How to use the Summarization API to create Clinical Summaries.
Clinical summarization transforms raw EHR data into actionable discharge summaries, progress notes and referral letters that highlight status changes, decision points and follow-up needs. It is particularly useful for efficient handoffs, longitudinal care planning and ensuring clear communication across multidisciplinary teams.
Generating documents at Clinia is easy. Our philosophy can be boiled down to:
Configurability without the hassle of prompt engineering
The Summarization API helps you bring together various contextual informations and distill them down to precise, complete, and relevant clinical documents for your various workflows. Each request has a fairly simple body.
The Summarization API uses what we call generative recipes to operate. A generative recipe is a simple combination of the following:
Prompt template
Generative model
Format instructions
The Recipe API is currently in-preview. To get custom Generative Recipes, contact Clinia’s Support Team.
Clinia currently supports the following clinical documents as part of its Summarization API
Discharge Summary
Longitudinal Summary
SOAP Note
Pass-over Summary
Recipe Key:clinia-discharge-summaryParameters:PatientContexts , EventContexts , LanguagePurpose:
Communicate the key events and plan of care from an inpatient stay to the next provider (e.g., primary care physician, home care team).Timing:
Completed at the time of patient discharge from a hospital or facility.Typical Structure:
Audience:
Subsequent care providers, case managers, sometimes patients and families.
Recipe Key:clinia-longitudinal-summaryParameters:PatientContexts , EventContexts , LanguagePurpose:
Provide a high-level overview of a patient’s health trajectory over time, often for complex or chronic cases.Timing:
Updated periodically (e.g., quarterly, annually) or when care setting changes (e.g., referral to specialist).Typical Structure:
Demographics & Social History
Chronic Problem List (with dates of onset)
Key Episodes (hospitalizations, surgeries)
Medications & Allergies
Recent Trends & Control (e.g., HbA1c for diabetes over past year)
Care Plan & Goals (long-term objectives)
Audience:
Care coordinators, specialists, primary care providers, sometimes payers.
Recipe Key:clinia-soap-noteParameters:PatientContexts , EventContexts , LanguagePurpose:
Document a single encounter in a structured way, supporting reasoning and billing.Timing:
At each patient encounter (e.g., daily rounding, outpatient visit, phone call).Structure (“SOAP”):
Subjective: What the patient reports (symptoms, concerns).
Objective: What the clinician observes (exam findings, vitals, labs).
Assessment: Clinician’s interpretation (differential diagnoses, problem list).
Plan: Next steps (tests, treatments, patient education).
Audience:
Entire care team; also used by coders and quality reviewers.
Recipe Key:clinia-pass-over-summaryParameters:PatientContexts , EventContexts , LanguagePurpose:
Facilitate safe, efficient transfer of care between clinicians (e.g., shift-to-shift, service-to-service).Timing:
At each handoff: whenever responsibility for a patient moves from one provider/team to another.Typical Structure:
Patient ID & Location
Brief Clinical Synopsis (key diagnoses, current status)
Active Issues/Tasks (what needs to be done overnight or next shift)
Recent Trends (vitals, labs, response to treatments)
Anticipatory Guidance (“If X happens, do Y.”)
Audience:
Clinicians on the incoming shift or new service.
These recipes are convenient as they all rely on the same set of params to go through. For example, to fill in a Summarization Request for a SOAP Note, you can use the example below:
Copy
Ask AI
curl --location --globoff --request PUT 'https://{workspaceId}.clinia.cloud/ai/v1/summarize' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Accept: application/json' \ --header 'X-Clinia-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE' \ --data '{ "task": "clinia-soap-note", "params": { "PatientContexts": [ "Patient Bob Gratton, born March 15, 1945 (age 80), health insurance #TREJ45031501, room 203-A", ], "EventContexts": [ "2025-06-27T09:00: Patient reports two days of worsening shortness of breath when walking across the room and general fatigue, noting she had to pause twice to catch her breath.", "2025-06-27T09:15: Vital signs recorded by Nurse INF-202: BP 142/88 mmHg, HR 98 bpm, RR 22, SpO₂ 92% on room air.", "2025-06-27T09:30: Physical exam by Dr. Roy: bilateral crackles at lung bases and 1+ pitting edema in both ankles; no murmurs or jugular venous distension.", "2025-06-27T10:00: Clinician assessment indicates likely heart failure exacerbation versus COPD flare—considering diuretic uptitration and evaluation of pulmonary status.", "2025-06-27T10:15: Orders entered by Dr. Roy: furosemide 40 mg IV now, then daily; obtain chest X-ray today; schedule pulmonary function tests; monitor daily weights and strict fluid I&O.", "2025-06-27T10:30: Patient education provided by PAB-304 on low-sodium diet and recognizing signs of fluid overload; follow-up appointment scheduled in one week with cardiology." ], "Language": "english" }}'
Note that you can also receive this Summarization Response as a stream by using the Accept: text/event-stream header.
