Athenahealth to offer Abridge’s AI scribe to its network of thousands of doctors

Health-care software vendor Athenahealth on Tuesday said it will offer Abridge’s artificial intelligence scribing tool to its network of more than 160,000 clinicians. 

Athenahealth has developed an electronic health record, revenue cycle management tools and patient engagement tools for ambulatory care providers, which include outpatient facilities like independent practices. The company introduced a solution called Ambient Notes in October that allows doctors to choose between various AI-powered documentation tools, and Abridge is the latest addition. 

Abridge uses AI to draft clinical notes in real time as doctors consensually record their visits with patients. The startup is part of a red-hot market that has exploded as health-care executives search for solutions to help reduce staff burnout and daunting administrative workloads. 

“The market is going to evolve rather rapidly, there are going to be winners and losers over time,” Athenahealth CEO Bob Segert told CNBC. “Different physicians will prefer different ways that notes are taken and that the information is delivered, and we want to be able to provide that flexibility.”

Athenahealth and Abridge declined to share the financial details of the partnership. 

Clinicians spend nearly nine hours a week on documentation, according to an October study from Google Cloud. And more than 90% of physicians report feeling burned out on a “regular basis,” according to a survey commissioned by Athenahealth last February. 

Companies including Abridge, Microsoft’s Nuance Communications, Suki and others say their AI scribing tools can help. Suki and iScribeHealth already offer their tools through Athenahealth’s Ambient Notes solution. 

“It’ll be incumbent upon us to make sure that we’re able to demonstrate differentiation,” Abridge CEO Dr. Shiv Rao told CNBC. “So far, we’ve had good luck these last few years doing that.”

Abridge has deployed its technology across more than 100 health systems in the U.S., including organizations like the Mayo Clinic, Duke Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The company announced a $250 million funding round earlier this month. It also unveiled a new Contextual Reasoning Engine that can pull information that’s relevant to a specific clinician and their clinic’s best practices. Abridge’s Rao said that technology will be available to Athenahealth clinicians. 

Athenahealth’s Ambient Notes solution is currently available in a limited capacity, but the company said it plans to widen availability for clinicians through 2025. 

“The more they try it, the more they like it, and I think we’re going to see a pretty steep adoption curve as this continues to move forward,” Segert said.