Artificial intelligence has reshaped the healthcare industry both behind the scenes and at the point of care. From surfacing research on complex drug interactions to streamlining administrative to-dos, medical AI chatbots and assistants support many roles and specialties in their daily workflows.
But not all AI products are built the same. And when it comes to features, cost, and security, these differences matter. Here’s what clinical AI assistants and chatbots are, their most common use cases, and a comparison between popular tools Doximity and OpenEvidence.
What Is a Medical AI Assistant?
A medical AI assistant, also called a healthcare or clinical AI assistant, is a software tool powered by artificial intelligence systems, such as large language models (LLMs). The goal is to help healthcare professionals access research and information, complete tasks, reduce administrative workload, and support clinical decision-making. Unlike public-facing AI tools, clinical AI is designed with the roles, workflows, terminology, and regulatory requirements of medicine in mind.
These AI assistants can answer physician questions, summarize patient visits, help draft documents, and much more. In ideal cases, the AI assistance operates within a HIPAA-compliant framework that protects sensitive patient data.
What Is a Healthcare Chatbot?
Much like a medical AI assistant, “healthcare chatbots” are also referred to as medical AI chatbots and clinical chatbots. These conversational AI tools interact with healthcare professionals in a natural, clinical language. Primarily used to answer questions, retrieve studies, compare drug data, and suggest treatment plans, these chatbots allow users to type a question and surface evidence-based information in seconds.
This allows professionals to save time interpreting lengthy medical literature or sourcing information on niche or hard-to-find topics. A great healthcare chatbot bases its answers on reputable medical sources, but it can sometimes make mistakes. It’s important, then, that healthcare professionals use medical chatbots as a guide, and not a definitive truth. Sources should be checked, and clinical judgment should not be overwritten by AI.
Why HIPAA Compliance Is Non-Negotiable
The first question many healthcare professionals have about AI concerns security. HIPAA compliance was once a standout differentiator between tools, but is now the standard for most AI products in the healthcare space. HIPAA-compliant AI ensures that protected health information (PHI) isn’t exposed, used to train third-party models, or stored in an insecure manner. HIPAA-compliant AI platforms are also built with business associate agreements (BAAs) and access controls to make them safe for clinical use.
Many general-purpose AI products are not HIPAA-compliant, posing legal and ethical risks for clinicians who use them. Many practices rely on HIPAA-compliant fax for transmitting PHI, and these security regulations should carry over to any AI tool tested or implemented.
Use Cases for Medical AI in Clinical Practice
Medical AI products are quickly proving their value across a range of tasks for practicing clinicians. Common use cases include:
- Clinical decision support: Clinicians can ask their AI assistants or chatbots about contraindications, diagnoses, drug dosing, or treatment suggestions and receive answers based on the latest medical literature. When doctors want to prioritize providing undivided attention at the point of care, the impact is priceless.
- Patient documentation and correspondence: AI tools can draft impressive first versions of referral letters, emails, and clinical notes. Reducing the documentation burden of writing from scratch is one of the most requested innovations among burned-out clinicians.
- Literature and research review: Instead of manually searching PubMed or other medical libraries, clinicians can simply ask the medical AI chatbot to surface and summarize recent findings on a medication, disease, or procedure.
- Peer consultation: Healthcare professionals often need a quick second opinion or a sanity check on a clinical question. A well-designed AI product with peer-reviewed outputs enables always-available guidance.
- Training and education: Medical students and residents can use AI assistants to role-play, work through case scenarios, and prepare for on-the-spot quizzing from peers and superiors. A reputable medical AI can help students of all types explore clinical reasoning in an interactive format.
Doximity and Doximity Ask: Built for Physicians
For over a decade, Doximity has been a trusted professional network for clinicians. It’s free, and over 85% of U.S. physicians are already registered members.
Doximity Ask is Doximity’s HIPAA-compliant AI workflow assistant, acting as a handy chatbot for physicians. It combines the power of LLMs with Doximity’s deep understanding of clinical workflows, surfacing evidence-based research in formats and templates easy to comprehend. Asking medical questions, drafting documents, and using AI for clinical decision management is fast and never compromises patient privacy.
Unlike public-facing AI platforms that require users to manage their own data agreements, Doximity Ask is built for clinical use. It integrates naturally with the Doximity platform that many clinicians already use for messaging, telehealth, transcriptions, and HIPAA-compliant fax.
Doximity vs. OpenEvidence
OpenEvidence is a medical AI search platform that surfaces clinical research in response to healthcare questions. It’s a useful reference tool, but its scope is primarily research and literature retrieval, helping clinicians better understand the latest in their field and provide effective patient care. Unlike Doximity, it does not offer drug monograph data, document upload support, or free PDFs.
Doximity can offer a broader solution. Rather than a standalone research engine, Doximity Ask is embedded in a comprehensive clinical AI suite that covers the full arc of a physician’s workday. From communicating with patients to accessing clinical AI support to drafting documents to transcribing visits, Doximity makes a bigger impact on the ins and outs of any workflow. And because it’s on a unified platform, physicians do not need to toggle between multiple tools or worry about which ones meet HIPAA compliance standards.
For clinicians who want evidence-based, peer-reviewed outputs, Doximity Ask also includes PeerCheck™, where over 10,000 answers have been reviewed and approved by licensed physicians. Doximity, and products like Doximity Dialer, Doximity Scribe, and Doximity Ask make it an accessible, complete choice for healthcare professionals.
The Bottom Line
Medical AI assistants are practical, daily workflow tools that help clinicians work smarter, lessen burnout, and deliver more personal care. But choosing the right platform matters.
If you’re a clinician looking for HIPAA-compliant AI rooted in medical evidence, try Doximity. Signing up only requires valid healthcare credentials, and Doximity Ask, Doximity Dialer, and Doximity Scribe are available for free.