How Wolters Kluwer is Bringing AI to Electronic Health Records

Revolutionizing clinical decision support: Wolters Kluwer Health is integrating its popular UpToDate tool into electronic health records (EHRs) through Wellsheet’s AI-powered interface, aiming to streamline doctors’ access to critical medical information.

• Concord Hospital Health System in New Hampshire will be the first to pilot this integration, combining UpToDate’s trusted clinical content with Wellsheet’s EHR-embedded interface.
• The integration aims to provide physicians with contextually relevant information directly within their workflow, potentially reducing cognitive burden and improving efficiency.
• UpToDate, with over 3 million users worldwide, is one of the most widely used knowledge resources for healthcare professionals, offering curated and vetted clinical evidence.

Key features of the integration:

• In the initial phase, UpToDate’s lab and clinical calculator interpretations will be integrated into Wellsheet, which is embedded in Concord’s Oracle Cerner EHR system.
• Physicians will receive direct links to relevant UpToDate content when reviewing patient data, such as explanations for abnormal lab values or disease risk calculators.
• The integration is designed to present only the most relevant information to physicians, avoiding information overload and unnecessary interruptions.

Potential benefits for healthcare providers:

• The combined solution aims to make clinical work easier and more efficient by presenting data in a more digestible and convenient format.
• By incorporating evidence-based reference content directly into the EHR workflow, the integration could lead to improved patient outcomes and reduced length of stay.
• The system is expected to help address the growing challenge of managing the vast amount of healthcare data, which is projected to account for 36% of the world’s data volume by 2025.

Addressing AI concerns in healthcare:

• Unlike some AI-powered clinical decision support tools that risk producing hallucinations, the UpToDate-Wellsheet integration relies on vetted, trustworthy content.
• The risk of AI-generated misinformation is “virtually zero” according to Dr. Christopher Fore, chief quality officer at Concord Hospital Health System, due to the use of referenced and reviewed clinical information.
• This approach aims to empower clinicians to make better decisions by providing them with reliable information rather than removing them from the decision-making process.

Future implications and expansion:

• Wellsheet plans to expand this integration to other health systems nationwide, particularly those already using both UpToDate and Wellsheet.
• The solution is described as easy to implement and highly scalable, potentially allowing for rapid adoption across healthcare providers.
• Future AI applications in healthcare could include more advanced features, such as automatically identifying patients who haven’t refilled prescriptions, further reducing administrative burdens on healthcare providers.

Balancing innovation and caution: While the integration of UpToDate and Wellsheet represents a significant step forward in clinical decision support, it’s important to note that the broader application of AI in healthcare still requires careful consideration and rigorous testing to ensure patient safety and clinical efficacy.