Your Doctor's New 'Assistant' Is an AI Named Art, Penny, or Emmie
Hospitals are rolling out AI agents that write doctor's notes, fight insurance denials, and answer your questions. But nobody's really testing if they work.
The next time you call your doctor's office, there's a growing chance you'll be talking to an AI named Emmie. Or your doctor's notes might be written by Art. And the person fighting your insurance company over a denied claim? That could be Penny.
These aren't characters from a children's show. They're AI agents rolling out across hospitals right now, and they were the stars of HIMSS 2026, one of the biggest health tech conferences in the world, happening this week in Las Vegas.
Epic Systems, the company that makes the software most American hospitals run on, just unveiled three AI agents. Art handles medical documentation, drafting notes faster than any human could. Penny helps hospitals collect payments and fight insurance denials (something every patient can appreciate). And Emmie answers patient questions and helps schedule appointments.
They're not alone. Oracle launched its own AI agent covering 30 medical specialties. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are all piling in with their own healthcare AI tools.
Here's the catch that has some experts worried: these AI agents are spreading faster than anyone can validate them. In a field where a wrong answer could literally cost someone their life, the "move fast and break things" approach feels a lot riskier than it does in tech.
As reported by STAT News.
Source: STAT News
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