Ask: seamless information retrieval and synthesis at the point of care

When we were building Ask, we kept coming back to the one thing our users told us: the hard part wasn’t knowing what to ask; it was the amount of time spent manually searching for the answer. The patient data was buried in the chart, the medical sources that needed to be cross-referenced with the chart data were in another tool, and these two things operated independently of each other. So we set out to build something that surfaces the patient’s chart and the clinical evidence together as one source, all seamlessly available within the clinician’s workflow.

Surfacing the right information at the right time

Ask is our latest enhancement designed to give clinicians instant access to the information they need, exactly when they need it.

Ask leverages multiple tools to retrieve and synthesize data. Clinicians can ask questions directly related to the patient’s chart, UpToDate’s evidence-based content, or a combination of both –– yielding accurate, relevant, and actionable responses. In evaluations, clinicians consistently preferred responses that included patient context over generic answers without it. This applied across clinical management, diagnosis, screening, dosing, and safety-related questions. The findings provide a strong signal that chart data and clinical evidence are more useful together than either is alone.

“Clinicians continuously balance the requirement for quick answers alongside clinical precision,” said Abhi Pathak, CPO at Suki. “With the general release of Ask and our pioneering integration of the UpToDate Expert AI API, we effectively bridge medical chart data with evidence-based insights.”

Key capabilities of Ask include:

• Automatic patient context: Ask intelligently weaves the patient’s unique health context into each query, so clinicians no longer need to type or copy-paste patient details to get tailored, patient-specific information.
• Evidence from UpToDate: Suki is the first to launch a product built on the newly released UpToDate Expert AI API, ensuring that responses are grounded in UpToDate’s continuously updated evidence-based content.
• Earn CME credits while clinicians work: Clinicians can earn CME credits when they receive responses sourced from UpToDate. This helps them stay current on credentialing requirements without adding extra steps to their workflow.
• Voice-enabled queries: Clinicians can ask complex questions both out loud and by typing, making information retrieval as natural as having a conversation.
• Universal availability for clinicians: Ask is available on mobile, desktop, and the Chrome extension. It works seamlessly alongside every EHR that Suki integrates with and is uniquely available directly inside Epic. Clinicians never have to switch apps or interrupt the visit to find an answer.

Empowering, not replacing, professional judgment

As we push the boundaries of ACI, patient safety and clinical integrity remain our top priorities. Ask is meticulously designed as an information retrieval and synthesis tool, not a diagnostic engine. It does not provide medical diagnoses or prescribe treatment plans. Ask exists solely to retrieve relevant data from the patient's chart and synthesize trusted medical literature, reducing the manual heavy lifting of information-gathering. The clinician is always entirely responsible for reviewing all provided information and using their professional, independent medical judgment to make decisions regarding patient care.

A differentiated approach

Other tools can surface clinical evidence or surface chart data, but clinicians still have to do the work of connecting the two. By combining our ambient documentation with advanced, agent-driven information retrieval, Suki closes that gap; chart data and evidence-based reasoning come together in a single query, directly inside the clinical workflow, without switching apps. Being the first to leverage the UpToDate Expert AI API allows us to embed trusted, evidence-based clinical reasoning tailored to the patient’s context directly into the Suki clinical workflow, ensuring the retrieved information is backed by the world's most relied-upon medical resource.

Continuing to evolve Ask

Ask brings the patient’s chart and trusted clinical evidence together in one place so clinicians can get an answer without leaving the visit or retyping a patient’s history. It’s designed to retrieve and synthesize information, and clinicians stay in charge of every decision about patient care. We’ll continue to add more sources of clinical content (i.e., quality guidelines, calculators) and enable additional agents for task completion. To start using Ask, reach out to your Customer Success Manager, or contact us to learn more.