Campus to Commure: Purdue University

The reasons obstetricians chose medicine have little to do with the administrative demands that now dominate the clinical day. Documentation, coding, regulatory training, and the accumulating obligations of the electronic record have steadily encroached on the time clinicians can devote to their patients.

At Ob Hospitalist Group (OBHG), where more than 2,000 clinicians deliver vital women’s health services across the country, this growing imbalance has become increasingly difficult to sustain. That’s why OBHG’s adoption of Commure’s Autonomous Coding marks a decisive shift to restoring time, precision, and focus they need at the point of care. And for clinicians like Dr. Jana Thor, an OB/GYN hospitalist with OBHG, the impact has been both immediate and profound.

“Anything That Gives Us Time Back for Patient Care Is an Asset”

Like many physicians, Dr. Thor approached artificial intelligence in healthcare with hesitation.

“I was skeptical about AI in the clinical setting at first,” she admits. “But Autonomous Coding has been eye-opening. It doesn’t replace physicians or what we do. With the shortage we’re facing as clinicians, anything that saves us time so we can focus on patient care is an asset.”

For years, her coding workflow reflected the same frustrations expressed by clinicians across every specialty: manually entering patient identifiers; searching repeatedly for codes already documented; clicking through fields to supply information already contained elsewhere in the chart; and duplicating work that felt both inefficient and inescapable.

“My old workflow was painful,” she recalls. “Before you could even get to the coding, you had to manually enter the medical record number, date of birth, patient name. Even when your note was detailed and included diagnoses codes, you still had to hunt them down again.”

A Streamlined, Documentation-First Workflow

Commure’s Autonomous Coding fundamentally reshapes that experience. The system interprets clinical documentation (including CPT codes, ICD-10 diagnoses, and modifiers) and uses proprietary AI to autonomously generate the appropriate charge in seconds. What once required extensive manual entry and cross-checking now happens as a natural extension of the physician’s documentation workflow.

“Autonomous Coding has taken all of that and put it into a streamlined process,” Dr. Thor says. “It saves time. It saves clicks. It eliminates duplicate work. I don’t ever see going backwards. It’s a game changer for our workflow and practice.”

Her experience reflects OBHG’s broader results. Within months of launching Commure’s technology at pilot sites, the organization saw:

• 85%+ of charges coded using AI

• An 83% reduction in clinician time spent entering charges

• Improved accuracy through identification of codes clinicians may have missed manually

For frontline physicians, the value is felt moments regained and cognitive load reduced.

A Future Built on Clinician Time and Clinical Excellence

The accelerating demands of modern medicine are not easily reversed. But with the right infrastructure, they can be rebalanced. OBHG’s deployment of Autonomous Coding demonstrates what is possible when technology is shaped around clinicians rather than the other way around. The result is elevated accuracy, efficiency, and the centrality of patient care.

Autonomous Coding is a critical link in a larger, end-to-end revenue cycle workflow that’s part of the patient journey. Paired with Commure Engage and Ambient AI at the front end and supported by the back-end intelligence of Commure RCM, it forms a unified chain from clinical conversation to coded, optimized claim. This cohesion is what transforms isolated gains in efficiency into system-level improvement for patients, clinicians, and operations.

Learn more about the Commure’s partnership with Ob Hospitalist Group.

At Commure, our default mode is heads down: building, refining, and deploying AI side-by-side with our customers. Once a year, we step back and take stock of the impact in context of the Commure Pinnacle Awards. The awards themselves aren’t the point; what matters is recognizing the people who are doing the hard, necessary work to make healthcare better.

This year, we recognized:

System Impact: The Momentum Maker‍‍

Evan Kramer has played a pivotal role in bringing AI and automation to Compassus’ nationwide nursing workforce, enhancing provider satisfaction, retention, and patient access. Compassus, an integrated home-based care provider operating across 35 states with 8,000 nurses, has seen measurable impact under his leadership.

Kramer established the company’s Operational Excellence function, which has helped to drive a 70% adoption rate for AI-driven IDG documentation, reducing documentation time by 70% for this workflow. These efficiencies have enabled Compassus to expand patient access without increasing staff, while also improving clinician satisfaction, giving nurses “their Saturday's back”.

