EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 11/20/25

Hot off the presses, the new Oracle Health EHR has received certification for ambulatory use and approval for electronic prescribing of controlled substances.

Oracle claims that the EHR was built independently of the original Cerner platform and that it has AI integrated within the system rather than being an add-on. The tool includes AI-supported information retrieval using voice commands and contains information on diagnoses and lab results that are specific to an individual patient context.

The EHR was certified by the Drummond Group, and details about the certification can be found here. For those who may have seen it, I’m curious how different it is from the current Oracle offerings and how the usability compares. If anyone from Oracle Health is interested in sharing a demo, feel free to reach out.

I recently learned that the AMA Journal of Ethics will cease publication, with the December 2025 issue being its last. The news was unexpected, especially considering that authors and editors were planning issues through 2026 and into 2027.

The journal was unique because of the involvement of students and trainees who worked in partnership with professional editors to create themed issues. Speculation is that the Journal’s demise is largely due to financial issues, since it is open access and generates no advertising revenue.

Many physicians are skeptical about the value of the American Medical Association in today’s healthcare climate, and the Journal could have been viewed as something they funded purely because it was the right thing to do. Eliminating it brings up questions about the direction of the organization and the other factors that might have been at play in the decision.

The Minnesota Department of Health is preparing to include wastewater data in its disease surveillance reporting, although I haven’t seen it appear yet on the department’s website. Wastewater sampling gained widespread attention during the COVID pandemic as a method of detecting potential outbreaks. It has also been used to monitor the spread of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. Given waning vaccination rates, having passive capabilities for early detection is essential.

Medical students are panicking after the news that an AI tool that is used for residency application review and screening has made errors in the display of student grades. The tool was designed to transfer grades from academic transcripts to a summary page. The vendor did its best to minimize the issue, stating that, “there is no current evidence that applicants’ interview outcomes have been impacted.”

The company plans to form an AI advisory board with student members as well as representatives from medical schools and residency programs. They are also building a portal that will allow students to see how their data is displayed and indicate whether it is accurate. This is slated to be live by the summer of 2026, but I imagine the incident will result in a lack of confidence among users.

For those of us who worked on the front lines during the worst parts of the COVID pandemic, speculation continues about the potential long-term side effects of the virus given its impact on so many tissues and body systems. It may be decades before we know, similar to when researchers discovered that shingles is linked to the chicken pox virus.

Along those lines, a recent article in Science Translational Medicine looks deeper at the evidence that links Epstein-Barr virus and the development of systemic lupus erythematosus. Given the high rates of exposure to the virus and the many different impacts of lupus, this is exciting research.

Speaking of academic pursuits, a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the impact of social media posts on the promotion of certain prescription medications. Social media content is more challenging to regulate than old-school TV or radio commercials since influencers often do not declare the sources of their funding.

The authors looked at a sampling of social media posts from 2023 and found that “drug promotion content is frequently posted by individual creators, lacks essential risk information, and bears the hallmarks of undisclosed marketing.” Physicians are already burned out, and having to educate and counsel patients about the veracity of claims by individual content creators is just one more thing weighing down on them.

Another AMIA Annual Symposium is in the books, and I have to say I’m tired. It was five days of full-throttle clinical informatics presentations, punctuated by ad hoc conversations, sharing ideas, and meeting new people.

I had an unusually chatty Uber driver on my way back to the airport and was surprised to learn that he is a former healthcare executive from one of Atlanta’s larger integrated delivery networks. After 20 years in the business, he decided that he didn’t want to be part of a process that was causing moral injury to physicians and limiting options for patients. He is doing contract work for a medical publishing company, but enjoys occasional Uber trips for the social outlet. I’m not sure if his other fares this week were healthcare-adjacent or not, but it was an interesting conversation.

Although sessions formally concluded midday Wednesday, many of the attendees wrapped it up at the AMIA Dance Party on Tuesday night. As I was catching up on email, I was delighted to see a conversation on the AMIA Connect forum that looked at what kinds of playlists various large language models might generate for such an occasion.

Based on a prompt about attendees ranging from their 20s to their 70s, Gemini 3.0 referred to the multi-generational dance floor as “the Holy Grail of JD scenarios.” Gemini offered commentary on each of the selections (referring to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” as “the ultimate drunk uncle song” and offered two “emergency rescue” options should the DJ lose control. It also offered to convert the list into a Spotify-ready format.

ChatGPT 5.1 offered a list to make attendees “happy and mildly dehydrated,” but didn’t offer song-specific commentary. It did offer tips on actually making the mix happen.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 promoted its list by saying it “avoided jarring genre jumps that would empty the dance floor” and had some descriptions with the song list, but they weren’t as expansive as what Gemini offered.

Meta Llama 4 offered an oddly numbered list that had little commentary.

I’m curious if anyone else has done an event playlist using AI and whether it delivered as much fun as you hoped. Will we see AI replacing DJs in the future? Inquiring minds want to know.

What song should no dance party be without? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.