Like it or not, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of everyday technology. As medical systems such as electronic health record (EHR) platforms increasingly integrate AI for more than just routine tasks, industry leaders must stay ahead of the curve by keeping those innovations both provider- and patient-centered.
Phill Tornroth is VP of Engineering at Elation Health and a leading producer of EHR systems for primary care practices. Having been involved in software engineering at numerous healthcare startups since 2000, Tornroth currently focuses on technical strategy and AI with Elation.
Elation Health’s Work to Optimize EHRs
Elation Health currently supports over 36,000 clinicians and is recognized as one of the largest communities of primary care innovators in the country. Tornroth says the company was founded in the late 00s by the children of a Northern California-based primary care physician, who saw the troubles their father had handling both non-electronic medical records and complex, proactive care for upwards of 1,300 patients.
“This was around the time that meaningful use was showing there was an enormous amount of incentivizing providers to get off of paper and onto these EHR systems. The company was founded on the belief that primary care is our biggest lever against downstream illness and costs.”
That clinician-first approach is also unique, Tornroth says. While many other EHR developers began as billing companies, Elation aimed to focus its efforts on what providers needed as a diagnostic tool. Presently, that means using AI to help reshape and enhance clinical workflows that often feel compartmentalized.
“One of our key innovations, early on, was just making it possible to see disparate pieces of data at the same time. To be able to look at a patient’s medication history next to your last visit, or review historical records while referencing your own.”
Overcoming Reluctance to AI
Describing himself as a “reluctant technologist,” Tornroth says he believes in human-centered design as the guiding principle for any application of new tech, especially AI. He admits that the recent leap in AI’s prevalence and capabilities even came as a bit of a surprise.
“My real awakening, in terms of what we were going to be able to do in the relatively immediately term, came in mid-2023,” he says. “Before then, I was paying some attention to machine learning, but I didn’t see us rounding the corner as fast as we have. I’ve always been a bit of a Luddite when it comes to new technology. I like to see it work before I get too excited about it.”
As Elation has added more automated AI-based tools into its EHR systems, Tornroth says he’s discovered that the adoption curve is often reversed when it comes to how that high-tech capability is accepted and embraced. He’s found that some of the biggest adopters of these tools were ones who’ve previously struggled to use computers.
“Which makes sense – these are providers that have been on paper their whole life, and now the idea that they can just talk to their patient, as opposed to having to click and type through notes, was a much more human experience for them,” he highlights.
AI-Integrated Tools at the Forefront
Tornroth says Elation decided in 2024 to lean in on AI by incorporating it as an internal and native aspect of project development. This meant hiring, training and building those AI skills in-house rather than outsourcing them to other partners.
An early example is Elation’s Note Assist, the company’s flagship AI product that launched in 2024. It’s a natively-built AI scribe that is directly integrated into the Elation EHR, which automatically records and transcribes conversations with patients while respecting existing note templates and problem lists. This allows Note Assist to seamlessly integrate contextualized content into those charts.
Elation’s newest innovation is Actions, an intuitive tool that takes the directives and to-do lists that emerge from a patient visit – such as refilling a prescription, changing a dosage or sending in a lab order – and creates a virtual checklist. This frees providers to focus more on the patient rather than the distractions of electronic paperwork.
Building Safety into AI Functionality
Given the increasing responsibilities assigned to AI tools, Tornroth says he and his team work diligently to ensure those electronic decisions are based on well-established medical data and procedures – with accuracy being the primary guiding factor.
“There’s quite a bit of pre-form evaluation. We build corpuses of data and we run through enormous numbers of test cases we’re constantly iterating and trying as new models come out.”
Tornroth also emphasizes the focus on designing an experience that allows room for failure, adding that, “These tools are going to get it wrong some time, so can we design a surface and an experience that allows the providers to still be in control?”
Designing Tools to Actually Make Things Easier
Tornroth says he and his designers recognize the need to build systems that address different users with varying comfort levels with new technology.
“We’re all learning how this technology is going to be integrated into our lives and there’s such a variance in fluency, so we think a lot about making sure that these experiences have on-ramps and off-ramps you can dip in and out of, or that we have ways for you to learn about them safely.”
That same philosophy, he adds, also extends to the way his company has learned to embrace AI as a central feature of its entire business model.
“I think a lot of us just want to hit pause and breathe and try to figure this thing out together, as it’s super-exciting and super-exhausting, all at once,” he says. “But we’ve made this investment in building up AI fluency in the entire team, and that means going from student to teacher, really fast.”
Elation Health is the clinical-first AI platform for primary care success. Trusted by over 36,000 clinicians and 20 million patients, Elation’s EHR and billing solutions combine proven clinical workflows with responsible, predictive AI - purpose built for primary care. The company’s clinical-first approach puts physicians at the center, delivering trusted, transparent innovation that saves time and sustains meaningful patient relationships. Elation Health is recognized as Best in KLAS for its commitment to excellence in primary care technology.
Resources:
- Visit the Elation Health website to learn more
- Learn more about Elation Note Assist
- Learn more about Elation Actions
- 2025 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report
- Connect with Phill Tornroth on LinkedIn
