Athenahealth Launches Tool To Connect Patient Records With AI Assistants

Athenahealth, an electronic health record company, is now allowing patients to link their health records with outside AI assistants, starting with Anthropic's Claude. This connection is designed to provide patients with more personalized health information. The company's goal is to make it easier for patients to access and understand their health data.

The new connection, called athenaPatient MCP, uses a protocol to securely link Claude with athenahealth's platform. Patients can choose what information to share with Claude and can revoke access at any time. The company ensures that patient credentials are not shared with Claude and that all information is encrypted.

According to athenahealth's chief product and operations officer, Paul Brient, this connection will help reduce complexity and enable patients to take a more active role in their care. The company is committed to responsible AI integration and will only allow access to AI assistants that do not use patient information for training purposes.

Athenahealth's decision to open up patient health records to AI assistants reflects a growing trend of patients using AI tools for health-related purposes. A recent survey found that over a third of US adults have used AI assistants for health-related purposes, including looking up symptoms and understanding diagnoses.

The company plans to expand this connection to other AI models in the future, but has not provided details on which models will be included. Brient noted that the company's strategy is not built around a specific AI model, but rather on providing a secure way for patients to use their health information with the AI assistants they choose.

Athenahealth's EHR platform is cloud-based and open, allowing patients to access their health information securely. The company's objective is to create a seamless experience for patients to use their health information with AI tools. By doing so, patients can ask questions about their health information using natural language and receive personalized answers.

The launch of athenaPatient MCP is seen as a first step in a broader strategy to allow patients to use AI tools with their health records. Athenahealth executives believe that this will lead to more informed patients and more productive conversations with healthcare providers. This article is based on reporting by Fierce Healthcare.