Durham Reporter

Duke Health and Abridge have announced a strategic partnership to explore innovations in healthcare AI. This collaboration involves the implementation of Abridge's AI-powered clinical documentation platform across Duke Health's primary and specialty clinics, impacting 5,000 clinicians.

The platform will be utilized within Duke Health Integrated Practice and Duke Primary Care clinics, aiming to streamline the integration of notes into patients' medical records during visits. Matthew Barber, M.D., interim senior vice president of Duke Health Integrated Practice, emphasized the benefits: “With this platform at our disposal, our clinicians are able to focus more fully on patients and less on documentation, restoring what the patient-clinician relationship is supposed to be about.”

Shiv Rao, M.D., founder and CEO of Abridge, highlighted the innovative nature of Duke Health: “This collaboration will accelerate our innovations to power deeper understanding in health care by unlocking the value in clinical conversations across additional use cases.”

Abridge’s technology aids in note-taking by generating AI-driven documentation from clinician-patient conversations. Clinicians can review and edit these notes before they are added to patient records. The aim is to reduce clinician burnout by minimizing time spent on administrative tasks.

In addition to deploying the clinical notes platform, Duke is exploring further collaborations with Abridge for developing other ambient AI applications. Jeffrey Ferranti, M.D., senior vice president and chief digital officer of Duke University Health System, remarked on the potential impact: “Our clinical expertise partnered with Abridge’s AI capabilities will lead to some truly impactful AI solutions.”