UCSF Physician Researcher Anil Makam on the limits of medical AI research.

Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft MAI-DxO and the Path to Medical Superintelligence

In an action-packed week to kick off the second half of the year, no story grabbed more headlines than Microsoft’s MAI-DxO proving four times more successful than human doctors at diagnosing complex diseases.

Microsoft is on the path to medical superintelligence… at least according to their excellent blog post outlining its new MAI Diagnostic Orchestrator, better known as MAI‑DxO.

• MAI-DxO acts like a “virtual panel of physicians” collaborating on a case, orchestrating multiple AI agents with specific roles like forming diagnostic hypotheses, selecting tests, and interpreting results. 

• It then applies a “debate chain” to arrive at an explainable diagnosis, all while avoiding over-testing to keep costs under control.. 

New breakthroughs require new benchmarks. As AI gets to the point where it’s breezing through multiple choice benchmarks like medical licensing exams, Microsoft decided to introduce SDBench to better simulate routine clinical practice.

• SDBench deconstructs 304 of the most diagnostically complex NEJM cases, requiring LLMs (and physicians) to begin with an initial presentation, ask follow-up questions, order tests (each with assigned costs), and agree on a diagnosis.

Here’s how MAI-DxO stacked up:

• MAI-DxO: 85% diagnostic accuracy / $7,200 estimated cost per patient
• OpenAI o3: 79% / $7,850
• Gemini 2.5 Pro: 69% / $4,800
• Claude 4 Opus: 68% / $7,000
• Llama 4: 55% / $4,000
• Human Physicians: 20% / $2,950

What’s the catch? The human physicians weren’t allowed to use the internet or any outside help, which probably simulates a deserted island workflow more than routine clinical practice. Each of the participants also happened to be generalists as opposed to specialists, giving another edge to the LLMs. 

The Takeaway

MAI-DxO might have the potential to deliver superhuman diagnostics in constrained settings, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready to replace doctors. As Microsoft pointed out in its own blog post, “clinical roles are much broader than simply making a diagnosis. They need to navigate ambiguity and build trust with patients and their families in a way that AI isn’t set up to do.”

Navina Ranks #1 Best in KLAS for Clinician Digital Workflow

KLAS ranked Navina’s AI copilot #1 for Clinician Digital Workflow in its 2025 Best in KLAS report. Navina’s AI copilot empowers the entire workflow from the exam room to the back office with a holistic solution for improving outcomes, physician satisfaction, and performance under value-based care. Discover why Navina is the market-leading clinical intelligence platform.

Ambient AI – From Helicopter to Hospital

We know that ambient AI is a huge asset to emergency medicine, but how does that impact providers on the ground… and in the air? Join Playback Health on July 17th at 11am to explore how Playback Pro is transforming emergency care and helping providers save lives by keeping the focus on patients – not paperwork. Reserve your spot here.

The Wire

• Nordic Capital Teams Up With Arcadia: Arcadia is officially under new ownership after private equity firm Nordic Capital acquired a majority stake in the healthcare data platform. Nordic has a strong track record of investing in and scaling high-growth companies, and it’s now looking to accelerate Arcadia’s mission of improving outcomes and increasing revenue across the healthcare ecosystem through AI-powered analytics, predictive insights, and comprehensive benchmarking tools.

• Digital Health’s Big First Half: Rock Health’s numbers are in, and digital health startups raised $6.4B in the first half of the year. That’s only a slight uptick from $6.0B in H1 2024, but the report offers a rosy forecast for the industry given a couple key factors: (1) tech-enabled services companies are finally proving they can transform care delivery and having their moment in the sun after Hinge and Omada’s IPOs; (2) AI has shown that breakout growth is possible with the right mix of provider trust and intuitive products, with AI startups accounting for 62% of H1 funding.

• OBBB Lifts Telehealth and DPC: One Big Beautiful Bill has arrived, and President Trump’s latest legislation included some silver lining for telehealth and direct primary care providers amid all the Medicaid doom and gloom. Outside of setting aside $50B for rural hospitals, OBBB also included a last-minute provision that allows employer-sponsored health plans to cover telehealth services before employees meet their deductibles. Another bright spot was that direct primary care memberships will be recognized as qualified medical expenses that can be paid for with pre-tax HSA dollars, starting in 2026.

• More Portals, Less No-Shows: New research from Epic linked patient portal usage to 21M fewer no-show appointments in 2024. The analysis of over 1.6B outpatient visits showed that patients with an active MyChart account had a no-show rate of 6.2%, versus 7.9% for patients not using their portal. The greatest percentage point difference was found in patients between 50 and 64 years old (6.2% vs. 8.7%), while the smallest difference was between those 18 to 34 years old (9.3% vs. 10.9%).

