Rush University System for Health is expanding its partnership with Suki, maker of an AI-backed healthcare voice tool, to deploy its AI clinical documentation assistant system-wide after a successful trial.

The rollout will provide clinicians across 28 specialties with access to Suki’s AI Assistant, which aims to reduce administrative tasks and enhance workflow efficiency by generating patient summaries, answering questions and simplifying coding.

The two organizations will also collaborate to develop an AI-driven dictation feature directly within Epic, Rush’s electronic health record (EHR) system, to integrate ambient and dictation technologies into a single platform.

In Rush’s initial deployment of Suki, nearly three-quarters of clinicians reported a reduction in burnout, and 95% expressed interest in continued use.

Additionally, Rush observed a 10% increase in patient encounters and a nearly 5% rise in Level 5 coding levels, generating an estimated $202 more per user per month.

"Suki’s ability to listen ambiently and generate robust documentation ensures all relevant medical details are captured, supporting more accurate coding and higher reimbursement," Punit Soni, CEO and founder of Suki, told MobiHealthNews.

Soni said Rush’s use of Epic’s EHR system makes Suki’s latest integration with Epic Haiku particularly valuable.

The AI Assistant, now embedded within Haiku, allows clinicians to document notes directly within Epic’s mobile platform.

"Suki Inside enables clinicians to document outpatient notes seamlessly within Haiku, review and edit them in Hyperspace, and integrate Suki’s capabilities across all care settings,” Soni said.

The planned co-development of a next-generation AI-powered dictation feature within Epic is designed to further improve workflow efficiency.

By converging ambient documentation and dictation into a single system, clinicians can choose an effective method to capture information.

"Dictation has long been a valuable tool in healthcare, and our collaboration with Rush will ensure next-gen dictation enhances efficiency and significantly reduces after-hours administrative work," Soni said.

"Our goal is to be a true assistant, helping clinicians manage all tasks and reducing their cognitive burden so they can focus on patient care."

Beyond documentation, Suki aims to streamline order entry and clinical reasoning by offering easy access to critical patient information.

"Suki already generates patient summaries ahead of each appointment, and soon, clinicians will be able to ask any medical question and receive answers from validated sources," Soni said.

Suki is also exploring ways to improve patient access and revenue cycle activities, such as automatically generating referral letters and supporting HCC capture.

"We’ve only scratched the surface of how Suki can support clinicians, and we are excited to make it an indispensable part of the clinical workflow," Soni said.

THE LARGER TREND

In October, Suki secured $70 million in Series D funding, bringing its total funding to $165 million, while announcing a partnership with Zoom to integrate its AI capabilities into Zoom’s telehealth platform.

Suki partnered with Google Cloud in December 2024, leveraging the search giant’s Vertex AI platform, to introduce new features for Suki’s AI Assistant, including patient summaries and a question-and-answer functionality.

Other players in the market include AI-enabled medical documentation company Abridge, which will provide Inova Health with a platform converting patient-clinician conversations into clinical notes for healthcare providers.

In 2023, Microsoft’s Nuance unveiled a GPT-4-powered app that generates clinician notes from patient conversations for review.