Northwestern Medicine clinicians can now launch OpenEvidence from inside Epic, with nurses and pharmacists included. The Miami company calls it the first phase of a broader collaboration on safe AI use at the bedside. #OpenEvidence #HealthTech #Epic #MiamiTech
Northwestern Medicine clinicians can now open OpenEvidence from inside Epic, signed in with their existing hospital credentials.
The Business Wire release is dated Oct. 12 and carries a Miami and Chicago dateline. All claims below come from the companies unless noted.
What Does the Northwestern Deployment Include?
The rollout began October 8, the release says. Clinicians launch OpenEvidence directly from the electronic health record, with no separate login.
Nurses, pharmacists and other clinical staff get access for the first time. The release says that gives the full care team a fast way to check medication dosing and drug interactions.
Staff can also review the latest guidelines and get cited answers grounded in peer-reviewed literature. The release names content from the New England Journal of Medicine and the JAMA Network.
The companies call the deployment enterprise-wide. It is the first phase of a broader collaboration focused on using AI safely and effectively at the bedside.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital anchors the system. The release says U.S. News & World Report has named it to its Best Hospital Honor Roll for 15 consecutive years.
Northwestern Medicine describes itself as Chicago’s premier integrated academic health system. It has 11 hospitals and more than 200 diagnostic and ambulatory sites.
Clinicians can launch it without leaving the record. Auto sign-in uses their existing hospital credentials, so no new account is needed.
The release adds that OpenEvidence is free for all verified U.S. clinicians.
Embedded access matters because clinicians already work inside the chart. A tool one click away competes with habit, not only with alternatives.
The release does not say how the collaboration will measure safety or effectiveness. It gives no timeline for later phases.
What Are the Two Sides Saying?
“At OpenEvidence, our mission is to build tools that are clinically meaningful, rigorously validated, and seamlessly integrated into existing workflows,” said Ania Bilski, the company’s vice president of clinical AI.
Bilski said embedding the tool delivers “real-time, evidence-based insights without adding complexity.”
James Adams, Northwestern Medicine’s chief medical officer, named two priorities. New technology must address real clinical needs, he said, and it must scale across the health system.
“This collaboration reduces friction in clinical decision-making,” Adams said. It lets teams “stay focused on what matters most - caring for patients.”
Vivien Ho, the company’s senior vice president of strategic partnerships, praised the health system. “Northwestern Medicine’s collaborative approach made this deployment possible,” she said.
She said its decision to extend OpenEvidence to the entire care team reflects “where modern hospitals are headed.”
How Many Doctors Really Use OpenEvidence?
The release’s boilerplate makes large claims. It calls OpenEvidence the most popular AI for doctors in the United States.
It says that, according to unnamed independent studies, more American physicians use OpenEvidence than all other AI platforms combined. It also says the majority of physicians use it daily, on average.
Outside estimates are more measured. a16z estimates 50% to 60% of US physicians use it, in its new consumer AI report.
Becker’s Hospital Review says more than half of US physicians are regular users. Those figures measure regular use, not daily use.
Readers should treat the “majority daily” line as the company’s claim until the studies behind it are named.
What Is Driving OpenEvidence’s Hospital Push?
Hospital integrations are the company’s newest lever. In July, OpenEvidence expanded its tools with NewYork-Presbyterian, Columbia and Weill Cornell across New York City and Westchester.
Capital is behind the push. Becker’s reported that a16z and Byers Capital led a $250 million round at a $15 billion valuation.
MAIN reported that Miami’s OpenEvidence reached a $15 billion valuation.
MAIN’s detailed overview of OpenEvidence tracks its enterprise rollouts, ad model and open questions.
Local systems are building their own AI rules too. MAIN covered how Baptist Health built AI guardrails most hospitals lack.
The Northwestern deal adds a Chicago academic system to OpenEvidence’s enterprise list. The test now is whether embedded access changes how clinicians decide.
Sources:
- Business Wire: OpenEvidence and Northwestern Medicine Launch Collaboration to Integrate Clinical Evidence into the EHR (Oct. 12, 2026)
- Business Wire: OpenEvidence and NewYork-Presbyterian, Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medicine Expand Clinical AI Tools (July 9, 2026)
- a16z: The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps, 7th Edition
- Becker’s Hospital Review: OpenEvidence: 6 things to know about the AI tool used by half of physicians
- Becker’s Hospital Review: OpenEvidence raises $250M at $15B valuation
- MAIN: Miami’s OpenEvidence hits $15 billion valuation
- MAIN: Baptist Health built AI guardrails most hospitals lack
- MAIN: OpenEvidence: A Detailed Overview of Miami’s $15B AI Company