Johns Hopkins Medicine and OpenEvidence announced a partnership to develop what they call "human-first AI systems" for medical education and clinical care, according to executives who gave Fierce Healthcare a first look at the news. The systems are intended to combine the best available evidence with a patient's medical history and Johns Hopkins' clinical best practices to support care delivery. Sophisticated AI will help clinicians reason through that information more quickly, contextualize it, and make decisions for their patients, executives said.

Sara Murray, M.D., chief medical informatics and AI officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the health system is interested in bringing evidence-based AI more directly into clinical workflows so clinicians can access and apply the latest medical knowledge in the context of individual patient care. The goal, she said, is to identify high-impact clinical use cases, develop solutions that fit naturally into how clinicians work, and rigorously evaluate their impact on clinical decision-making, quality and patient outcomes. Murray noted the two organizations are still early in defining the specific capabilities they will develop together. "We see a significant opportunity to move beyond standalone medical information tools toward AI that is meaningfully integrated into the delivery of care," she said.

OpenEvidence is a widely used clinical decision support platform and medical search engine for healthcare professionals. As of September, 1.12 million medical licensed-verified U.S. clinicians, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, were using OpenEvidence, the company said. The company has integrated its generative AI tools into major academic medical centers and health systems, including Mount Sinai Health System, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Penn Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and its affiliated medical schools, AdventHealth and, most recently, Northwestern Medicine, where the platform is embedded directly into the EHR. Forbes reported last month that OpenEvidence recently reached a $15 billion valuation after a previously unreported $250 million funding round led by Byers Capital and Andreessen Horowitz in early September.

The organizations argue that as AI becomes capable of surfacing and synthesizing medical knowledge within seconds, the clinician's role shifts toward skills that cannot be automated, such as first-principles reasoning, clinical and contextual judgment, and the human side of patient care. They believe AI's growing role requires redesigning both clinical practice and medical education. Sanjay Desai, M.D., Johns Hopkins Medicine Vice Dean for Education, said in an interview that Johns Hopkins sees a responsibility as an academic center to study the technology and ensure it continues to produce and maintain a competent physician workforce. He raised concerns about cognitive offloading and the risk that physicians finish training without the competencies expected of them. "These tools are being deployed at breakneck speed, so how do we conduct the evaluation and experiments to ensure that they are being deployed, implemented and monitored in a way that is effective for what the public expects?" Desai said.

Working with OpenEvidence, Johns Hopkins will design a medical education model that emphasizes pathophysiology, evidence-based medicine, clinical reasoning, diagnosis and patient communication. Desai said AI could shift medical education from a one-size-fits-all approach to personalized learning, identify gaps in students' clinical experience, and help move training from a time-based model to a competency-based one. Daniel Nadler, founder and CEO of OpenEvidence, said the company was not disclosing any commercial arrangements but confirmed the partnership is "at minimum a research and development and product collaboration." Travis Zack, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer of OpenEvidence, said in a statement that the future of medicine must keep patients at the center and that Johns Hopkins is well suited to build it with.

Johns Hopkins Medicine and OpenEvidence announced a partnership to develop what they call "human-first AI systems" for medical education and clinical care, according to executives who gave Fierce Healthcare a first look at the news. The systems are intended to combine the best available evidence with a patient's medical history and Johns Hopkins' clinical best practices to support care delivery. Sophisticated AI will help clinicians reason through that information more quickly, contextualize it, and make decisions for their patients, executives said.

Sara Murray, M.D., chief medical informatics and AI officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the health system is interested in bringing evidence-based AI more directly into clinical workflows so clinicians can access and apply the latest medical knowledge in the context of individual patient care. The goal, she said, is to identify high-impact clinical use cases, develop solutions that fit naturally into how clinicians work, and rigorously evaluate their impact on clinical decision-making, quality and patient outcomes. Murray noted the two organizations are still early in defining the specific capabilities they will develop together. "We see a significant opportunity to move beyond standalone medical information tools toward AI that is meaningfully integrated into the delivery of care," she said.

OpenEvidence is a widely used clinical decision support platform and medical search engine for healthcare professionals. As of September, 1.12 million medical licensed-verified U.S. clinicians, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, were using OpenEvidence, the company said. The company has integrated its generative AI tools into major academic medical centers and health systems, including Mount Sinai Health System, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Penn Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and its affiliated medical schools, AdventHealth and, most recently, Northwestern Medicine, where the platform is embedded directly into the EHR. Forbes reported last month that OpenEvidence recently reached a $15 billion valuation after a previously unreported $250 million funding round led by Byers Capital and Andreessen Horowitz in early September.

The organizations argue that as AI becomes capable of surfacing and synthesizing medical knowledge within seconds, the clinician's role shifts toward skills that cannot be automated, such as first-principles reasoning, clinical and contextual judgment, and the human side of patient care. They believe AI's growing role requires redesigning both clinical practice and medical education. Sanjay Desai, M.D., Johns Hopkins Medicine Vice Dean for Education, said in an interview that Johns Hopkins sees a responsibility as an academic center to study the technology and ensure it continues to produce and maintain a competent physician workforce. He raised concerns about cognitive offloading and the risk that physicians finish training without the competencies expected of them. "These tools are being deployed at breakneck speed, so how do we conduct the evaluation and experiments to ensure that they are being deployed, implemented and monitored in a way that is effective for what the public expects?" Desai said.

Working with OpenEvidence, Johns Hopkins will design a medical education model that emphasizes pathophysiology, evidence-based medicine, clinical reasoning, diagnosis and patient communication. Desai said AI could shift medical education from a one-size-fits-all approach to personalized learning, identify gaps in students' clinical experience, and help move training from a time-based model to a competency-based one. Daniel Nadler, founder and CEO of OpenEvidence, said the company was not disclosing any commercial arrangements but confirmed the partnership is "at minimum a research and development and product collaboration." Travis Zack, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer of OpenEvidence, said in a statement that the future of medicine must keep patients at the center and that Johns Hopkins is well suited to build it with.