News 8/29/25

Top News

ChatGPT maker OpenAI will reportedly build its own healthcare applications. 

The company has hired former health tech executives from Doximity and the investment community.

Business Insider reports that OpenAI is considering developing both consumer-facing and enterprise tools, including clinical triage, clinical documentation, and patient engagement.

Reader Comments

From Alabaster: “Re: Dr. Jayne’s concerns about OpenEvidence. What risks do you see for physician users?” I’m not an attorney, but my cursory review of the company’s Terms of Use and Business Associate Agreement suggests some areas of concern that, to be fair, are true of many clinician-targeted applications and services:

• The company can sell de-identified data and use records of detailed user interactions to train its models or for commercial purposes. That de-identified data may still contain enough specificity to allow re-identification of patients, especially in rare or unusual cases that are described in user prompts and are more likely when using a tool like this to find information.
• The BAA does not restrict the use of non-PHI or tracking technologies for ad targeting, which likely aligns with the company’s intent to sell ads to drug companies.
• The platform is labeled as educational only, leaving physicians fully liable for any clinical decisions it suggests or patient harm that results. The company caps its own liability at $100.
• Physicians may not be able to reproduce the AI’s previous outputs in a legal defense since the tool doesn’t guarantee version control or output retention.
• Doctors who submit patient-specific information without a signed institutional BAA could violate employer policy and HIPAA. The Terms of Use prohibit use on behalf of a hospital without legal authorization, and the tool may bypass hospital IT controls that were designed to ensure compliance. Using the product without institutional review and approval puts the risk squarely on the physician, with no guarantee of support in what could be a high-profile case given the trendy AI angle.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Alphabet’s Verily business shuts down its medical device division and doubles down on “precision health, AI, and data,” according to an internal memo obtained by media.

Sales

• Cleveland Clinic will implement Dyania Health’s AI-powered clinical trial matching tool.

People

Suresh Krishnan (Cone Health) joins Memorial Health (IL) as SVP/CIO.  

Announcements and Implementations

Providence evaluates Nuance DAX ambient documentation for family medicine physicians who were identified in Epic as working after hours or taking over a week to close notes. Burnout dropped from 57% to 27%, documentation frustration fell from 89% to 39%, and more doctors reported better patient connection. After-hours “pajama time” decreased from 107 minutes to 81. Note: the study group was tiny.

France-based HeartFocus launches FDA-cleared heart exam software in the US on Butterfly Network’s handheld ultrasound devices. The AI-powered tool enables any clinician to perform heart scans for early detection.

West Virginia University scientists develop AI models that detect signs of heart failure from ECGs rather than less-available echocardiography by incorporating local socioeconomic and environmental factors.

Altera Digital Health integrates Medicomp’s Quippe Clinical Intelligence Engine into its new ambient documentation solution for the TouchWorks EHR.

Artisight says that its smart hospital platform is the first that can autonomously document OR activity in the EHR using AI and computer vision. The system records patient entry and exit and procedure start and end time. It also prompts staff to complete next steps in their workflow.

Government and Politics

CMS opens a research challenge to identify innovative solutions that can detect Medicare fraud using claims data.

Drug companies launch a lobbyist-sponsored watchdog group whose goal is to limit Medicare drug price negotiations by requiring analysis of CMS data. A spokesperson for one of the lobbying firms says, “The vast majority of our effort is focused on the analytics, and we didn’t see anybody, including CMS, publicly reporting at this level of granularity. This data is hard to work with, so we are investing in this kind of information.”

HHS shifts enforcement of substance use records confidentiality from SAMHSA to the Office for Civil Rights, which also handles HIPAA enforcement. Observers worry that OCR, which was already stretched thin by staffing and budget cuts, won’t be able to complete investigations in a timely manner.

Privacy and Security

Mount Sinai Health System will pay $5.3 million to settle a proposed class action lawsuit that accused it of using pixel tracking tools to send patient portal and website visitor information to Facebook.

Sponsor Updates

• Capital Rx staff volunteer at a back-to-school event with the New York City Football Club and Niño de la Caridad Foundation.
• The Medicomp Systems “Tell Me Where IT Hurts” podcast releases a new episode titled “The Evolution of FDB” with FDB Executive Chairman Charles Tuchinda, MD.
• Artera announces that it has been named the named the 2025 Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Leader in the patient engagement platforms and solutions industry.
• Inovalon will work with Google Cloud to develop an AI-powered prior authorization solution for its Inovalon One Platform.
• Healthcare Growth Partners advises EVideon during its sale to TigerConnect.
• Health Data Movers releases a new episode of its “Quick HITs” podcast titled “Shaping the Future of Pediatric Healthcare IT, with Dr. Anita Harris-Brown.”
• Healthcare IT Leaders will exhibit and present at Workday Rising September 15-18 in San Francisco.
• Infinx releases a new episode of its “Revenue Cycle Optimized” podcast titled “Building a Strong Foundation in Soft Collections & Patient Services.”
• Navina will present at Hospitalogy’s VBC Retreat September 18 in Austin, TX.

Blog Posts

• What If You Could Secure Every Layer—And Prove It? (CloudWave)
• Amazon Connect: The No-Brainer Choice for Healthcare Business Continuity (CTG)
• Tailoring the Findhelp Social Care Network for Your Community: A How-To Guide (Findhelp)
• Seamless Patient Care Starts with Smarter Integration (Five9)
• Why a Risk Assessment is the First Step Toward Cyber Resilience in Healthcare (Fortified Health Security)
• Smarter Screening, Better Care: How Regional One Health Found At-Risk Patients Faster (Inovalon)
• Provider Data Management: AI, Interoperability, and the Future of Member Experience (Kyruus Health)
• Innovate and connect: Your invitation to Meditech Live25 (Meditech)
• Five Ways EHR Consulting Can Help Your Healthcare Facility Run Smoother (Med Tech Solutions)
• How to Design Your Clinical Data Registry for Maximum Value (MRO)

Sponsor Spotlight

This week, healthcare technology company RLDatix announced the launch of Smart Entry, a new AI-enabled feature designed to streamline documentation for safety event reporting. Proven to give time back to frontline staff, RLDatix’s Smart Entry is reducing event reporting time by up to 70%. RLDatix will be exhibiting with an immersive booth experience related to its Safety & Risk Management module, which houses Smart Entry, at the upcoming ASHRM 2025 conference from September 28-30, 2025. (Sponsor Spotlight is free for HIStalk Platinum sponsors).

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