BOSTON — athenahealth, a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for healthcare practices and systems nationwide, has introduced its AI-native clinical encounter, a new experience designed to anticipate clinicians’ needs, surface relevant insights at the point of care, and generate documentation, orders, and diagnoses based on clinician-patient conversations. The new AI-native experience transforms the electronic health record (EHR) from a static system of record into an intelligent clinical partner, reducing administrative burden and helping clinicians focus more fully on patient care.
“The future of healthcare technology isn’t about making doctors work the way the system works—it’s about making the system work the way doctors work,” said Bob Segert, chairman and CEO of athenahealth. “With our new AI-native clinical encounter, we’re ushering in a new era where technology fades into the background. It listens to the visit, understands the context, and engages in real time—so clinicians can focus on what truly matters: the patient.”
The AI-native clinical encounter, which will enter user testing in the first half of 2026, represents a fundamental redesign of the EHR, shifting from a recordkeeping tool to an interactive, adaptive platform built to enhance clinician efficiency and satisfaction. The new experience integrates a range of AI capabilities already in use by athenahealth customers, offering a more intuitive, clinician-centered workflow.
At the core of this transformation is athenaAmbient, a new ambient digital scribe built into athenaOne that automates draft notes, diagnoses, and prescriptions. During a visit, athenaAmbient provides context-aware suggestions and reminders to ensure comprehensive documentation and address care gaps. The tool will begin user testing in February 2026 and will be available to all athenahealth customers at no additional cost through standard software updates.
Complementing athenaAmbient is Sage, an AI-driven clinical copilot currently in limited release. Embedded within athenaOne, Sage enables clinicians to retrieve patient-specific information quickly by understanding the full patient chart and answering clinical questions about medical history or prior care.
These AI-native innovations are designed to streamline the patient visit, reduce documentation time, and elevate patient-centered care. Patient summaries provide concise, problem-oriented snapshots of a patient’s health history, while the “Changes since last visit” feature highlights key developments and results sourced from the chart and external systems via ChartSync, athenahealth’s interoperability engine. “What to know today” offers a focused summary of the reason for the visit and relevant clinical insights. Sage can be accessed anytime for pre-visit preparation or in-visit reference, while athenaAmbient captures patient conversations to automatically generate draft notes, orders, and prescriptions for both in-person and telehealth encounters.
After each visit, clinicians can close encounters quickly using athenaAmbient’s ready-to-review draft notes and pre-populated diagnoses, prescriptions, and orders. This streamlined process supports timely completion, faster reimbursement, and reduced after-hours work.
“With the next generation of our solution, athenahealth’s AI capabilities are deeply embedded across the clinical experience, enabling cohesive, intelligent workflows that redefine efficiency and care delivery,” said Chad Dodd, vice president of product management at athenahealth. “Building on years of interoperability leadership, athenahealth has connected millions of clinical data points that, together with our Advanced Intelligence Layer, form the foundation of athenaOne’s AI. This integration allows us to deliver meaningful, actionable insights at the point of care, so clinicians can focus more on their patients.”
The AI-native clinical encounter is powered by athenahealth’s Advanced Intelligence Layer, a suite of tools that draw insights from a wide range of data sources, including EHRs, payers, and registries. Supported by athenaOne’s cloud-native platform, this infrastructure allows rapid development and deployment of AI features across the company’s nationwide network, driving continuous improvement in clinical intelligence and user experience.
