AltaMed Health Services Corporation Partners with Abridge to Bring Leading AI Technology to Multilingual Communities
AltaMed is the nation’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), providing care to over 500,000 patients in Southern California.
COMMERCE, CA—April 29, 2025—Abridge has been chosen by AltaMed Health Services Corporation, the nation’s largest federally qualified health center (FQHC), as its AI platform for documenting clinical conversations. Abridge’s enterprise-grade technology will support AltaMed’s diverse multilingual population across the organization in all care settings and specialties.
FQHCs are community-based healthcare organizations that receive funding from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to ensure access to quality health services in underserved areas, regardless of patients’ ability to pay. For more than 50 years, AltaMed has been dedicated to eliminating health disparities and improving outcomes in underresourced communities. AltaMed chose Abridge because of its AI platform that excels in 28 languages, including the 16 most-spoken in the U.S.
Recently, during his weekly clinics, AltaMed Chief Operating Officer Dr. Efrain Talamantes tried Abridge for the first time with a patient who had also never experienced ambient AI in a clinical setting.
"I’m impressed by the accuracy of the note based on our very fluid conversation in Spanish,” said Dr. Talamantes, who conducted the encounter in Spanish. “Abridge generated a well-structured note that reduced my administrative time and gave me more time with my patient.”
Dr. Talamantes also noted how seamlessly Abridge was able to support switching between Spanish and English in conversation—something particularly useful in a population where caregivers and patients are often speaking in Spanglish, or different languages, during a visit.
Dr. Talamantes’s patient, Esperanza Bahena, was similarly impressed.
“Ahora que ya tenemos la nueva tecnología de Abridge, me siento más confiada, más contenta. Quiero que el doctor tenga más tiempo para hablar con él de mis problemas de salud cara a cara,” she said following the visit.
Translation: "Now that we have the new Abridge technology, I feel more comfortable and happier. I want my doctor to have more time to discuss my health concerns face-to-face.”
Abridge has developed a proprietary evaluation method that enables continuous improvement of the company’s purpose-built Automatic Speech Recognition and note generation AI models. Using that method, Abridge sets the industry standard for word error rate and medical term recall in English, Spanish, and many other languages.
“My very first patient that I saw using Abridge was of Chinese descent and spoke Mandarin, so I needed an interpreter,” said Dr. Eric Lee, Medical Director of Clinical Informatics at AltaMed. “He had been hospitalized for a stroke. We discussed the different tests, findings, diagnoses, specialists visits, medications, and more in a natural back-and-forth conversation. What blew me away was that Abridge was able to encapsulate that conversation into a perfect hospital summary. Taking that work off my plate allowed me to focus more on the patient.”
Abridge is currently being used by over 100 of the most complex health systems, including organizations like AltaMed that have multilingual patient populations. Abridge supports clinicians and staff by reducing administrative burden, enabling them to focus on patients rather than paperwork.
“It is one of the greatest privileges of my career to help clinicians at FQHCs like AltaMed connect more deeply with their patients, no matter the language,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Founder of Abridge. “Technology should support clinicians in meeting patients where they are. Abridge’s rich multilingual support helps both clinicians and patients focus on the conversation and ultimately, the care.”
About AltaMed Health Services Corporation
AltaMed understands that when people receive care that considers their individual health needs and respects their cultural preferences; they grow healthy—and help their families do the same. Since 1969, we have delivered complete medical services to communities across Southern California. Our team of qualified multicultural and bilingual professionals—from these same communities—are focused on eliminating barriers to primary care services, senior care programs, and essential community services. With more than 60 accredited health centers and service facilities, we remain committed and ready to help you grow healthy at any age. To learn more about AltaMed, visit: www.AltaMed.org.
About Abridge
Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.
Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.
Abridge was recently awarded Best in KLAS for Ambient AI segment in addition to other accolades, including 2025 Forbes AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.
