental changes in how medications are prescribed, approved, and managed across healthcare systems.

Consider the significant resources it will take to build complex RTPB and ePA capabilities mandated by HTI-4 from scratch. You might decide to work with a trusted partner like DrFirst so you don’t have to sacrifice product differentiation in favor of compliance. Either way, look at this as an opportunity to level up your e-prescribing game.

If you’re looking to shift your strategy in the face of HTI-5 and learn about intelligent workflow innovations that go above and beyond the regulatory mandates of HTI-4, reach out to speak to one of our experts.

About Nick Barger, PharmD 

Nick is Vice President of Product at DrFirst, where he leads design and development of intelligent medication management solutions for the e-prescribing pioneer and the 270 EHRs and health information systems they partner with, providing clinical, regulatory, and digital workflow solutions that make healthcare more efficient and effective. Check out all the articles in the Healthcare Regulatory Talk series.

DrFirst is a proud sponsor of Healthcare Scene.

< + > This Week’s Health IT Jobs – February 4, 2026

It can be very overwhelming scrolling through job board after job board in search of a position that fits your wants and needs. Let us take that stress away by finding a mix of great health IT jobs for you! We hope you enjoy this look at some of the health IT jobs we saw healthcare organizations trying to fill this week.

Here’s a quick look at some of the health IT jobs we found:

• Health Information and IT Supervisor (On Site) – Tri-Cities Chaplaincy
• Cybersecurity Risk Manager – Healthcare – Baylor Scott & White Health
• VP and Chief Information Officer – The University of Texas Medical Branch
• Healthcare Financial Advisory Services Associate (Nationwide) – Huron
• Professional Compliance Program Manager II – Seattle Children’s
• Director, Medicaid Policy & Programs – Aurrera Health Group
• Senior VP, Chief AI, Data & Infrastructure Officer – Banner Health
• Project Manager IV – Healthcare IT/HRIS Systems – Healthcare IT Leaders
• Data Governance Specialist – Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island
• Finance Officer – Adventist Health
• Population Health Associate – Privia Health
• Oracle Health/Cerner IT Security Project Manager (Contract to Hire) – Divurgent
• Value-Based Care Analyst – Azara Healthcare
• Sr. Director, IT Project Management – Alzheimer’s Association
• Provider Data Management Analyst- Health Plan – Parkland Health
• Vice President of Technology – Full Circle Health Network
• Chief Digital Information Officer – AMN Healthcare Leadership Solutions
• Clinical Risk Management Data Analyst – Hartford HealthCare
• Senior Director, Revenue Integrity – Banner Health
• Associate Director, IT Compliance & Governance – Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.

If none of these jobs fit your needs, be sure to check out our previous health IT job listings.

Do you have an open health IT position that you are looking to fill? Contact us here with a link to the open position and we’ll be happy to feature it in next week’s article at no charge!

*Note: These jobs are listed by Healthcare IT Today as a free service to the community. Healthcare IT Today does not endorse or vouch for the company or the job posting. We encourage anyone applying to these jobs to do their own due diligence.