Abridge has secured an enterprise contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, clearing the way for nationwide deployment of its ambient AI documentation tool across the VA's 1,380 healthcare facilities. The multiple-award contract carries a total ceiling of $775.72 million over five years across all eligible vendors. The move positions Abridge to expand beyond an existing pilot already live with thousands of clinicians at more than 75 care sites.
The company's technology is operational on both of the VA's electronic health record systems - VistA/CPRS and the Federal EHR - and is used in primary care and the VA's Clinical Resource Hubs virtual care network. "VA has demonstrated its focus on bringing commercial technology into the nation's largest integrated health system," said Nadia Smith, former Acting Chief Digital Health Officer at the Veterans Health Administration and an Abridge consultant.
Hims builds closed-loop AI into weight loss care
Hims & Hers is embedding AI directly into care workflows for its weight loss members, moving beyond a standalone chatbot to what the company calls an "AI-native" care platform. The system retains patient context - treatment history, medication dosage, goals, and past conversations - and uses that data to personalize interactions and escalate issues when needed.
Mo Elshenawy, Hims' chief technology officer, described the closed-loop design in a company blog post. "When the customer chooses to use our AI tool and reaches out, the AI clinical engine knows their dose and treatment day, and that they haven't reported this symptom before. It responds with an informed question about severity and either provides non-clinical direction or escalates straight to a provider." The learnings from each outcome feed back into the system.
Elshenawy framed the approach as a competitive advantage. "While legacy telehealth struggles to iterate and foundation models are becoming commoditized, closed-loop systems create advantages that benefit customers and are nearly impossible to recreate," he wrote. The company first launched an AI-powered care experience for Hers weight loss patients in August and rolled out its Labs AI feature in May.
Before any new version goes live, AI outputs pass through a five-layer evaluation system that includes offline red-teaming, a runtime protection classifier, and human-in-the-loop auditing. Clinicians remain central to care delivery, and customers who need clinical advice are routed to a care team.
Prescription pricing and virtual care access
Epocrates and ScriptSave announced a multi-year partnership to integrate real-time prescription pricing into clinician workflows. The goal is to reduce sticker shock at the pharmacy by surfacing cost information and alternatives at the point of prescribing. "Preventing surprises and sticker shock at the pharmacy are key to addressing medication adherence," said Marcus Sredzinski, ScriptSave/MedImpact group president.
Separately, technology holding company Remergify launched AffordableTelehealthPlan.com, a membership-based virtual care platform offering flat-rate access to licensed U.S. providers. Services include virtual primary care, 24/7 urgent care, teledermatology, and mental health counseling. The model replaces per-visit billing with a predictable monthly cost.
Penn State Health moves to unified Epic system
Penn State Health will deploy Epic systemwide on October 31, consolidating five separate patient portals into a single MyChart experience. The health system said the move aims to improve care coordination, streamline provider workflows, and reduce manual tasks. "Whether they're seeing a primary care physician, visiting a specialist or receiving hospital care, they will benefit from a more connected experience," said Kyle Snyder, Penn State Health's chief operating officer.
Why this matters for healthcare professionals
The VA's enterprise contract for ambient AI signals that large integrated health systems are moving from pilot programs to procurement vehicles designed for scale. For clinicians and health IT leaders, the shift means ambient documentation tools will increasingly become part of standard EHR workflows rather than experimental add-ons. The Hims approach - embedding AI into care delivery with closed-loop data and clinician oversight - offers a concrete model for how organizations can build AI that gets smarter with use rather than remaining a static tool. Both developments point toward AI becoming infrastructure, not a separate product category.
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