Why Willis Knighton Health chose Commure Ambient AI after a head-to-head pilot
80%+
preferred Commure over the competing ambient vendor
95%
of pilot clinicians would recommend Commure
88%
reported less time in the chart and a lighter cognitive load
About the Organization
Willis Knighton Health is the largest healthcare provider in northwest Louisiana and one of the region's largest employers. The not-for-profit system has served Shreveport, Bossier City and the surrounding Ark-La-Tex region for more than 100 years. Its footprint spans four acute care hospitals, a hospital dedicated to Physical Rehabilitation Medicine and Behavioral Medicine, a senior living community and more than 150 clinics. Willis Knighton holds to a single mission: to continuously improve the health and well-being of the people it serves.
Executive summary
Willis Knighton ran a competitive pilot to find the right ambient documentation partner, testing Commure Ambient AI head-to-head against another vendor across eight specialties. The results were decisive: 88% of providers reported less time in the chart and a marked improvement in cognitive burden; 95% said they'd recommend Commure to a peer, and more than 80% preferred Commure over the competition.
That pilot evolved into a full enterprise rollout. Willis Knighton now has more than 100 providers using Commure Ambient AI across its ambulatory clinics, with adoption climbing and new specialties coming online in phases.
The competitive pilot
Plenty of health systems pick an Ambient AI partner based on a quick demo series. Willis Knighton ran the experiment first.
The rationale was not only to evaluate the effectiveness and adoptability of the Commure Ambient application in general considerations, but also to concurrently validate its effectiveness in a full spectrum of medical specialties. This confirmed that it presented as a comprehensive platform that provided an equal solution and opportunity irrespective of the specialty of medicine for which it was being applied.
The verdict came back clearly in Commure's favor. More than 80% of participating clinicians preferred Commure over the competition, and 95% said they'd recommend it to a colleague. For a clinical leadership team weighing a systemwide commitment, that's the kind of evidence that ends a debate.
“Ambient AI has become the one sure thing at Willis Knighton. We have been able to give doctors time back and take some burden off their shoulders. They no longer have to worry what they are documenting is true, accurate and reflective.”
SVP & CIO, Willis Knighton Health
Impact by the numbers
Scaling across the system
A decisive pilot is one thing. Rolling out across a system with four hospitals and 150-plus clinics is another, and Willis Knighton wanted the rollout to move fast without losing the high-touch support that won the pilot.
Commure's onsite specialists worked side by side with Willis Knighton's own support team to onboard providers wave by wave. The process included the application of build customizations at the time of implementation to comprehensively leverage the full suite of functionality offered within Commure Ambient. This train-the-trainer approach meant Willis Knighton's support staff could continue onboarding on their own, without a bottleneck waiting for outside help.
Commure has built more than 20 custom macros from the system's MEDITECH data, with more in development, so notes match how each specialty works rather than forcing every clinician into one generic format.
That investment shows up in how the customer talks about the partnership.
"I just wanted to say, I really appreciate your support throughout the rollout. We've worked with a lot of vendors and your availability when we need you is unparalleled. Commure has an amazing product that we're implementing here. I've received so many messages from physicians telling me how this changed their life. I feel honored to be a part of this process."
Provider Specialist, Willis Knighton Health
Key success drivers
Looking ahead
Willis Knighton is extending Commure Ambient AI to more specialties and preparing to bring ambient documentation into the emergency department. As the rollout scales, the system and Commure continue to deepen the MEDITECH Expanse integration so clinical data flows into one place.