Articles · Healthcare
Software drafts your lab result note.
Memorial Hermann clinicians use AI drafts to explain test results. The system reports fewer follow-up messages, but its published figures do not establish a controlled comparison.
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A patient-friendly explanation of a lab or imaging result may now begin as an AI draft at Memorial Hermann. The health system says its clinicians use Epic's Art while reviewing results inside the electronic health record.
The clinician can review, edit and personalize the draft before it reaches the patient. The health system describes the tool as a starting point that supports clinical judgment, not a replacement for the clinician's relationship with the patient.
The reported benefit has a boundary
Memorial Hermann reports 32% fewer follow-up messages when clinicians start from Art's draft. It also reports time saved and the volume of messages written with the tool. Those figures come from the vendor and its customer.
A trade publication's examination notes that the figures lack a baseline, control arm and denominator. The follow-up message result concerns clinicians who chose to use a draft. It should not be presented as a randomized finding about all clinicians.
Disclosure is a separate question
Texas's AI disclosure provisions address healthcare recipients and require plain-language, conspicuous notice under the cited subsection. The statute and the deployment announcement answer different questions. The announcement alone does not establish how each patient receives notice.
The chapter provides a complaint mechanism and assigns enforcement authority. Nothing in this edition establishes a violation by the health system. Describing the applicable disclosure text is not a finding about compliance in an individual encounter.
What would make the benefit clearer
A defined comparison group and published measurement method would help distinguish the tool's effects from the characteristics of clinicians choosing it. For now, the record establishes reported use and customer-reported benefits, with clinician review built into the described workflow.
Sources for this story
- Memorial Hermann Health System Clinicians Use Epic's AI Tool to Help Patients Better Understand Test Results
- healthsystemCIO, In Basket AI and the wrong metric
- Texas Business and Commerce Code, Chapter 552, Artificial Intelligence Protection
Claim-by-claim verification · 42 claims
Memorial Hermann Health System says its clinicians are using an artificial intelligence tool built directly into Epic to help patients understand their test results.
Clinicians at Memorial Hermann Health System (MHHS) are using a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool built directly into Epic to help patients better understand their test results and to make informed decisions about next steps in their care journey.
Epic's Art is described by the announcement as an assistant that streamlines clinician documentation.
Epic's Art is an AI-powered assistant that helps clinicians streamline documentation.
The draft is generated in real time while the clinician reviews lab and imaging results in Epic's In Basket, and it is written in patient-friendly language rather than medical terms.
As clinicians review lab and imaging results in Epic's In Basket, Art helps generate an initial draft patient note in real time, using clear, patient-friendly language instead of complex medical terms.
The clinician reviews, edits and personalizes the draft before it reaches the patient.
Clinicians can then review, edit and personalize the draft, giving them more time to focus on the patient's care and next steps.
The health system reports that patients sent 32% fewer follow-up messages about test results when clinicians started from Art's draft.
Since Memorial Hermann began using the feature, patients have sent 32% fewer follow-up messages about test results when clinicians started with Art's draft, reducing the number of return questions while helping patients receive the information they need at the time they receive their results.
Art has helped the health system's care teams write over 55,000 messages to patients, by the health system's own count.
Art has helped Memorial Hermann's care teams write over 55,000 messages to patients.
The health system puts the time saving at an average of nine seconds per result comment for clinicians who started from Art's draft.
So far, clinicians who have started with Art's draft have saved an average of nine seconds per result comment.
Memorial Hermann's chief medical information officer calls the tool a starting point that clinicians review, edit and personalize before sharing with the patient.
The starting point that Art provides is incredibly helpful in providing more thorough and informative test result follow-up notes that clinicians can review, edit and personalize before sharing with the patient,
The same officer says the technology is designed to support rather than replace the clinician's judgment and relationship with the patient.
This technology is designed to support, not replace, the role of the clinician's judgment and relationship with the patient.
Memorial Hermann piloted the feature in December of 2025 in its innovation clinic and has since expanded use across the system.
Memorial Hermann piloted the feature in December of 2025 in their innovation clinic for clinician feedback and has quickly expanded use across the System.
An Epic senior director of research and development says the deployment gives other organizations a model for rolling this out at scale.
This approach provides other organizations a model for rolling this out at scale
A trade publication notes that all three figures come from Epic and its customer, with no baseline, control arm or denominator alongside them.
All three figures come from Epic and its customer. No baseline, control arm or denominator accompanies them.
The same publication says the 32% describes clinicians who chose to work from a draft.
Specifically, the 32% describes clinicians who chose to work from a draft.
The publication points to a randomized pilot of 52 doctors at UC San Diego Health in 2023. Reply time moved less than 6% and missed statistical significance, and read time climbed almost 22%.