Human Impact: The Heart of Innovation

Gary Avery has driven transformative improvements in patient access and financial health at Optimus Health Care, a Federally Qualified Health Center providing preventive, primary, behavioral and specialty care to patients of all backgrounds. By championing the shift to Commure Engage, he delivered immediate, quantifiable results: patient response rates nearly doubled, rising to an impressive 39%. His efforts boosted outstanding balance collections by 106% annually. Building on this success, Gary is now leading the Commure Agents project to further streamline patient access and scheduling, and extend his vision of more connected, compassionate healthcare.

Clinical Impact: The Digital Doctor

Dr. Kermit A. Murray began as an early adopter of Commure Ambient AI. Recognizing its impact, he took the initiative to promote the solution in a newsletter he manages for Tenet’s physicians, sharing practical tips and success stories to encourage adoption. He’s helped to champion its rollout, bringing more than 100 providers onto the platform across the Arizona Market.

His leadership has gained visibility across Tenet, leading to his appointment by the VP of Tenet Physician Resources to co-chair the systemwide Primary Care Council and aid in AI implementation. In this role, Dr. Murray collaborates with fellow CMOs to scale innovation, enhance clinical workflows, and set a new benchmark for physician-led AI transformation.

‍Power User: The “Mic Drop” Award

As a telehealth, internal medicine, and primary care physician, Dr. Hanbin Zheng has seamlessly integrated Ambient AI into his daily clinical routine, leveraging it to serve a high volume of 30-40 patients every day with precision and empathy. He is on track to complete over 8,000 scribed notes by year’s end, a remarkable testament to his consistency and commitment.

Rendr Care is the largest and most comprehensive multi-specialty medical group dedicated to serving the Chinese community in New York City. With more than 250 providers caring for approximately 166,000 primary care patients across 100+ clinic sites, Rendr plays a crucial role in delivering accessible, high-quality, and culturally attuned care throughout the city’s Chinese neighborhoods.

Celebrating Today’s Innovators, Inspiring Tomorrow’s Progress

As Deepika Bodapati shared with attendees, “The most successful products and launches come from close collaboration between our engineers and our customers. These awardees show exactly what’s possible when technology truly works for people.”

To inquire about next year’s invite-only event, reach out at nexus@commure.com.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you like to do outside of work? 

I'm pretty active, I enjoy surfing, training for triathlons, and hiking. Most of my hobbies involve being outdoors in some form. In the evenings, my wife and I usually unwind with whatever show we're watching. We just finished Yellowstone and absolutely loved it.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

Initially, an artist, though that didn't last too long. Then I was set on becoming a doctor for quite a while. That path has changed, but my interest in healthcare never did!

Describe a day in the life of your role. 

Every day brings something different, which keeps things interesting. I typically start by organizing priorities for myself and my team, then we have a standup to discuss any issues and align on the day ahead. From there, it varies, including architecture design meetings, client calls, heads-down coding, addressing escalations, or helping teammates solve problems. There's always something new to tackle.

What made you decide to join Commure? 

I've always been drawn to healthcare. In college, I majored in Computer Science but also completed all the pre-med requirements because I was genuinely torn between the two paths. I ultimately realized I wanted to build technology for healthcare rather than practice medicine. I also knew I wanted to join a company where I could take on significant ownership and grow quickly. Commure offered exactly that combination.

How would you describe the Commure company culture? 

Passionate and driven. Everyone here genuinely cares about what we're building and the customers we serve. We move quickly and hold ourselves to a high standard, but people are energized by their work. There's a real willingness to roll up your sleeves and tackle the hard problems together.

What advice would you give someone on their first day at Commure? 

Be proactive. Ask questions when something isn't clear. Introduce yourself to people whose work you admire. Speak up if there's a particular problem you want to work on. The opportunities here are real, but you have to take initiative to seize them.

What has been your greatest accomplishment so far at Commure? 

I was on of a small team of engineers tasked with a complete rebuild of our payment infrastructure. Managing a project of that scale while supporting millions of dollars in payments wasn't something I expected to do this early in my career. It's a strong example of what's possible here when you're willing to take on challenging work.

Interested in a career building the next generation of healthcare technology powered by AI? We are always looking for talented people across our departments.

Explore Career Opportunities

“Coding that once took minutes can be reviewed in seconds, which adds up quickly across a full clinic day.”

