MEDITECH is going to integrate voice-driven AI technology from Nuance Communications into Expanse, its flagship Electronic Health Records platform.

The collaboration is aimed at bringing the advantages of Nuance’s Dragon Medical Virtual Assistant to end users’ of Expanse, allowing medical professionals to do things like retrieve patient lists and search records through voice interaction. Elaborating on the workflow efficiency this can deliver, MEDITECH Physician Consultant Dr. Howard LeWine explained in a statement, “By using Nuance’s Virtual Assistant, I can easily ask for the chart information, such as last EKG or colonoscopy report, and order tests and medications without interrupting my interaction with the patient.”

The partnership seems to be a natural enough development: As far back as 2016, an MD and CMIO executive with non-profit health system CHRISTUS Health attested after the company implemented the Nuance Dragon Medical platform that it proved to be compatible with EHR platforms already used by the organization, including that of MEDITECH.

Now, the official integration of Nuance’s Dragon Medical Virtual Assistant platform will serve to further strengthen Nuance’s position in the healthcare market, with the company having seen its Dragon Medical One solution embraced by a Georgia-based hospital network toward the end of last year.

Nuance and MEDITECH say they will demonstrate their AI technologies at the upcoming HIMSS 2019 conference, which is scheduled to run from February 11th to 15th in Orlando.