Epic, as always, will have a sizable presence at the HIMSS24 Global Conference & Exhibition. The electronic health record developer often leads the way when it comes to innovation, and CIOs and other health IT leaders at hospitals and health systems of all stripes keep their eyes on what the vendor will do next.

Healthcare IT News sat down with Seth Hain, senior vice president of research and development at Epic, to get a preview of what the company will be debuting at HIMSS24 and an idea of the themes and technologies on which it will be focusing.

Q. What are some of the additions or changes you will be making to your EHR?

A. One exciting example is Best Care Choices for My Patient, which will support evidence-based medicine by giving providers insights into how patients like theirs have responded to the different treatment options they're considering. It’s rolling out in its early stages this year.

Another is the continued expansion of the health grid – with new payers and specialty diagnostic labs, and eventually new types of groups, like medical-device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. We’ve found that when a group joins the health grid, there is new value created for patients, providers and the new group.

Q. Artificial intelligence is the hottest topic in health IT today. What will you be discussing at HIMSS24 when it comes to AI?

A. We began by focusing our generative AI efforts on clinical efficiency, notably with suggested responses to patient messages and ambient listening. Outcomes from those early use cases were positive, with clinicians reducing their time spent writing messages by up to 27%.

As adoption picked up, we recognized the value that generative AI can create and the speed with which it can be implemented throughout the health system. Now, we're in the process of using it across our entire suite of products, with more than 60 projects in the pipeline.

They're for all types of Epic users – from the exam room to the back office, including coders. Along the way, we’re continuing our research in the space, exploring the latest models, and improving the depth and accuracy of the tools in our software.

Q. I'm sure you'll be making many announcements at the show. Please share a couple we can offer as a sneak preview.

A. Visitors to our booth will get a look at lots of updates from us. Here’s a small sample.

Our Cosmos team will focus on two areas – "expanding knowledge" and "improving care" – and how the organizations that participate in Cosmos have made all of it possible.

"Expanding knowledge" includes updates on customer research and the latest from Epic Research – like the recent study finding that many patients maintain weight loss a year after stopping semaglutide and liraglutide. "Improving care" includes new functionality like Look-Alikes, Best Care Choices for My Patient, and condition-specific growth charts.

We'll also have teams focusing on efficiency and optimization across the board. In the revenue cycle space, for example, coding automation is getting a boost with an AI-powered assistant that will streamline professional and hospital coding.

Other examples help customers maximize capacity by identifying unused time in their ORs, automatically creating and adjusting their infusion schedules, and forecasting capacity to make informed staffing decisions.

Many of our visitors at HIMSS are current customers, so this is a great opportunity to hear their thoughts on the new things they can do with the software. We’ll also highlight the several ways that Epic staff can help them succeed.

Through our new Level Up program, for example, we’re dedicating staff to help customers implement crucial features, prepare operations, and put them in a position to continue to optimize their software going forward.

Q. What is the overarching theme for Epic at this year's HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition?

A. HIMSS is a great chance to connect with customers, hear their current goals and challenges, and share what we're working on to help them. While the booth will cover all sorts of topics – across patient experiences, staff experiences, organizational efficiency and advancing medicine – the key message is, "We care about you doing well and we're here to help."

Epic will be in booths 1961, 3760-54 and VHQ1900 at the HIMSS24 Global Conference & Exhibition.

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Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.