As Commure’s Clinical Strategy Lead, Dr. Aabha Morey brings together her experience as a primary care physician in India and her work across healthcare technology to help organizations adopt AI thoughtfully and effectively.

In this edition of Commure Uncharted, she breaks down why coding remains such a burden for clinicians, how generative AI has changed the landscape, and what health systems should consider when evaluating autonomous coding tools and their ROI.

Q: Why is coding still such a persistent pain point for providers and health systems?

Clinicians are trained to care for patients, not to code. Their day is already filled with diagnosing, coordinating care, and documenting visits. Coding becomes yet another task layered on top of an overloaded workflow, and if it is not done or not captured correctly, the visit cannot be reimbursed. Because coding has never been core to medical training, it often falls through the cracks. This gap makes the process both burdensome for clinicians and well-suited for generative AI tools that can take on the administrative lift.

‍Q: Why is the industry finally ready for fully or near-fully autonomous coding after years of attempts?

The shift is largely driven by advances in generative AI. Models are improving every few months in how well they understand clinical text and even clinical images. At the same time, health systems are under increasing financial pressure from reimbursement cuts, so they are looking for tools that help them capture the revenue they have already earned. Human coding is imperfect and often leaves money on the table. With the technology now strong enough to interpret documentation with far greater depth and consistency, interest in autonomous coding has grown significantly.

There has also been a cultural shift. As generative AI has become more accessible, people can see its value firsthand in their daily lives, which makes them more open to using it in clinical settings. I also see health systems approaching adoption responsibly by focusing on accuracy and data standards. Overall, the industry is more welcoming of AI than ever before, especially in areas like coding that have been long-standing pain points.

‍Q: What kind of time savings can clinicians realistically expect, and how does that time translate back into patient care?

In a recent study with a customer using our autonomous coding solution, clinicians saved up to 83 percent of the time they previously spent coding. That is time they can redirect back to patients, their teams, or even themselves. In many cases, the savings can be even higher. What used to take three minutes to code manually now takes under thirty seconds because clinicians only need to review what the AI generated.

‍Q: How do you balance physician oversight with automation to maintain trust in the system?

Clinicians still review and sign off on every AI-proposed code. AI can make mistakes, but most issues we see stem from conflicting information within the note itself. The key is using established guardrails already familiar in coding. For example, code edits flag combinations that should not appear together. If a note triggers a code edit or reflects a higher-complexity visit, it can be routed for additional review.

Autonomous coding does not mean bypassing clinicians. Instead, it gives them a faster way to validate codes with clear rationale and citations from the note, which turns what used to be a lengthy search into a quick review.

‍Q: Do you think we will ever reach a point where clinicians no longer need to sign off on notes and the coding process becomes fully automated?

Yes, it is a matter of when, not if. Lower-complexity, highly predictable visit types already follow patterns that lend themselves well to full automation. Those cases could be coded without a human in the loop. Higher-complexity visits or notes with inconsistencies will still need clinician review. Over time, as models improve and guardrails like code edits mature, more of the routine coding work can move toward full autonomy.

‍Q: What key metrics should health systems track to assess the ROI of autonomous coding?

I usually recommend looking at three areas: revenue impact, workflow efficiency, and clinician quality of life.

For revenue, track changes in claim volume, denials, and time to submission. When we compare periods of autonomous coding to prior seasons with manual coding, we see more claims going out and fewer denials. Many organizations also recover revenue simply because claims are submitted faster.

For workflow efficiency, measure how much time and how many clicks clinicians save. Coding that once took minutes can be reviewed in seconds, which adds up quickly across a full clinic day.

And for quality of life, reduced administrative burden often shows up in lower burnout and higher satisfaction. At a recent conference, clinicians actually applauded when they heard about autonomous coding, which speaks to how much frustration coding has caused over the years.

‍Q: What are the biggest adoption barriers you see, and how can organizations overcome them?

The first barrier is documentation quality. AI-generated codes will only be as accurate as the information in the note. Ensuring strong documentation standards and consistent templates goes a long way, and using the same ambient AI vendor as your autonomous coding vendor helps because upstream data flows cleanly into the coding model.

The second barrier is data flow from the EHR. Sometimes notes, especially those created by advanced practice providers, are not sent to the coding system until an attending co-signs them. That creates missed opportunities for autonomous coding. In several implementations, the remaining gap in utilization came down to notes that simply never reached us from the EMR. Working with the EHR team to make sure the right data is transmitted reliably is essential.

