Lumeris Introduces Native Audio for Tom, Transforming Real-Time Patient Conversations

Built with Gemini's native audio capabilities, the new functionality enables more natural patient interactions.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumeris, a leader in healthcare technology and services, today announced Native Audio for Tom, advancing its already best-in-class conversational AI with real-time, speech-to-speech capabilities for Tom, its AI-powered Primary Care as a Service platform. The new functionality deepens patient engagement and strengthens care delivery—building on Tom's ability to create meaningful dialogue and ensuring patients feel heard, understood, and supported throughout their care journey.

Native Audio for Tom represents a major milestone in advancing AI to process and respond to spoken language directly, with reduced latency and more fluidity and accuracy than was possible even a few months ago. This highlights how fast AI technology is advancing and Lumeris' intentional investments to provide the best experiences for patients.  Designed for real-world settings, the capability improves responsiveness and conversational flow for patients as they engage with their primary care teams through the Tom platform. Built with Gemini's native audio capabilities, this marks another milestone in Lumeris' collaboration with Google Cloud to help address the U.S. primary care shortage.

In the United States, nearly 100 million adults lack access to primary care, and the country faces a projected shortage of nearly 90,000 physicians in the coming decade. Native audio-enabled interactions help expand access by allowing patients to engage more naturally and efficiently through voice, reducing friction while enabling care teams to support more patients without adding administrative burden.

"In healthcare, speed is important, but trust is essential," said Aashima Gupta, global director, Healthcare Strategy & Solutions, Google Cloud. "The native audio capabilities of Gemini bring a new level of nuance and empathy to voice interactions—it doesn't just hear what a patient says but also understands the urgency and emotion behind their words. By building on this foundation, Lumeris is empowering health systems to expand access with a truly human-centric approach."

Native audio enhances several aspects of the Tom patient experience, including more natural voice interactions, improved turn-taking, stronger noise handling, and future multilingual capabilities to expand accessibility.

"Advancing Tom with native audio represents a significant step toward more human-centered AI in health care," said Jean-Claude Saghbini, chief product and technology officer at Lumeris. "This innovation allows us to better meet patients where they are, while maintaining the clinical rigor and trust required in health care."

Integrated across Tom communication channels, including phone and mobile applications, native audio supports continuous, AI-enabled primary care beyond traditional office visits, while keeping the primary care team in charge. These capabilities also advance Lumeris' ongoing Rural Health Transformation efforts by supporting states and clinicians as they modernize care delivery in rural and underserved communities through new federal funding focused on strengthening infrastructure, expanding access, and sustaining primary care models.

Lumeris also recently launched Ask Tom, a generative AI-powered analytics capability within Tom that gives health system leaders conversational access to enterprise data, insights and recommendations.

About Lumeris
Lumeris is a leader in healthcare technology and services advancing the future of primary care through Tom, its AI-powered Primary Care as a Service platform designed to function as a proactive member of the care team embedded directly in clinical workflows. Tom autonomously supports best next actions that help providers expand capacity, improve patient access, and reduce administrative burden while enabling more personalized, scalable care delivery. Built on more than two decades of primary care and value-based care experience, Tom reflects Lumeris' deep experience supporting health systems and physician organizations nationwide and operating Essence Healthcare, its leading Medicare Advantage plan. Founded in 2010, Lumeris is headquartered in St. Louis with additional operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, including its Tomorrow Labs innovation hub. The company employs more than 1,200 engineers, clinicians, and healthcare specialists. Learn more at Lumeris.com. 

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SOURCE Lumeris