M42 unveils Ossi AI platform to streamline clinical workflows and enhance patient interaction

M42, the Abu Dhabi-based technology-driven healthcare provider, has introduced Ossi, an artificial intelligence platform designed to handle administrative tasks so that physicians can devote more attention to their patients.

The platform was unveiled at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit and will be deployed across seven M42 facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. According to the company, Ossi could enable doctors to increase the time they spend with patients by up to 60 percent.

Developed in Abu Dhabi with Microsoft

Kareem Shahin, M42’s chief executive of Digital Health Solutions Platform and group chief digital officer, told The National that Ossi, built in collaboration with Microsoft, is “an AI platform that has been built by and for people here in Abu Dhabi”.

The system operates alongside existing electronic medical record (EMR) systems, integrating AI agents, voice recognition technology and healthcare-specific large language models to support physicians before, during and after a consultation.

“Before the patient arrives, the doctor can open Ossi, where the Patient Summary Agent provides a summary of the patient’s historical details and all of their medical details,” Mr Shahin said. “So during the patient appointment there is more time between the physician and the patient, and they are focused on the patient and their needs rather than checking all of the medical summaries. Using AI to summarise medical history leaves nothing missed, so that the physician will see everything as per the most recent data, such as medications, lab results, radiology, and all of the recent appointments that the patient has had.”

He described Ossi as a cloud-based AI solution that is already being implemented across M42’s network. Through the strategic partnership with Microsoft, Ossi is hosted on Microsoft Azure cloud, and the company plans to expand it globally, with “many clients and many countries capitalising on the reachability of Microsoft worldwide”.

The name Ossi is derived from the ossicle bones in the human ear, which play a role in amplifying and refining sound. “It listens to Arabic and English, and now we’re working even with our international partners to translate it into understanding Greek and other languages,” Mr Shahin added.

Four AI agents assist throughout the consultation

During a consultation, another of Ossi’s AI components becomes active. “While the physician is interacting with the patient, the Scribing Agent listens to the consultation and transforms the conversation into a structured clinical note for the physician to review,” Mr Shahin explained. “The physician can then use the Chat Agent to ask questions about the patient’s medical information and identify best practice based on available evidence and clinical guidelines. Finally, the Coding Agent analyses the clinical documentation and suggests relevant medical codes, supporting the physician and coding workflow.”

Together, these four agents deliver AI assistance throughout the consultation while keeping the physician at the centre of clinical decision-making.

Integration and security

Mr Shahin stressed that Ossi is designed to complement, not replace, a hospital’s EMR system. “It doesn’t interrupt the EMR. It is beside the EMR integrated within the doctor’s workflow.” He provided an example: “If a patient is going to see an oncology doctor, usually the doctor spends three to four hours before the patient visit to review the file. With Ossi and AI, this can be reduced to less than 10 to 15 minutes,” as the doctor receives a relevant summary of the file.

Mr Shahin noted that Ossi is part of Abu Dhabi’s broader digital health ecosystem and that M42’s government healthcare platforms are hosted on the UAE’s sovereign cloud, ensuring privacy for medical information. “We have security measures and we have a very robust security team aligned with the UAE Cyber Security Council, applying all of the guidelines and making sure our systems are updated as per the regulatory standard,” he said. “Definitely at the end of the day, who will make the final decision is the doctor himself. But it’s a tool that can help to reduce time, to be more efficient, and not miss anything.”

The seven M42 centres where Ossi is now available are: Amana UAE; Amana Bahrain; Healthpoint; HealthPlus; Mubadala Health Dubai; Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Hospital; and Imperial College London Diabetes and Endocrine Centre in Abu Dhabi.