‍Q: What advice would you give a health system evaluating autonomous coding tools?

Start by looking at how well the vendor performs for your specific specialty. Many companies say they can handle everything from OB to neurology to facility coding, but accuracy often breaks down in areas like unspecified codes or laterality. Make sure you understand their real performance for the cases you see every day.

It is also a positive sign if a vendor tells you they need to fine-tune the model to your data. Documentation patterns vary widely across health systems, so an out-of-the-box model will never fit perfectly. Tailoring it to your environment is essential for accuracy.

Finally, consider what else the system can support. Coding is downstream from many other steps in the clinical workflow, so working with a vendor that also provides ambient documentation or intake can give you a more connected and accurate result. A shared backend ensures that all of the visit complexity is captured and reflected in the final claim.

‍Q: What makes Commure’s autonomous coding tools stand out from other solutions on the market?

One major advantage is our forward-deployed engineering model. It is one thing to tune a model for a specialty and another to tune it for a specific health system with its own payer mix, documentation standards, and nuances. Our teams work directly with customers to tailor the model so it performs optimally and scales across departments and facilities.

Another differentiator is our shared architecture with Ambient AI. Because all of the patient conversations, pre-visit information, and historical context flow through the same system, the coding model has a far more complete clinical picture. That means it captures visit complexity, patient co-morbidities, and other details that often go uncoded with manual processes.

Together, those capabilities lead to more accurate, context-rich coding that reflects the full care delivered.

Want to learn more about autonomous coding?

See What's Possible

Nurses today juggle relentless documentation requirements on top of direct patient care. To help health systems reduce this burden, we are excited to share that Commure Ambient for Nursing can now be integrated as part of Epic’s Ambient Voice Recognition Toolbox, enabling a native, in-workflow ambient experience directly inside Epic Rover.

This integration allows nurses to document patient interactions simply by speaking during the encounter. Commure’s ambient AI securely captures the conversation, converts it into structured flowsheet and LDA suggestions, and surfaces it in Epic for nurse review and filing. The entire experience is embedded in Rover, so nurses stay in the tools they already use without extra steps or separate apps.

Bringing Commure Ambient into Epic Rover unlocks several advantages. Nurses can center more of their workflow around patient conversations instead of manual data entry. Structured fields populate faster and more consistently, supporting higher documentation quality. Because the experience lives directly inside Rover, organizations gain a unified workflow that reduces toggling, minimizes friction, and supports quicker adoption.

Ambient AI helps nurses reduce repetitive charting tasks and frees time for direct care, whether during admission assessments, rounding, or reviewing devices and lines. Instead of typing in the moment or catching up at the end of a shift, nurses can focus on clinical decision-making while Commure’s AI assists in the background.

With this Epic Toolbox integration, Commure can now deliver an integrated ambient experience in Epic Rover that supports accurate documentation and a more efficient, patient-first workflow.

Trademark Statement: Epic and Rover are registered trademarks of Epic Systems Corporation.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you like to do outside of work?

I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and because of that, nature has always been a grounding force in my life. I love any kind of adventure that helps me disconnect, from fishing and hiking to water sports or getting lost somewhere with no signal at all. There’s something deeply restorative about being fully present, far from screens and notifications.

My friends often joke that I’m their favorite dinner guest because I always know what to order. I love discovering new restaurants around town, and somehow, I’ve become the designated menu curator wherever we go. Ordering for the entire table and watching everyone love what arrives. It’s one of my small joys.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Since I was little, I’ve been fascinated by computers. My mom was incredibly tech-savvy and gave me my first Apple computer when I was very young. It was love at first sight. I’d spend hours exploring Photoshop, drawing, and creating things just for the joy of making.

I was always a builder, whether I was knitting, crafting, or designing on a screen, I loved figuring out how things came together. There was never a project I couldn’t find a way to make; I’d experiment until I understood how to bring an idea to life. That curiosity for creating and problem-solving has stayed with me ever since.

I dreamed of becoming a fashion designer, an interior designer, or an artist of some kind. Always something creative, always something that allowed me to build worlds from imagination. Over time, I realized design was the perfect intersection of everything I loved: creativity, technology, and storytelling. It gave me the ability to build, not just objects or art, but experiences that connect people, simplify complexity, and make a difference.

