Oracle on Tuesday gave a sneak peek at its next-generation electronic health record, which it says has been rebuilt “from the ground up” more than two years since its acquisition of Cerner to ensure the security and performance of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Unveiled on Oracle Health Summit in Nashville, the novel EHR, which is expected to be ready for debut in 2025, is designed with artificial intelligence as a core component, the company says, with AI capabilities embedded “throughout the clinical process to automate processes and deliver insights at the point of care and dramatically simplify visit preparation, documentation, and monitoring for physicians and staff.”
The company says the novel EHR is also optimized for improved information exchange between payers and providers and increased ability to recruit patients to clinical trials.
Another stated goal of the novel system is to facilitate health system customers improve their financial outcomes while closing care gaps and achieving success through value-based care models.
According to Oracle, which touts a more intuitive design that includes conversational search and voice navigation, as well as multimodal search, the main goal was user experience – all to facilitate doctors more easily find information about vital signs, medications and notes and labs . AI-powered summaries also enable faster chart viewing.
The novel EHR system can be integrated with Oracle Health Command Center, which provides information on patient throughput, staffing and resource allocation. The solution is designed to include the Oracle Health Clinical AI agent to streamline documentation and automatic coding, the company says.
It can also embed AI-powered Oracle Health Data Intelligence technology, which collects patient data from thousands of sources – clinical, claims, social, pharmaceutical and more – for real-time insights to develop specific, targeted care plans and personalized medicine based on patients’ genetics.
A BIGGER TREND
Since completing its $28 billion acquisition of Cerner in June 2022, Oracle has been modernizing its various healthcare technologies with novel artificial intelligence capabilities.
Starting with Oracle Clinical Digital Assistant a year ago and first adding generative AI to EHR platforms, the company has since introduced other automation tools into its product suite along with novel enhancements such as pre-built clinical quality analysis tools and automated alerts to boost reimbursements to the Health Data Intelligence platform built on the basis of Cerner’s HealtheIntent platform.
Last month, the company unveiled enhancements to Oracle Health Seamless Exchange, novel enhancements to Oracle Health Ambulatory Referral Management, and other EHR product enhancements.
Oracle has been promising for some time that it will modernize its core health IT offerings and move “beyond EHRs.”
In September blog postOracle Health and Life Sciences CEO Seema Verma stated that “we need to change the EHR, not just resort to stopgap solutions.” She promised that with the cloud company’s “databases, cloud technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and enterprise solutions” we will provide more than just a point EHR solution.
Most recently, the company announced this week its intention to pursue Qualified Health Information Network status to facilitate its EHR customers more easily participate in information exchange under TEFCA’s nationwide interoperability framework.
ON RECORDING
“One of the most important and widely used technologies in healthcare today, the EHR, has failed to deliver on its promises,” Verma said in a statement. “Most EHRs were built in the 1990s and are ill-equipped to meet the complicated security requirements and clinical needs of today’s healthcare networks, physicians and patients. That’s why we’re completely reinventing the EHR.
“The next-generation EHR at Oracle Health is more than just a scribe or an assistant. “He is the best resident physician, the administrator’s most productive analyst, and the payer’s most effective partner in reviewing and approving treatment and payment,” she said.