Oracle has launched a new cloud-based, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered electronic healthcare record (EHR) system for ambulatory providers to differentiate from its peers in the US EHR space.
Oracle Health EHR is built on the US multinational company’s Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Due to its AI underpinnings, healthcare providers (HCPs) can use voice commands with the new system, to call up information such as patients’ recent lab results or current medications.
Oracle said the AI agents embedded within its system can surface ‘critical insights’ and queue suggested actions for HCPs, thereby freeing them up to focus on their patients.
According to Oracle, the system has been trained on clinical concepts, including conditions, lab results, and medications, meaning its embedded AI agents “don’t just interpret text”, but also understand its clinical context.”
The new system’s rollout follows Oracle’s $28.3bn acquisition of Cerner in 2021. Upon its acquisition, the Cerner held a 24% share in the US EHR market but was fast losing ground to its main competitor, Epic, which held a 45% US market share at the time.
Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager at Oracle Health and Life Sciences commented: “When Oracle committed to transforming the healthcare industry, we knew we had to start with the EHR.
“While our competitors seem content with bolting features onto antiquated technology, we took on the enormous and highly complex challenge of creating an entirely new EHR, built in the cloud for the agentic AI era.”
The launch of Oracle’s EHR preceded the company’s forging of a deal with Google parent company Alphabet for the deployment of Google's Gemini artificial intelligence models through Oracle's cloud computing services and business applications. While it remains to be seen, the new partnership could influence Oracle’s mooted plans to expand the functionality of its EHR system throughout 2026.
EHR data is a vital source, yet in the US, access and application of the data has long been viewed as a challenge. This is mainly due to the fragmented nature of data sharing provisions across the broader US healthcare system. However, this may be due for a shakeup.
The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) announced plans to establish a framework to simplify the exchange of healthcare data between patients and providers in July. The healthcare agency said it plans to develop digital health ecosystem, the CMS Interoperability Framework, to “improve patient outcomes, reduce provider burden, and drive value”.
The CMS said it plans to outline criteria for a voluntary secure data exchange to establish the framework, which will be accessible to health information networks and exchanges, EHR providers, and technology platforms.
