OpenAI has announced the integration of ChatGPT Health with Epic’s electronic health record (EHR) system, which manages data for over 325 million patients. This new feature enables clinicians to import patient data and utilize AI to generate inquiries about their patients’ health.
With this integration, healthcare professionals can easily access appointment notes, laboratory results, medications, and specialist documentation. The AI tool allows users to review patient history, identify changes, and prepare for upcoming appointments. In select systems, clinicians can interact with ChatGPT directly within EHR workflows, facilitating pre-visit reviews and the creation of clinical timelines without navigating away from patient charts. Importantly, the integration provides read-only access to health records, ensuring that AI does not alter any data.
Additionally, OpenAI is introducing a Healthcare Public Data plug-in, which can retrieve information from various sources such as ClinicalTrials.gov, CMS Coverage, RxNorm, DailyMed, and PubMed. This tool is designed to assist healthcare workers in synthesizing data for trial eligibility, medication identifiers, coverage policies, and provider records.
Beyond these features, organizations with a Business Associate Agreement can now utilize ChatGPT Work, Codex, apps, and connectors within their workflows, ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations.
Last month, OpenAI made ChatGPT available to all U.S. consumers, reporting that users submit approximately 300 million health-related queries weekly. Despite its extensive integration with medical systems, OpenAI has emphasized that its AI is not intended for diagnosis or treatment.
OpenAI has gathered over 4,300 responses from physicians across 27 clinical use cases, including pre-visit reviews and medication assessments, with a reported safety rate of 99.1%. However, the potential for harmful outcomes remains a concern, as even a small number of unsafe responses can have serious implications.
Shortly before this rollout, a pastor from Florida filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that ChatGPT provided a dangerous recommendation. This follows a previous lawsuit in May from the family of a user who alleged that ChatGPT offered incorrect dosage advice.