Describe a day in the life of your role.

I love starting my day early; those quiet morning hours before the meetings begin are sacred. My timezone gives me a head start, and I use that time for deep creative work: thinking, sketching, and exploring ideas without distractions.

As the day unfolds, I shift from focus to collaboration. I connect with product and engineering partners, mentor designers, and review work. One of the most rewarding parts of my role is speaking directly with clients and power users, seeing their reaction when they interact with a new design for the first time is electric. Hearing someone say, “This is so much better than what we had before,” makes every iteration worth it.

Leading the design team means helping others unblock, grow, and find their creative rhythm. My mornings build the ideas, my afternoons bring them to life through collaboration. Alone time fuels my creativity; teamwork gives it purpose.

What made you decide to join Commure?

I originally joined Commure through an acquisition during the height of COVID, when the company was bringing together talented teams under one shared vision to transform healthcare through technology. It was a time when the world was collectively redefining what care, connection, and purpose meant, and that mission immediately resonated with me.

I decided to stay because I saw an opportunity to design for one of the most human and impactful industries there is. Designing for healthcare means designing for people who dedicate their lives to caring for others: doctors, nurses, administrators, patients, and families. Every improvement, no matter how small, has the potential to make their day easier, their work more efficient, and their experiences more meaningful.

How would you describe the Commure company culture?

Commure’s culture is all about momentum and collaboration. We move fast, take initiative, find answers, and never let uncertainty slow us down. Everyone here has an ownership mindset; we’re curious, proactive, and driven by purpose.

What makes Commure special, though, goes beyond the work itself. It’s the people. It’s a place where you truly enjoy the teams you collaborate with, where engineering, product, and design come together with a shared respect for craft and curiosity. We celebrate progress as much as outcomes, support one another through challenges, and know how to laugh in between.

There’s a spirit of experimentation and trust that encourages you to stretch beyond your comfort zone, learn fast, and keep improving. It’s a culture built not only to build products, but to build people.

What advice would you give someone on their first day at Commure?

Ask questions, lots of them. There’s no such thing as a dumb question here. The biggest blockers often come from being afraid to ask and learn. Curiosity is your greatest tool; use it generously. You’ll be surprised how many answers open up once you start the conversation.

What has been your greatest accomplishment so far at Commure?

Over the past five years, I’ve had the privilege of shaping many of Commure’s core products from the ground up, from our EHR and Patient Portal to the Kiosk experience, Strongline, and multiple RCM modules, including the Posting Tool, Appointments, Check Deposit Manager, and Claims. Each project became an opportunity to turn complex workflows into intuitive, human-centered experiences that genuinely support the people who use them every day.

But what I’m most proud of goes beyond the products themselves; it’s the team we’ve built along the way. Watching designers grow, mentoring them, and seeing their ideas come to life across our suite has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my journey here. Building a culture rooted in creativity, trust, and excellence has been my proudest accomplishment.

Interested in a career building the next generation of healthcare technology powered by AI? We are always looking for talented people across our departments.

Explore Career Opportunities

At the Becker’s Health IT + RCM Conference, leaders from Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, Compassus, and MultiCare Health System unpacked a practical question: how do you turn ambient AI from promise into measurable results? Moderated by Dr. Jamie Colbert of Commure, the session surfaced clear, metric-driven lessons for executives. Speakers included:

• Evan Kramer, MBA, SVP of Innovation and Operational Excellence with Compassus, a nationwide home-based care provider with over 8,000 nurses

• Michael Han, MD, MBA, Enterprise Chief Medical Information Officer and Vice President with MultiCare Health System (Tacoma, Wash.)

• Gian Varbaro, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Ambulatory Services at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center (Paramus, N.J.)

1) Reclaiming time for providers
‍

Few technologies in healthcare have spread as quickly as ambient AI. Compassus, an integrated home-based care provider operating across 35 states with more than 8,000 nurses, has seen especially strong results in applying AI to streamline documentation.

The organization began by automating its interdisciplinary group (IDG) note workflow, a process that typically required nurses to spend significant time manually summarizing large sections of the medical record every two weeks. With the new AI-powered documentation tool from Commure, Compassus nurses can now generate IDG notes in a fraction of the time.

