To: Board of Supervisors
From: Dr. Grant Colfax, Health Services Director
Report Title: Contract #23-883 with Abridge AI Inc.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee

RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Health Services Director, or designee, to execute on behalf of the County, Master Service Agreement (Contract #23-883) with Abridge AI Inc., a corporation, in an amount not to exceed $2,180,080, for a hosted ambient clinician conversation documentation software system and maintenance and support services for Contra Costa Health (CCH) for the period November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2028, and for successive one (1) year terms thereafter until terminated under the agreement.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This Contract will result in contractual service expenditures of up to $2,180,080 over a three-year period and will be funded 100% by Hospital Enterprise Fund I revenues.
BACKGROUND:
This Contract meets the needs of CCH by providing a clouded-hosted ambient clinician conversation documentation platform. CCH credentialed clinicians spend time after each patient visit documenting the encounter and creating a complete note. The latest developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) enable AI to listen to an audio recording of a clinical conversation and draft a note, which the provider can curate. The Abridge Platform provides the County and its credentialed clinicians healthcare providers access to Encounter Data, the recorded conversations made by CCH credentialed clinicians using the Abridge Platform with a patient, as well as transcripts and other information related to the conversation between credentialed clinicians and patients, including (a) audio recordings collected through the Abridge Platform, (b) transcripts of such recordings generated by the Abridge Platform, and (c) notes generated by the Abridge Platform based on such transcripts. On January 10, 2025, after a competitive bid process, Contra Costa County Public Works Department issued a Notice of Intent to Award Contract for AI scribe solution to Abridge AI Inc.
This Contract will provide a cloud-hosted clinician conversation documentation platform to support the dictation needs of CCH. A summary of service contract deliverables, including measurable outcomes required of the vendor to be monitored by the department in compliance with Section III(B)(7) of the Purchasing Policy include CCH’s access patient scheduler, transcript and note, and Inside for Emergency Medicine. This Contract was approved by Contra Costa Health Personnel to ensure there was no conflict with labor relations.
Under new Contract (#23-883), the parties will execute Abridge AI Inc Master Service Agreement (including the County's Health Insurance Probability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Business Associate Addendum, and a Statement of Work). Under Abridge AI Inc’s Master Service Agreement, Abridge AI Inc’s liability is limited to the amounts paid by County to Abridge in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, except that the limitation of liability does not apply to Abridge AI Inc.’s indemnity obligations under the Abridge AI Inc Master Service Agreement or a claim for a breach of County or patient data, the latter of which is capped at $3,000,000. The term of this Contract is from the effective date and will automatically renew for successive one-year terms, or with the expiration of the last Statement of Work or Order Form as provided under the Contract. Under the Abridge AI Inc Master Service Agreement, the County is obligated to indemnify and defend Abridge AI Inc against third party claims arising from County’s breach of the Agreement, County’s failure to comply with law, or County’s breach of a third party’s intellectual property rights.
Under new Contract #23-883 Contractor will provide services to CCH Information Technology Systems Unit for the period September 1, 2025 through October 31, 2028. Thereafter, the Contract renews for successive one (1) year terms unless terminated by either party, per the terms of the agreement.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this Contract is not approved, CCH credentialed clinicians will continue to manually document clinical conversations with patient, resulting in the dilution of patient care.