KLAS’ Coray Tate Calls Oracle’s Ambient Solution a Step in the Right Direction

KLAS Research recently published a “First Look” Insights Brief on Oracle Health’s Clinical AI Agent for Note Generation based on interviews with 17 health system executives. Lead author Coray Tate, KLAS’ vice president of clinician experience & interoperability, recently spoke with Healthcare Innovation about why the results signal a positive trend for Oracle Health. 

Overall, the the report noted that customer impressions of Oracle’s Clinical AI Agent were positive, with users describing it as a well-integrated tool that enhances both clinical note quality and provider-patient connection. 

Healthcare Innovation: Why was KLAS interested in doing this first look at the Oracle Clinical Agent for note generation? Why was this a good time to check in on that?

Tate: With the whole transition from Cerner to Oracle Health, Oracle came in and made some really big promises, with some visionary talk, and yet the day-to day-experience of the customer was not changing. Actually, it was probably getting a little bit more tumultuous. This is really the first stake in the ground that Oracle is really putting in as far as delivering something. We know this is just the note generation piece, but we felt like we needed to get a reality check on what is actually coming out and happening with note generation.

HCI: From your report, it sounds like one of the key reasons that customers chose it was for the seamless EHR integration — the fact that it's native to the EHR. Is this an advantage that companies like Epic, Oracle, Meditech, and athena are always going to have over these third-party vendors like Suki, Nabla and Abridge?

Tate: It’s going to depend. Epic announced at their User Group Meeting that they were going to do their own. They had previously been figuring out a way for other folks to just tie in. But it's kind of been the story in the EHR market for the past 10 years that if something's built in natively, it typically is most providers’ first choice. Not always is it the case that it's more robust, but it is easier to maintain. You’ve got one vendor. If it’s done well, then it seems to be the de facto choice.

HCI: With the Oracle solution, another benefit that the customers mentioned was flexible cost options — that they can choose to pay by user or by usage. The report says this allows them to align cost with utilization and outcomes while scaling across different specialties. How different is that from any pricing models they might see from those third-party vendors or in other situations?

Tate: Typically, what we hear the provider organizations talk about is some sort of per-user license, and they have to manage that. So you may buy five licenses, and you give it to five people and only four of those use it, so you still have a license that you're paying for that's not getting used. The way that the Oracle Health customers are talking about it is that it's basically paying by the note. You don't have licenses; you can just turn it on and let somebody try it. If they don't use it, you're not paying. And then if somebody is getting a lot of value out of it, you're only paying for where it's delivering value to your end user. 

HCI: Most users in the report seem pretty satisfied with the product accurately capturing notes. In KLAS’ broader research on other solutions, is that true across the board — that everyone has that basic functionality working pretty well or is it all over the map?

Tate: Yes, the ambient has gotten really pretty good. So we're hearing about multiple languages being supported, and the accuracy getting better. They still have to have a human look at it, and make sure that it's right. But  there have not been big complaints about accuracy from pretty much anybody that I'm aware of at this point, no matter who the vendor is. And I think that the ambient side of things is quickly going to become a commodity. It doesn't fit every situation, and not every doctor is going to use it. But by and large, it's going to become available to pretty much anybody who wants it. We hear folks talking now about expanding out into helping with orders. So it'll hear you talk about an order and tee that up or a referral, or a medication. There are all kinds of different areas where this has the potential to help take additional load off of the provider, more than just the note generation.

HCI: Could Oracle's ability to deliver on AI solutions potentially shift perceptions and help it win over more large health system EHR customers?

Tate: Yes. There’s still a lot to be done. But this was the first stake in the ground of Oracle delivering something that they said they were going to do, and having it land in a way that has caught their customers’ attention. And the customers are saying this could be really good. We are feeling a change in the tone of the conversation from one that a year ago was really pretty frustrated. In general, there were a few folks who were optimistic that things were going to get better, but by and large, it was mostly people saying things are tough. Now it's changed to where they’re  saying this could be really good, and we may be with the right vendor right now.

Again, there's a lot of water that's got to get down the river on this and be delivered in the way that this ambient speech solution has been delivered. But if things land that way, and they start to fulfill these promises that they've made, it'll be good to have a more competitive market.

HCI: You know, when I interview chief medical information officers about these ambient AI implementations, they say to me that they can't think of any other tech solution that's been as well received by physicians in their organization.

Tate: Well, if you think about the move to to an electronic health system, where everybody's on this digital foundation, it really has been something that has been more for the health system than it has been for the clinician, right? The clinicians have felt the brunt of having to learn these new systems that are made to collate data and watch how you're performing as an organization. They just keep getting asked for more and more details. I think that this is the first thing that's really been done for clinicians specifically to improve their lives, not just to make the health system better. Interestingly enough, we're now hearing the health system say, yes, but what is this going to do for us? How is it going to help us capture more revenue?