Epic Systems Corp. is integrating artificial intelligence into its software at a dizzying pace, with about 100 projects designed to streamline health care for patients and doctors. In the future MyChart, Epic's popular patient portal, could help patients manage their overall health or give them personalized health care reminders.
The company is even testing a bot that would use MyChart to replace a doctor's visit in some cases. Epic leaders touched on a few of the new AI-generated features at its annual User Group Meeting in Wisconsin on Tuesday, when about 12,000 people packed the Deep Space Auditorium as part of the weeklong conference. An additional 32,000 people, including Epic employees and health care professionals around the world, tuned in to CEO Judy Faulkner's address to hear developments for the popular patient interface MyChart and clinic-facing programs.
"If you think we've done a lot of creative new things in the last years, well, hold on to your hats," Faulkner said. "You ain't seen nothing yet." For patients, AI is likely to reshape how they use MyChart in the coming years.
Instead of using it periodically to check in for appointments and pay invoices, Epic hopes patients will use MyChart as more of an overall health management tool. In future iterations of MyChart, AI will recommend that patients take certain actions, such as scheduling an annual flu shot, or give them a checklist to prepare for surgery. MyChart will also connect to wearable medical devices, .