Early results are promising:

• ~70% reduction in documentation time for nurses

• ~70% adoption and growing, with expectations to reach 80–90%

• Clinicians reporting that automation has “given them their Saturdays back.”

This rapid adoption stems from deliberate change management—from executive sponsorship and AI champions in every office to clear communication of the benefits clinicians feel most directly: more time for patients, and more time for themselves.

“These tools don’t just create capacity to drive access to care, they make a real difference in clinicians’ day-to-day satisfaction,” said Evan Kramer, SVP of Innovation and Operational Excellence at Compassus.

2) Burnout down, satisfaction up

At MultiCare Health System, who is piloting multiple Ambient AI solutions, ambient AI is moving the needle on workforce wellbeing. Survey results among active users showed a reduction in the percentage of providers reporting burnout from ~25% to <4%, while the share of clinicians who said they enjoy their job rose from 8% to 36%.

As Dr. Michael Han, CMIO at MultiCare, noted: “In 15 years of informatics, I’ve seen no intervention this successful at reducing burnout.”

3) Track revenue, not just efficiency

The panelists cautioned that efficiency alone isn’t enough to justify investment. Health systems are measuring outcomes that directly tie to financial and operational health, including organic RVU growth, HCC/RAF performance, and patient satisfaction.

By moving beyond “time saved” to metrics like revenue, retention, and care continuity, organizations are building stronger business cases for AI.

Dr. Varbaro explained: “We’re measuring engagement and reductions in burnout, but we’re equally focused on how this approach can drive internal referrals and foster more integrated care across our teams.”

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4) Value across the care journey
‍

Ambient AI’s impact spans before, during, and after the visit:

• Before: chart summarization, pre-visit prep, care gap surfacing.

• During: accurate documentation and coding, streamlined ordering, clearer patient communication.

• After: automated summaries, scheduled follow-ups, revenue cycle acceleration.
‍

As Dr. Han explained: “The value of ambient clinical documentation is not just in the note—it’s in the data, and everything you can do with that data.”

These leaders cautioned that success depends on more than choosing the right vendor. Health systems must align governance, operations, and change management to ensure the technology translates into value.

Ambient AI is delivering real, measurable results across diverse healthcare organizations, from safety net hospitals to large integrated systems to nationwide home health providers. As more health systems progress from pilots to enterprise-scale deployments, these incremental “singles and doubles” will add up to deliver not only operational and financial ROI, but also the broader transformation of the clinical experience.

“Some providers may be hesitant at first, but once they start using it, they see how naturally it fits into their workflow. Ambient technology can adapt to any environment, and the key is to work with it rather than against it. When you do, it becomes a real partner in care delivery.”

In this installment of Commure Uncharted, Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune, Executive Medical Director and member of the Commure Clinical Council, sits down with Sarah Wildermuth, Senior Operations Manager on Commure’s Enterprise Ambient Implementation Team. They discuss what successful AI deployments look like in the field, the lessons learned  from large-scale rollouts, and the impact of Ambient AI on the provider experience.

A “Boots on the Ground” View from the Frontlines of Healthcare

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

Great to speak with you again, Sarah. You’re one of our in-house experts on making Ambient AI work in the field. To start, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your recent projects at Commure? 

Sarah Wildermuth:

As a Senior Operations Manager on the Enterprise Ambient Implementation Team, I focus on enterprise-scale deployments across large multi-specialty organizations. Some of our most recent deployments have been with a 600-provider group and a 500-provider plus urgent care network. We are also beginning pre-planning with one of the largest health care facilities across several markets.

Each organization brings unique challenges. I have enjoyed learning those nuances and adapting our implementations accordingly.

We also manage pilot programs with providers ranging from tech-savvy early adopters to those who prefer a slower approach, which helps ensure the product works seamlessly for everyone.

What The Deployment Process Entails

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

When working with a large national hospital chain that is rolling out new technology, what is step one? How do you even begin an engagement of that scale?

Sarah Wildermuth:

It starts with planning. We usually give ourselves a few months to prepare because you cannot just jump right in. Every department needs to know the project is getting underway, even those not directly involved in training, like revenue cycle teams. While they are not leading provider training, they see the downstream impact of better documentation and billing, so early communication is key.

We reach out to department leaders to let them know the project is happening and invite them to an initial kickoff meeting. That meeting covers timelines and an overview of the Commure Ambient solution, which sets the foundation for a smooth deployment.

