RAPID CITY, S.D. — Monument Health says it is expanding the use of artificial intelligence across its health system, with clinicians already using more than a dozen generative AI applications inside its electronic health record platform.
The Rapid City-based health system announced Tuesday, April 14, that the technology is now being used across its 60 locations to help clinicians review patient information, reduce documentation time and improve follow-up care.
Monument Health officials said the move is aimed at bringing more advanced, technology-driven care to patients in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming, closer to what is available at major academic medical centers.
“Patients in the Black Hills deserve the same high-quality care they would receive in a major academic center,” said Dr. Patrick A. Woodard, Monument Health’s chief information officer. “By investing in these tools, we are enabling our clinicians to stay at the forefront of medicine and keep care close to home.”
According to Monument Health, clinicians are using AI-powered features in Epic, its electronic health record system, at a rate above the national average compared with other major U.S. health systems using the same platform.
The system said the AI tools are designed to make health care information more actionable and allow doctors and other providers to spend less time on clerical tasks and more time with patients.
Among the tools now in use are Inpatient and Outpatient Insights, which summarize key patient information before an appointment or hospital visit. Monument Health also said it is using an AI-assisted radiology workflow that identifies findings such as lung nodules from radiology reports, helping care teams follow up more quickly on incidental findings.
Other AI tools help clinicians write patient messages in clearer language and draft detailed documents such as hospital course summaries, which officials said have traditionally taken significant physician time.
Dr. Burton Hayes, Monument Health’s director of ambulatory clinical informatics, said the technology is helping physicians reclaim time that was often spent charting after hours.
“As a practicing internist, I’ve found that the biggest impact of AI isn’t replacing clinical judgment — it’s giving me back time and cognitive space,” Hayes said. “The result is that I spend less time doing clerical work and more time actually thinking about the patient in front of me.”
Monument Health emphasized that the technology does not replace clinical decision-making, but instead supports caregivers by reducing friction in daily workflows.
The health system said it is continuing to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities, with patient-facing applications expected in the future.