• Premier Acquires IllumiCare: Performance improvement company Premier acquired IllumiCare to round out its clinical decision support offerings. IllumiCare’s technology defines low-value care and helps make costs transparent in real time, while also unlocking potential growth across Premier’s service lines such as “clinical trial optimization, revenue cycle improvement and value-based consulting.” 

• Hospital Margins Remain Stable: The latest data from Strata found that health system operating margins stuck around 1% for the fifth consecutive month in May, although revenue gains were offset by an 8.7% jump in drug expenses year-over-year. Some of the interesting standouts in Strata’s reports are the hospital size breakdowns: hospitals with 300-499 beds reported that average margins increased 2.6 percentage points in May, while larger hospitals with 500+ beds reported that average margins decreased by the same amount.

• Athelas Air Debut: Commure-owned Athelas announced the launch of Athelas Air, its next-generation EHR that unifies billing, charting, and ambient AI natively within the health record. Athelas Air incorporates revenue cycle management and AI as “foundational components,” allowing providers to access seamless workflows for improving margins, reducing administrative burden, and focusing more time on patient care.

• Challengers vs. Enablers: a16z GP Julie Yoo put out a great analysis of nearly 3,800 digital health VC deals from 2010 to 2024, uncovering a rise in full-stack “Challengers” going after incumbents head-on, rather than becoming “Enablers” that build tools for them. While Enablers have dominated in terms of overall funding volume, the ratio of VC investments into Challengers versus Enablers has risen from 0.32:1 (2010 to 2014) to 0.65:1(2020 to 2024). The full post provides a ton of detail on the two startup categories, and even includes a link to the raw data for anyone that wants to dive in.

• UMMS Spins Out Gallion: The University of Maryland Medical System spun off Gallion Health, a digital supply chain platform that it helped launch in 2021. Since integrating Gallion with its EHR and enterprise resource planning systems across 11 hospitals, the platform has cut UMMS’ supply chain task completion time by 75% and slashed error rates from 18% to 3%, resulting in $2M of cost reductions from improved invoice accuracy and another $3.5M through retained contracts.

• TeleVox Planned Outreach Program: Televox introduced its new Planned Outreach Program to equip small practices with specialty-specific patient engagement campaign automations. The Planned Outreach Program integrates directly with TeleVox Practice Edition, an omnichannel patient relationship management platform that leverages GenAI to help physicians overcome common challenges with scheduling, communication, and retention.

Elevate 2025: Medallion’s Virtual Conference Returns September 17

Now in its fourth year, Medallion’s annual conference is back – bringing together healthcare leaders to explore this year’s theme: Elevate the present. Reframe the future of healthcare. Hear from industry voices like Tom Lawry, author of Hacking Healthcare, UPMC Chief Medical Information Officer Robert Bart, and many more. Reserve your spot now.

Next Generation Ambient Tech and Agents

The ambient AI transformation is already sweeping across health systems, reducing administrative burdens and improving patient outcomes. So, what’s next? Tune into this on-demand session to learn how systems like Carle Health and Denver Health are leveraging Nabla to eliminate Pajama Time and build a future where agentic AI unlocks true workforce sustainability.

The Resource Wire

• Withings and Babyscripts Team Up on Maternal Health: Babyscripts is teaming up with Withings Health Solutions to tackle the leading cause of maternal mortality in the U.S. – hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia. Learn how remote patient monitoring with BPM Pro 2 is helping Baybscripts keep mothers safe through personalized support when they need it most.

• Abridge Fuels Next Phase of Ambient AI – RCM: The complexity of the revenue cycle creates friction that drives clinician burnout, delays reimbursement, and adds unnecessary administrative overhead. With $300 million in fresh funding from a16z and other leading investors, Abridge will embed revenue cycle intelligence earlier in the clinical conversation and eliminate the need for manual, delayed coordination between clinicians and billing teams. Learn more.

• Future-Proof Your Health System with Scalable Primary Care: The reality of modern health system primary care: more patients, fewer resources, constant pressure to deliver. K Health offers a strategic advantage, with a clinical AI and Virtualist care model that provides the scalable solution you need to meet patient demand anytime, anywhere. Join the ranks of forward-thinking systems like Cedars-Sinai, Hackensack Meridian Health, and Hartford HealthCare. Explore the future of primary care with K Health.

The Industry Wire

1. Congress passes One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
2. Mount Sinai names first chief revenue officer.
3. HHS eases regulations on EHR vendors.
4. Why Mayo Clinic gives AI agents birth certificates.
5. RFK Jr. sued over COVID guidance change.
6. Astrana acquires Prospect Health System for $708M.
7. Tariffs delayed again: 5 things to know.
8. Trump administration gets green light to lay off federal workers.
9. Health systems invest in the fastest-growing cities.
10. Wellstar names Virginia Mason Franciscan exec as next CEO.