Epic Launchpad propels generative AI into everyday hospital routines
Epic Systems quietly rolled out Launchpad earlier this month, handing health systems a starter kit of ten generative-AI workflows plus an on-call Epic “shepherd” to steer projects around governance potholes. Becker’s Hospital Review tallies 377 Epic customers already live on at least one gen-AI feature, while 180 have flipped on the MyChart drafting assistant. Nurses at Mayo Clinic say that tool trims about 30 seconds from every patient reply, a saving confirmed in an EpicShare case study. Launchpad’s portfolio stretches beyond inbox replies, bundling note summarization and revenue-cycle cleanup under a governance playbook updated for user-assistive AI, as outlined on Epic’s own Generative-AI hub. Digital Health Wire reports the kit can take an idea from whiteboard to production “in days,” bypassing the months-long committee grind that usually stalls innovation. Sean McGunigal, Epic’s AI director, said earlier this week that 125 additional gen-AI tools are already in the queue. First-wave audit data expected later this summer will test whether those reclaimed minutes really dent burnout. Next up, let’s see how Abridge is chasing the same minutes inside the clinical note.
Abridge drafts pediatric notes so physicians stay with the kids, not the keyboard
Pittsburgh-based Abridge revealed on June 24 that it had landed a $300 million Series E at a $5.3 billion valuation, a leap covered by TechCrunch. The fresh capital arrived alongside an inpatient module that slides into Epic’s Haiku app, a move the company detailed in its Series E blog. Early pilots show note-closure times falling to under two minutes, and testers have awarded the pediatric template an average 4.5-star rating. Digital Health Wire notes that Abridge now supports more than 150 enterprise health systems and is on pace to assist in 50 million encounters this year, numbers that help explain investor enthusiasm in a cooling market.The module grew out of Epic’s Workshop co-development track, which Business Wire says short-circuits lengthy security reviews by vetting code inside Epic sandboxes. Rao’s next milestone is a revenue-cycle copilot that autocompletes billing codes as care unfolds. Keep that coding theme in mind, because the next story turns a smartphone camera into a real-time rehab coach.
Medbridge turns any phone into a motion-capture coach for at-home rehab
The latest Medbridge Pathways update lets a laptop or phone camera track joint angles, count reps and flag poor form without wearables, feeding data straight into the EHR through the platform’s motion-capture interface. Company dashboards show 3,500 provider organizations and 350,000 clinicians have assigned 86 million care programs, and internal audits claim 70 percent of users cut pain by 40 percent. A MedCity News profile adds that Intermountain Health and AdventHealth are embedding the workflow into hybrid rehab pathways to ease the load on overbooked physical-therapy clinics. Persistent adherence gaps make the stakes clear: a PLOS One study found only 43 percent of patients finish traditional home-exercise programs. By eliminating sensor kits and adding AI-generated progress summaries, Medbridge hopes to widen access for older adults who struggle with tech clutter. Peer-reviewed outcome data due later this autumn will decide whether those internal numbers hold. Stick around, because Microsoft is orchestrating an entire squad of clinical agents to tackle tumor-board prep.
Microsoft’s agentic AI orchestrator shrinks tumor-board prep from hours to minutes
Unveiled on May 19, the Healthcare Agent Orchestrator corrals radiology, pathology, staging and trial-matching agents so clinicians can work inside familiar Teams chats rather than juggling dashboards. Stanford Medicine, which reviews about 4,000 cancer cases each year, told Microsoft that the tool delivers a tenfold cut in prep time. A technical deep dive explains how Semantic Kernel keeps agent memory straight, while analyst site Maginative highlights one-click integration with Word and PowerPoint. Third-party extensions are arriving fast: pathology firm Paige has plugged its Alba copilot into the catalog so tumor boards can review slide analysis alongside imaging and genomics. Early partners Johns Hopkins, Providence Genomics and Mass General Brigham are measuring whether multi-agent workflows surface trial matches that humans miss, data expected later this year. If the pilots scale, agentic frameworks could become the connective tissue linking dozens of niche AI models across hospital corridors.
Image: PD
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