Inside the messy relationship between a medical records giant and healthcare's hottest AI startup (www.businessinsider.com)

Epic Systems — a dominant EHR vendor used by ~42% of U.S. hospitals — announced plans to build its own AI tools for clinicians, including an ambient transcription and visit‑summary scribe that directly competes with Abridge, the $5.3B startup that rose to prominence through a 2023 Epic integration and a now‑sold single‑digit Epic stake. Abridge’s product suite uses its own large language models to transcribe and summarize patient visits in real time and to automate downstream tasks (medical coding, prior authorizations), and the Epic deal gave it distribution into major systems (Kaiser, Mayo, Johns Hopkins) and rapid customer growth and funding. Epic is developing its scribe with Microsoft/Nuance and plans limited releases in 2026, underscoring how incumbents often incubate then replicate partner features. This shift is significant for AI/ML in healthcare because it highlights structural risks when startups build on proprietary platforms: incumbents can undercut partners via superior distribution, bundling, and scale — even if their ML is initially less advanced. Technical implications include pressure to differentiate models (domain accuracy, privacy, integrations), diversify EHR integrations (Cerner, Athena, Meditech), and move into adjacent revenue areas (RCM, acquisitions). The move also raises competitive and antitrust questions and could accelerate consolidation among venture-backed healthcare AI companies.