The AI Revolution in Clinical Practice: Augmenting the Healthcare Practitioner
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is providing healthcare practitioners with powerful tools to streamline documentation, accelerate diagnosis, and enhance care coordination. Here is an expanded report on five leading AI applications.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into clinical settings marks a profound shift in how healthcare is delivered, moving beyond theoretical promise to practical application. Far from replacing human expertise, cutting-edge AI applications are designed to augment the capabilities of practitioners, addressing two of modern medicine's most pressing challenges: the escalating administrative burden and the need for accelerated, highly accurate diagnostic decision-making.
This essay explores five of the most impactful AI apps currently revolutionizing clinical workflows.
1. Abridge
Abridge uses proprietary Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to provide ambient clinical documentation. It securely records patient-clinician conversations, processes the natural dialogue in real-time, and auto-generates a structured, accurate draft clinical note (such as a SOAP note) that is immediately ready for review and insertion into the EHR (e.g., Epic integration).
This significantly reduces the cognitive load and time spent on clerical work for providers, with the goal of fighting clinician burnout.
- CEO, Co-Founder: Shivdev Rao, MD is a former cardiologist who co-founded Abridge to solve the problem of clinical documentation burden using AI. (Shivdev Rao, MD)
- CTO, Co-Founder: Zachary Lipton, PhD is a machine learning researcher and professor who leads the development of the company's "Contextual Reasoning Engine."
2. Viz.ai
Viz.ai offers an AI-powered care coordination platform with over 50 FDA-cleared algorithms that analyze medical imaging, including CT scans and EKGs, to automatically detect suspected diseases like Large Vessel Occlusion (LVO) strokes, Pulmonary Embolism (PE), and Aortic Dissection.
Upon detection, the platform instantly sends a secure, high-resolution alert and image to the entire multidisciplinary specialist team (e.g., neurosurgeon, interventional cardiologist) via mobile or desktop, drastically reducing time-to-treatment.
- Chief Operating Officer: Jieun Choe oversees the company's operations and commercial success in scaling its AI-driven care coordination solutions globally. (Jieun Choe)
3. Hinge Health
Hinge Health delivers a comprehensive digital musculoskeletal (MSK) clinic for patients suffering from back and joint pain. The solution uses computer vision via a smartphone or tablet camera to track patient movement and provide real-time feedback and guidance on personalized physical therapy exercises.
The holistic program combines on-demand digital exercise sessions with dedicated access to licensed physical therapists, health coaches, and an FDA-cleared pain relief device (Enso). It aims to reduce chronic pain, avoid unnecessary surgery, and lower opioid use.
- Co-Founder, Executive Chairman: Gabriel Mecklenburg co-founded the company and focuses on the strategic vision and growth of the digital MSK solution.
4. Corti
Corti specializes in AI-based decision support for high-stakes healthcare conversations, particularly in emergency settings and primary care. For 911/emergency calls, the AI analyzes both the dialogue and the non-dialogue sounds (like agonal breathing) in real-time to help call-takers and dispatchers more accurately detect critical illnesses, such as cardiac arrest, and guide them through optimal protocols.
The technology is also being applied to Ambient Clinical Documentation to structure complex patient narratives.
- Co-Founder & CEO: Andreas Cleve leads Corti in developing sophisticated AI to make real-time diagnostic recommendations and improve the quality and safety of patient interactions. (Andreas Cleve)
5. Qure.ai
Qure.ai provides AI solutions for medical imaging and radiology workflow, focusing on both the brain and chest. Their FDA-cleared algorithms quickly analyze X-rays and CT scans to automatically detect and localize over 50 abnormalities, including lung nodules, brain bleeds (intracranial hemorrhage), and signs of tuberculosis (TB). The platform helps radiologists prioritize critical cases (triage) instantly and serves as an important second reader, especially in resource-constrained settings.
- Founder & CEO: Prashant Warier is focused on leveraging deep learning and AI to make healthcare diagnostics more accessible and affordable globally.
- Co-Founder & CTO: Pooja Rao leads the technology development, ensuring the AI models provide accurate, robust, and clinically validated insights from medical images.
Fast Facts
How does AI integrate with my existing workflow (EHR/PACS)?
Most AI healthcare apps are built for augmentation. They integrate seamlessly using industry standards like HL7 and DICOM to pull data and push AI-generated insights (like draft notes or critical alerts) directly back into your Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS).
Is patient data secure and private when using these AI tools?
Yes. AI healthcare solutions are required to maintain strict compliance with global privacy regulations, such as HIPAA in the U.S. and GDPR. Data is typically encrypted, de-identified for training, and handled with multiple layers of enterprise-grade security controls.
Will AI replace the need for human practitioners?
No. The fundamental purpose of these applications is augmentation. AI excels at data analysis, pattern recognition, and automating routine tasks, freeing up the human practitioner's time to focus on complex decision-making, direct patient interaction, empathy, and holistic care.
