Love it or hate it, recent AI announcements across the industry confirm one thing: AI is here to stay. And as artificial intelligence accelerates across healthcare, public statements from major EHR vendors are offering a revealing look at how AI is being applied today.
For orthopedic practices, these announcements are worth attention—not because AI itself is new, but because where vendors are choosing to apply AI exposes a growing divide in strategy that directly impacts orthopedic efficiency.
In recent interviews and public product discussions, a well-known EHR competitor outlined its current AI priorities.
The focus is centered on:
These tools are positioned as ways to remove friction from back-office and documentation workflows—an approach that reflects how much of the industry is currently deploying AI.
Company leadership has also been clear that their AI efforts are not focused on improving diagnoses or clinical decision-making, but instead on curing the “drudgery” of healthcare through administrative automation.
Administrative relief absolutely matters. Orthopedic practices deal with high documentation volume, imaging, and coordination demands every day.
But in orthopedics, financial performance and sustainability are driven by provider efficiency—not paperwork alone.
Orthopedic practices depend on:
AI that focuses primarily on transcription or routing may reduce friction—but it doesn’t fundamentally change how orthopedic providers move through a visit.
And that’s where the biggest opportunity lies.
Another theme emerging from recent AI announcements is breadth.
Some AI strategies are designed to span many specialties, using generalized models intended to work “well enough” across a wide range of clinical contexts. In practice, this often results in:
Several AI tools highlighted publicly today are optimized for non-orthopedic specialties—underscoring how difficult it is to deliver deeply relevant AI across many clinical disciplines at once.
For orthopedics, broad AI training often leads to diluted execution.
One of the most important takeaways from recent discussions is this:
AI value depends not just on what it can do—but where and when it can do it.
True efficiency gains require AI that understands:
Without deep integration into the EHR user interface, AI becomes a parallel tool rather than a true workflow accelerator.
This level of contextual awareness is especially critical in orthopedics, where visits are structured around exams, imaging, procedures, and protocols—not free-form documentation alone.
The current AI landscape reveals a clear strategic divide:
Both approaches have value—but only one directly addresses the pressures orthopedic practices feel most: finishing notes faster, reducing clicks during exams, and maintaining productivity without extending the workday.
As AI strategies continue to take shape across healthcare, Phoenix Ortho has taken a more focused path.
With Phoenix Go, AI is being developed inside an orthopedic-specific cloud EHR, not layered onto a generalized, multi-specialty platform. That focus allows Phoenix Go to:
Rather than dividing development efforts across dozens of specialties, Phoenix Go is purpose-built for orthopedics—so every enhancement reflects how orthopedic practices actually operate.
AI is no longer a future concept—it’s actively shaping how EHR platforms evolve.
For orthopedic practices, the real question isn’t whether to adopt AI—but which AI strategy aligns with how orthopedics truly works.
As the market evolves, Phoenix Go stands out as a platform designed not just to reduce administrative noise—but to help orthopedic providers work smarter, finish sooner, and run more efficient practices.
That focus is what will define the next generation of orthopedic EHRs.