Athenahealth has released a server that lets Anthropic's Claude read patient health records and answer questions about them, the healthcare technology provider said. The tool, called AthenaPatient MCP, is built on the Model Context Protocol and is compatible with Claude. Athenahealth serves more than 20% of the US population, according to the company.
Patients must sign in with their Athenahealth account credentials before Claude can reach their records, a step Athenahealth describes as secure. The connection is open only to Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers, priced at $20 and $100 per month respectively. Not every Athenahealth patient has data shared with Claude, and Claude Pro and Max users are not required to opt in. Users decide which health information Claude may access and can withdraw that permission at any time, according to the company's press release.
Once a patient authorizes the connection, Claude can draw on lab results, vitals, medications, health conditions, immunizations, visit history, diagnostic reports, allergies, procedures and care plans when answering questions. Sam Lambson, Athenahealth's vice president of product management for data and ecosystem, said in an email to ZDNET that the partnership does not offer medical advice and should not substitute for a clinician's professional judgment. Patients with questions about a diagnosis, treatment or changes to their care should contact a qualified healthcare professional, he said.
The tool appears intended to help patients understand information their providers have already given them rather than to advise them. A patient could ask AthenaPatient MCP for a most recent red blood cell count, for example, but should not expect Claude to explain how an abnormal result might affect them. Athenahealth said the agreement bars Anthropic from using data accessed through the connection to train its models or improve its products.
The arrangement follows other alliances between technology companies and health systems. Earlier this year, Microsoft partnered with Mayo Clinic to develop an AI model for healthcare, and Boston Children's Hospital partnered with OpenAI on an enterprise AI system for research, clinical and administrative teams, according to a press release. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 34% of US adults have talked with a chatbot for medical advice. The largest shares of respondents still preferred that a human oversee AI in clinical settings.
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