Next up for EHRs: Vendors adding artificial intelligence into the workflow

Artificial intelligence and machine learning permeated HIMSS18 such that the dynamic duo was just about everywhere in Las Vegas last week. From expected experts such as long-time Google executive Eric Schmidt to surprise speakers, notably White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, discussing it on stage, the promise was palpable, the use cases more numerous than ever before. Add EHR vendors to that roster. Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner, eClinicalWorks and Epic revealed big plans for adding AI into the workflow in forthcoming iterations of their electronic health records platforms. Anyone who hoofed it over to Microsoft's booth may have encountered a rendering of something at least conceptually similar in the form of a Surface monitor displaying Epic's EHR and AI running in conjunction with Microsoft's Azure.