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

How do you align executives and frontline staff on expectations for new technology? 

Sarah Wildermuth:

The most successful deployments start with strong leadership buy-in. Many of the executives we work with are clinicians themselves, so they have either tested the product personally or know colleagues who have. When they see the benefits firsthand, it makes a big difference.

When leaders champion the solution internally, it sets the tone. Providers are much more likely to engage when they hear directly from their Chief Medical Officer or another respected leader that the technology works and will help them. It creates awareness ahead of training and helps the deployment be received more positively across the board.

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

For many providers, this can feel like new initiative number one hundred. How do leaders promote the real value of adopting Ambient AI?

Sarah Wildermuth:

We rely heavily on pilot programs. Before a full-scale rollout, we run time-bound pilots with a small group of providers who become our champions. They use Commure Ambient for several months, which allows us to gather both qualitative and quantitative data.

We measure things like documentation time saved, reductions in after-hours “pajama time,” and even improvements in E&M coding levels, especially in urgent care. When we share those results with the broader organization, it helps new providers see the tangible value from day one.

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

Once the organization is aligned, what technical and operational steps must happen before deployment?

Sarah Wildermuth:

There is quite a bit happening behind the scenes. We start by integrating with the customer’s electronic health record, or EHR. That allows us to both pull and send information, which helps create a complete note with fewer clicks for the provider. Once the integration is live, they can generate and send their final note with a single click.

Alongside that technical workstream, we also have a compliance and security workstream focused on policies like data retention and patient consent. Then there is the provider operations and training workstream, which covers how we will train hundreds of providers over the rollout period.

In the best case, planning can be completed in about thirty days, depending on how quickly the customer moves. In more complex cases, it can take up to four months.

Evaluating Effectiveness & Impact

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

When evaluating an ambient AI deployment, what metrics do you look at to determine whether it is working? And on the flip side, what are the early signs that something might be off track?

Sarah Wildermuth:

The main metrics are provider adoption and utilization. Adoption measures how many providers use Ambient AI at least once in a given day, while utilization tracks how often they use it across all their appointments.

If training completion is high but adoption is low, that is a red flag. It usually means providers do not feel fully confident using the technology. To close that gap, we conduct quick post-training surveys (just two questions via QR code) to assess readiness and identify anyone who might need extra support. We also run live test sessions in the EHR so providers can see the technology in action before they start using it with patients.

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

And you also look at provider satisfaction and time savings, right?

Sarah Wildermuth:

Exactly. We track time-in-note metrics and conduct surveys to capture how the technology affects work-life balance and overall satisfaction. If providers are spending less time documenting, they are usually happier. 

Burnout is a real issue in healthcare, and one reason I enjoy this work is seeing the direct impact on providers’ lives. We often hear stories like, “I got to pick up my kids from school today,” or, “I actually had dinner with my family.” Those moments are a reminder that the product really is making a difference. We are also implementing use cases for AI beyond clinical scribing, such as scheduling/front office workflows, appointment reminders and follow-ups, RCM, and much more.

Driving Adoption & Trust

Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

Some providers clearly love the technology and see the benefits right away. But there is always a small group who resist change. How do you build trust with that group?

Sarah Wildermuth:

Those providers usually take longer to become consistent users, but getting the technology in their hands is the first step. The platform is simple to use, and we handle backend setup so that the final note looks and feels like what they are already used to seeing. The goal is to reduce friction and make the experience as familiar as possible.

At its core, the workflow is straightforward: start recording, see your patient, end recording, and your note is ready. Once they realize how easy it is, they start to see the benefits for themselves. Even the most hesitant users often begin slowly, one patient at a time, but over a few weeks they build confidence and fully adopt it.

‍Dr. Jean-Luc Neptune:

What advice would you give healthcare leaders who are just beginning to prepare for ambient technology?

Sarah Wildermuth:

I would tell them that this technology is not going anywhere. One of our pilot providers put it perfectly when he said, “AI is not going to replace doctors, but doctors using AI are going to replace doctors not using AI.”

I have never seen a specialty or provider type where it does not work. Some providers may be hesitant at first, but once they start using it, they see how naturally it fits into their workflow. Ambient technology can adapt to any environment, and the key is to work with it rather than against it. When you do, it becomes a real partner in care delivery.

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