Physicians at UC San Diego Health tested Epic's AI draft replies in a randomized pilot of 52 doctors in 2023. Reply time moved less than 6% and missed statistical significance, so the efficiency case failed on its own terms in the first controlled test. Read time, meanwhile, climbed almost 22%.
Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 552.051(f) requires the provider of a health care service or treatment to give the disclosure under Subsection (b) to the recipient. The timing is no later than the date the service or treatment is first provided, with an emergency carve-out.
If an artificial intelligence system is used in relation to health care service or treatment, the provider of the service or treatment shall provide the disclosure under Subsection (b) to the recipient of the service or treatment or the recipient's personal representative not later than the date the service or treatment is first provided, except in the case of emergency, in which case the provider shall provide the required disclosure as soon as reasonably possible.
Subsection (b) of the same section places its disclosure duty on a governmental agency that makes an artificial intelligence system available to interact with consumers.
A governmental agency that makes available an artificial intelligence system intended to interact with consumers shall disclose to each consumer, before or at the time of interaction, that the consumer is interacting with an artificial intelligence system.
A disclosure under that subsection must be clear and conspicuous, must be written in plain language, and may not use a dark pattern as defined by Section 541.001.
must be clear and conspicuous
Section 552.102 directs the attorney general to maintain an online mechanism on the attorney general's website through which a consumer may submit a complaint under the chapter.
The attorney general shall create and maintain an online mechanism on the attorney general's Internet website through which a consumer may submit a complaint under this chapter to the attorney general.
The attorney general holds exclusive authority to enforce the chapter, except to the extent provided by Section 552.106.
The attorney general has exclusive authority to enforce this chapter, except to the extent provided by Section 552.106.
The chapter gives no private right of action for a violation of it or of any other law.
This chapter does not provide a basis for, and is not subject to, a private right of action for a violation of this chapter or any other law.
The section defines health care services as services related to human health, or to the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a human disease or impairment. The definition requires those services to be provided by a licensed, registered or certified individual.
means services related to human health or to the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a human disease or impairment provided by an individual licensed, registered, or certified under applicable state or federal law to provide those services
Subsection (c) states that a person must make the disclosure regardless of whether it would be obvious to a reasonable consumer that they are interacting with an artificial intelligence system.
A person is required to make the disclosure under Subsection (b) regardless of whether it would be obvious to a reasonable consumer that the consumer is interacting with an artificial intelligence system.
Section 552.051 was added by House Bill 149 of the 89th Legislature and took effect on January 1st, 2026.
eff. January 1, 2026.
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.001, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: (1) "Deployer" means a person who deploys an artificial intelligence system for use in this state. (2)
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.002, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.002. CONSTRUCTION OF CHAPTER
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.003, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.003. LOCAL PREEMPTION
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.052, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.052. MANIPULATION OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.053, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.053. SOCIAL SCORING
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.054, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.054. CAPTURE OF BIOMETRIC DATA
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.055, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.055. CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.056, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.056. UNLAWFUL DISCRIMINATION
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.057, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.057. CERTAIN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.103, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.103. INVESTIGATIVE AUTHORITY
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.104, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.104. NOTICE OF VIOLATION; OPPORTUNITY TO CURE
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.105, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.105. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTION
Chapter 552 carries a section numbered 552.101, headed as the statute prints it.
Sec. 552.101. ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY
Section 552.051 of Chapter 552 is headed Disclosure to Consumers.
Sec. 552.051. DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMERS. (a) In this section, "health care services" means services related to human health or to the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a human disease or impairment
Section 552.102 of Chapter 552 is headed Information and Complaints.
Sec. 552.102. INFORMATION AND COMPLAINTS. The attorney general shall create and maintain an online mechanism on the attorney general's Internet website through which a consumer may submit a complaint
Section 552.106 of Chapter 552 is headed Enforcement Actions by State Agencies.
Sec. 552.106. ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS BY STATE AGENCIES. (a) A state agency may impose sanctions against a person licensed, registered, or certified by that agency for a violation of Subchapter B if:
Chapter 552's first subchapter is headed General Provisions.
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS Sec. 552.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: (1) "Deployer" means a person who deploys an artificial intelligence system for use in this state.
Chapter 552's second subchapter is headed Duties and Prohibitions on Use of Artificial Intelligence.
SUBCHAPTER B. DUTIES AND PROHIBITIONS ON USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Sec. 552.051. DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMERS.
Chapter 552's third subchapter is headed Enforcement.
SUBCHAPTER C. ENFORCEMENT Sec. 552.101. ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY. (a) The attorney general has exclusive authority to enforce this chapter, except to the extent provided by Section 552.106 .